Whether you realize it or not, infographics are everywhere (check your Social Media channels)! These data visualizations help deliver a lot of information to viewers in a compact manner. Hence, even though there’s a lot of information to digest, your viewer will find it easier to read and understand when laid out in an visual representation of information.
It’s a very popular way to display researched data, so you can find infographics about basically everything. Well-designed professional looking infographics can take your content marketing to a whole new level!
Table of Contents
Table of contents
- What is an Infographic?
- How to Make an Infographic
- How to Create an Infographic – The Design Process
- Timeline Infographic
- Informational Infographic
- Process Infographic
- Report Infographic
- Flowchart Infographic
- How-To Infographic
- Comparison Infographic
- Anatomical Infographic
- Location Infographic
- Hierarchical Infographic
- It’s Time to Start Designing!
- Choose a Template
- Font Pairing
- Using Icons
- Data Widgets
- Choose Your Colors
- Review Your Infographic
- Free Tools to Create an Infographic
- Canva
- Visme
- Piktochart
- Easel.ly
- For example, let’s Create an Infographic on Canva
- How to Create an Infographic with Canva (Step-by-step guide)
- How To Use The Infographic
- In Conclusion …
What is an Infographic?
Before we explain how to make an infographic, it’s important to understand what infographics are. As the name would suggest, an infographic is a combination of information and graphics. They represent knowledge, data, and other types of information. They’re important for digital marketing campaigns because they can increase brand awareness and are so easy to share that different ones are always going viral.
One of the best things about infographics is that you really don’t need to be a graphic designer or illustrator to make an infographic. You can easily create infographics by using the right free tools. Keep reading, and we’ll tell you everything you need to know about how to make an infographic.
How to Make an Infographic
Just like anything else, creating an effective infographic takes some planning. During this process, there are several decisions you need to make, and things you should consider. So, before you make your own infographic, consider these things:
Time needed:3 days
Thefollowingdirections onhow to makean infographic is a simplestep-by-step guide. With time for ideation, research, copy and design, it typically takes 3 days (48 hours) on average to produce an infographic from end to end.
- Create a Starting Outline
You should begin by jotting your main ideas down on paper. Then spend a good five minutes or so brainstorming supporting facts. You’ll want to include statistics, history, reasons, or whatever types of information help get your point across. This is also a great time to begin planning what types of visual content and visual elements you’ll include such as graphs, tables, or stock photos
- Choose Your Target Audience
Now, consider your audience, what are their needs? What types of information are visitors on your site looking for? What kinds of problems does your audience face that you could help solve? Taking the time to learn who your audience is and what they need will help you add value to your content. Remember, creating engaging content will keep your visitors coming back and help you appear as an expert.
- Define Your Goals
What’s the main goal you’re hoping to achieve with your infographic? For instance, are you looking to entertain, educate, share results, or something else? Knowing exactly what you want your infographic to accomplish helps during the creation process. In fact, it can help you phrase the copy correctly, choose the best designs, and set the overall tone for your whole visual.
Though this step may seem small to you, it’s actually one of the most important. Not only does it help with the infographic’s content, but it also tells you the best way to use the final product. For example, if you are trying to collect leads, you can allow users to download the infographic in return for their email address.
- Narrow Your Topic
Now that you know who the audience is and what you hope to accomplish, narrow your list of topics down to the one you’d like to use. Knowing this information will serve as the backbone for your infographic.
- Research Your Topic
The next step on the checklist is to conduct research about your topic. Remember that you can’t produce text, graphics, or any other elements of an infographic without research. During this step, it’s important to come up with questions that users may have that your competition hasn’t answered yet.
- Select the Most Relevant Information
When trying to make infographics online you’ll come across loads of information. It’s your job to sift through and only include the most relevant information. Whatever you do, avoid overloading the infographic with information, as this can become confusing for users. In this case, they won’t be able to quickly extract the most important information.
This is why you should take your time during the planning process. It’s essential to have a focus when creating infographics. So, let’s say your topic is fishing. Choose only one aspect of fishing, such as types of lures, and select all pertinent information.
- Cite your Sources and Fact Check
As you collect data you’ll want to cite your sources. This will inform your user that you got your information from credible sources, and it is indeed true. Be sure to fact-check numbers and as much of the data as you can. The last thing you want to do is include information that’s been proven false.
- Decide How to Visualize the Information
By this point, you’ve collected all of your data and have a rough outline of what you’re working with. Now, it’s time to look at some infographic ideas so you can choose how you want yours to look. If you need some help, check out our article, “11 Brilliant Sources of Design Inspiration”.
- Set the Tone
After all the data is collected, you need to decide on a tone for your infographic. Which tone of voice will best help get your point across to the audience? Does it need to be academic or friendly? Will you choose humor or a business tone? This needs to be determined before you begin writing copy for your infographic.
- Write the Copy
It’s important to note that writing text for infographics is different from writing reports and other articles. It requires more planning because the amount of included text is less and needs to be separated into sections. Each section should be worded in a manner that is easy to read quickly and consistent with the tone.
- Create a Sketch of Your Infographic
You’ve reached the last step of the checklist. Now that you’ve collected all information and have your copy written, go ahead and sketch your infographic. Create a document on Word, PowerPoint, or Google Docs that shows the whole structure of your infographic. This information should include text, menus, topics, titles, image positions, graphic elements, color palette, a call to action, etc.
- The Design Process
Keep reading! We will take you through every stage in the design process.
How to Create an Infographic – The Design Process
It’s time to head to your computer with your infographic sketch in your hand. There are lots of ways to make an infographic. However, the easiest way is to find a site that offers infographic templates.
There are generally ten different types of infographic templates to choose from:
Timeline Infographic
The timeline infographic format is ideal for topics that show information over a period of time. It can also work for step-by-step directions.
Check out our ‘Top 15 Timeline Infographic Maker Tools Online (Free and Paid)‘ article for many great tips on making high-quality timeline infographics.
Informational Infographic
This is the most versatile of all infographic templates. You can use this for providing general information that’s organized by section or even on lists.
Process Infographic
Process infographics help you show a process from start to finish that needs to be done or that has been completed.
Report Infographic
You’ll choose this style if you have survey results, business reports, or sales that you need to visualize.
Flowchart Infographic
Who doesn’t love a good flowchart? This template is perfect for those looking to show different outcomes to specific questions.
How-To Infographic
You can use this style to show step-by-step instructions.
Comparison Infographic
Are you looking to compare or contrast two items or ideas? If so, you can use this template to organize each person, place, or thing into sections.
Anatomical Infographic
This style is popular for topics such as science. It allows you to display an object and use arrows to point out specific characteristics. For example, a salesman could use an infographic with this layout to sell farm equipment. The infographic could depict a tractor and use the arrows to point out the options and benefits of choosing that model
Location Infographic
The location layout allows you to use map widgets to display geographical data.
Hierarchical Infographic
The final type of infographic template is hierarchical. This type, for example a pyramid infographic, is best when you have information that needs to be displayed in this manner.
It’s Time to Start Designing!
Finally, you’ve reached the fun part! Well, for some people at least. If you are not keen on design or would like to hire a professional, there are plenty of great infographic design agencies out there. Otherwise, if you’re excited to try to make your own infographic, keep reading!
Choose a Template
There are lots of free infographic tools online (we’ll talk more about this in a few minutes). The majority of them offer infographic templates as we discussed above. If you are new to creating infographics, your best bet is to pick one of these infographic maker, infographic video maker or explainer video tools and use it.
Insert Text, Graphics & Charts
The template you chose should have placards showing you where to insert graphics and text (text box). Since you already have your copy written, it’s time to begin placing it in the appropriate place. After the text is in place, go ahead, and insert your chosen graphics and charts (for example, pie charts, donut charts, bar graph, etcetera). Remember to change the font size for headings and text as needed.
Font Pairing
While this is a small detail, it makes a big difference. So, why do you want to use font pairing in your infographic? Simple – it affects the overall look of your graphic design, and it helps to adjust the size of text blocks. Most professionals recommend that you use no more than two types of font. This includes one type for the heading and another type for the best blocks.
Using Icons
If you have only text and no graphs or anything to share, it’s recommended to add some icons. Let’s face it, no one wants to look at an infographic that just contains text – that’s boring! Use appropriate icons to spice up your infographic design.
Data Widgets
If you don’t want to use icons, you can use data widgets instead. This is especially great for text that contains numbers or other informational data.
Choose Your Colors
Another important aspect of infographic design is the color scheme you choose. Colors are great for drawing attention to certain areas, or simply breaking up sections to make them stand out more. A great tool for choosing colors is Colorhexa.
Review Your Infographic
After you’ve completed each of these steps, it’s important that you review the infographic elements. you’ll want to ensure that your data flows properly and there’s the right type of balance between the graphics and text.
Just remember that the design process can be tedious, and you may make numerous changes before settling on the final product. If at any point you become stuck, check out our article that explains creative block and how to overcome it.
Okay, let’s get back to free infographic tools. As we mentioned, you can make your own infographic easily by utilizing one of many free tools. Though there are countless reputable tools available online, we’ll discuss four of the top recommendations:
Canva
This is arguably the most popular free infographic tool. They have an infographic template library to help you create an infographic from scratch. Using their site you’ll have access to hundreds of free elements that can be used to customize your unique design. All you have to do is subscribe to their site. You’ll find it worth your while because they provide various tools to edit and manipulate images, which makes creating an infographic fun and easy.
Visme
Visme infographic maker offers a all-in-one design tool to create professional infographics to suit your needs. As I see it, Visme’ infographic creator is a must have tool for the non-designers who publish infographics, interactive infographics and beautiful animated infographics online.
Piktochart
This is a wonderful infographic maker that offers a wide variety of ready-to-use templates. Their selling point is that they provide all features needed to manually manipulate images, add and delete elements, change background colors, and much more. Piktochart is a freemium tool that offers different pricing packages but is free for a basic account. If you decide to upgrade to the PRO version, you’ll have access to more template options and customization capabilities.
Easel.ly
Finally, there’s Easel.ly. This site offers infographic themes that can be fully customized. You can use the tool to change the element disposition according to your unique infographic theme. The tool features a ‘click and drag’ feature that gives you lots of freedom when creating an infographic. This infographic maker is really simple to use and it’s free!
For example, let’s Create an Infographic on Canva
Canva is an easy free infographic maker tool (with paid options) that’s recommended for anyone looking to create high-quality beautiful infographics for free. You’ll find that it’s intuitive and easy to use. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to use the site (similar to the other platforms):
How to Create an Infographic with Canva (Step-by-step guide)
- Create an account with Canva. You have the option to use your Facebook ID, Gmail, or other email address of your choice to sign up.
- Click on “Create a Design” and then select “Infographic”.
- You should now see a selection of paid and free templates on the left-side menu. Click on your desired image and drag it to the section used for editing.
- If your infographic is divided into two parts, choose the option to duplicate the layout.
- You can edit every textbox. However, you can only drag images to other areas on the page or delete them. To add text, click the option text and then select the “Add Heading” option to add a title, body text, subheading, and so forth.
- To add images, navigate to the “Uploads” section and begin to upload the files. Make sure images are in PNG format, so they don’t come with a solid white background.
- If you are adding links to your infographic, simply choose the “LINK” option and then paste the URL into the dialogue bar.
- Use the font, spacing, size, etc. to customize your text according to your personal preferences.
- Once it’s finished, you can begin to share your creation directly from Canva. To do this, select “SHARE” near the upper-right header, and input the recipient email addresses.
- Once you’ve made all final changes, click on “FILE” and select “SAVE”. Your infographic will then be saved.
How To Use The Infographic
Now that you’ve created a high-quality stunning infographic, what do you do with it? The best thing you can do is find an infographics website and submit your infographic. For example, you can submit your infographic to us here at Infographics Archive. Just be sure that it was made with high-quality images, and you submit it with unique text attached.
If you don’t have time to do this yourself, you can always hire someone to do it for you. Infographics are important tools that should be used in every digital marketing campaign.
In Conclusion …
In conclusion, there are many different resources that can help not only enhance your content but also provide you with a good user experience. Infographics are one such resource, as they allow you to share information in a way that’s convenient and easy to understand. The best part is that if you use the free tools we discussed above, you don’t need to have prior design skills to create a high-quality infographic.
With so many social media tools available to create infographics, you’re bound to find one that fits your needs. While some are free to use, most paid services offer trials so that you can truly test out their platform before committing long term. Either way, there’s no doubt that you’ll be able to find a tool to create your infographics.
Once you have your perfect infographic designed, don’t forget to share it on social media or in your next blog post! By getting your graphic out there, you can engage your audience, gain social media followers via Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook and other popular channels. Increase brand awareness, drive traffic to your website, and prove to your audience that you are an expert in your field!
Don’t wait any longer! Use the free tools we discussed, or hire an infographic design firm to help create a unique data visualization to include in your next marketing campaign!
