It is a fact most of us are able to process visual presentations better than the written word. In fact, according to the research conducted by 3M- the maker of Post-its, the human brain can process visual data about 60,000x faster than text. This is mainly the reason why infographics have become a huge trend. Due to its growing popularity, many businesses are now using visual illustrations as marketing and advertising tools.
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Online users, businesses, media, and publishing professionals are aware that infographics are very in demand, and they are more capable of going viral than a standard written blog post or article. If you are thinking of creating an infographic with the hopes of getting it to go viral, you first need to learn how to get started with infographics.
Understanding Infographics And Their Benefits
Infographics are visual representations that combine creative design and images with data. Due to their ability to explain and communicate complex data through visual illustrations, they get more mileage than written content or graphics alone. These graphical representations can be used for presentations, press releases, marketing, or news.
There are many reasons why using infographics is beneficial, especially for online business. The following are a few of them:
- Infographics are visually stunning, and the pieces of information are easily digested by viewers.
- They are able to present details easily and in a very organized manner.
- They are shareable across various media and platforms; thus, they can go viral, resulting to increased traffic and search engine ranking
Credits: Stefan Leijon Creative Commons image source
Tips For Beginners: Making Infographics
Use Graphics And Information Wisely: The content presented in an infographic is just as important as attractive and clear visual quality; thus, you need to choose an interesting topic that is valuable to your intended audience.
For instance, you may want to present the survey results which your company has conducted, or present helpful facts about the industry. You need to properly combine the data and graphical elements from various sources and categories instead of relying in a single source.
Properly Plan Out Your Infographic: Another practical advice is to plan out your infographic. This means you must map out the flow of information by outlining the flow and direction of your visual presentation. As a tip, you can use basic boxes and arrows to demonstrate the flow of information and where each pieces of content is going to be placed.
Lastly, you must remember to place your company name, logo, and website within the infographic in an area where it won’t be easily cropped out. This will help inform your audience about your company or brand.
Think Outside The Box: Get creative. You need to explore other ideas and methods of presenting visual illustrations so that your target audience will see something new in your infographics. Online viewers are always looking for new and fresh ideas. If you present them with an engaging and unique infographic, it will catch their attention and hold it long enough so that you can get your message across. If they enjoy your infographics, they will share them in social media platforms and blogging communities.
Use Templates And Icons: This tip is for those who are not an infographic designer by profession. If you are an amateur infographic designer, you can use templates and icons to build your infographics. There is software and websites that contain a lot of pie charts, graphs, maps, and symbols which you can edit and use. You can also get an infographic template from online providers, but you will incur added costs.
Outsourcing: If you don’t have the skills, experience, patience, and time to create an engaging and effective graphical presentation, you have the option to outsource them. There are top-notch infographic designers who are ready to create your infographics on your behalf for a reasonable cost.
This guest post is written by Kris Hopkins, a writer for infographic design companies and websites. Some of her written works have been used by DesignerInfographics.com, a leading infographic design agency.