Content Marketing & Digital PR Content Top 5 tips for creating infographics Apr 11th, 2016 Everyone loves a good infographic. It’s well established that humans prefer visual content: our brains process images more effectively than text alone… Meanwhile, colours increase people’s willingness to read a piece of content by 80%, which make infographics an irresistibly compelling and visually powerful way of presenting data and concepts. They can make complicated or dry information (especially statistics, relationships and comparisons) more accessible and easier to understand, as well as being more memorable, emotionally engaging and shareable. According to HubSpot, infographics are liked and shared on social media 3 times more than other any other type of content. Creating infographic content can be an excellent way of repurposing existing content – making it a win-win strategy for marketers. Here are a few design secrets on what we think makes a successful infographic. 1. Know your audience Who is likely to read and share the infographic? And what would they like to see? Think about the blog placement and the tone of voice. What have other designers and companies created for the same subject? In the example below, business intelligence company, Domo, takes the complex subject of ‘big data’ and breaks into manageable chunks that can be understood at a glance – just enough to pique the interests of the executives the brand is targeting, and relevant to the digital channels across which people share. 2. Nail down a theme Pick a colour scheme 5 or 6 swatches is plenty to work off; use this to inspire you rather than limit yourself. Choose your fonts Pick a headline and subheader font that work well together, then pick a legible font for the body copy, keep the number of styles to a minimum. Develop an illustrative style You should have a good idea from your research from point 1 and from reading the copy what sort of style will work best for the piece. Vector illustration can be easily adaptable, but bear in mind you might need to use photography as well, ie, for product shots. All of these points are illustrated in Conversion Conference’s infographic below. 3. Keep it simple Don’t overcomplicate the piece visually, especially if the facts and figures are overwhelming. Remember to round any numbers, and find simpler ways of presenting hefty information. For instance, “24.67497% of people eat eggs for breakfast”? This doesn’t read very well – round it up and create a visual piece out of that fact: “1 in 4 people eat eggs for breakfast”. 4. Tell the story The piece should flow seamlessly from section to section, vary the colours while sticking to the palettes but make sure that each part of the infographic belongs to each other. This infographic uses a visually striking colour palette, illustrations and wrestling as a metaphor to compare the pros and cons of social media and search marketing – and make the point that they are best used in conjunction. 5. Sources Always include the sources at the bottom of the infographic so that people can fact check your information if they want to. It doesn’t seem very trustworthy if you’re supplying tons of figures and there’s nothing to back it up! Looking for further tips and guidance on content marketing? Download this complimentary content marketing eBook!