The Impact of Infographics

Have you seen one? Do you still remember the information? What can its impact do to business and its audience? But first, let's get to know what it is.

What is infographics?

Everyone has seen infographics either in social media, books, or in tv. Like the Periodic Table, which you've most probably saw, is an infographic.

Infographic (or information graphic) is a collection of imagery, charts, and minimal text that gives an easy-to-understand overview of a topic according to MIDORI NEDIGER, and Information Designer. It is a visual content that provides specific information designed using striking colors and catchy designs or illustrations. It can be used for marketing, increase brand awareness, statistics and data, reports, proposals, or awareness of certain concerns like pollution, global warming, or the COVID-19 pandemic.

image by: bryanhealth.com

People process visual content 60,000 times faster than written content alone because 90% of the information transmitted to our brains is visual. How amazing is that! Even if they didn't exactly remember the words and numbers but the colors and the illustrations used retained in their memories.

In schools, teachers can attract their students' attention and help them remember by using infographics. Believe me, when I was in middle school, whenever our teacher shows a picture or video during class, my eyes turn towards there before my head does. It wasn't necessarily infographic all the time but its impact is similar.

Nowadays, people are busy and are no longer a big fan of information in long essay format and instead want it in short and straight to the point. Why read pages when it can just be put into a picture?

Its contribution to business

Because of its impact many marketers resort to this method in order to gain more customers or audience. As an audience, being attracted to it attracts you or convinces you to interact, call, or buy from them. Therefore, creating a cycle which keeps businesses going.

But of course, you can't just put whatever information you want, paint the words in red and voila! It's more than that. It needs to be well-thought of, unique, creative for your audience to understand and remember. The more unique and creative the more effective it is. So how do you make an effective one?

The Principles

In order to make it effective, there are few principles you need to consider to catch your audience's attention. Let's consider 2 principles.

Simplicity

- Your design doesn't need to be complicated with many colors and fonts. The "less is more" principle should be applied especially in infographic because you don't want to distract your audience on where to focus. Use no more than 3 fonts. Create a simple color palette also not exceeding 3 or 4 colors. Highlight the main information. Don't use effects unless necessary. Like the example below. Notice how it's straight to the point and simple. It uses 2 main colors - grey and turquoise blue - and just one font. But it's enough to send a message that the audience can easily read, understand, and remember.

Organize your information

- Arrange by subtitle if there are. If numbers are the highlight, increase the font size or change its color to make it noticeable. Highlight the main words and be concise - go straight to the point. Use less words as much as possible and exclude unnecessary information. The example below uses a different color of text to highlight important words. Those highlighted words are what your audience will remember the most. Notice how not EVERTHING is highlighted - just the MAIN POINT. It only has 3 points but they're what your audience will most probably need.

Infographics can be powerful. Use it as one of your marketing or teaching strategies. I hope this article has been helpful.

One of the services I offer under graphic design is infographics. You can also check out my portfolio by clicking this link. I would love to a part of your growth and success.