A Beginner’s Guide To Infographic Design

Do you have some cool datasets to show off to people? A great survey result that you know will change everything? Or a hilarious comparison you want to share with people and make them laugh?

The thing with survey results, datasets, and numbers is, they can be a bit complicated. Even though every dataset tells a story, it can often be hard to glean that story from long rows and columns of numbers and percentages.

Infographic designs make that boring and complex data into an engaging tale of surprise, discovery, and illumination.

As per this stats collection by Hubspot:

• Infographics can increase a site’s traffic by 12%.
• People are 30 times more likely to read an infographic from start to finish than blog posts or newspaper articles.
• Viewers are 323% more likely to complete an action when it is accompanied by visual instructions.
• 84% of people who engage with infographics find them useful.
• Infographics (plus other vibrant visuals) can drive sales up by 80%.

In this post, we cover what an infographic is, how to create one, and how to nail its design elements. As we learn the art of making an infographic, we’ll pepper our discussion with real-life and our brand-made infographic designs so you can see how it works out here in the wild.

What is an infographic?

If we decide to go granular, infographics are simply ‘information graphics’. An infographic can be anything where information (numerical data and otherwise) is presented in a graphical format. This format can include text, numbers, icons, colors, fonts, symbols, photographs, illustrations, and more.

Why do we make infographics?

Because reading long chunks of text can be time-consuming. Not everyone has the time for that and not everyone is as interested as we are in what we have to say.

Infographics are the way to make our information as appealing to the masses as possible, and as straightforward to receive and digest as we can make it.

How do infographics help us with our communication goals?

No matter which sector of the economy you belong to or the size, scope, or type of your business, there are six primary communication goals every business strives to achieve. An effective infographic design can help us with them all.

• Overview: You want to provide a simple overview of a topic. A general introduction or understanding.
• Simplify. This goal aims to simplify complicated concepts and processes so a wide range of stakeholders (and the public) can understand them without effort.
• Share Info. With this goal, we seek to share important information, findings, and data.
• Summarize. When you want to distill a long blog post or report into its key points to drive the point home.
• Compare and Contrast. This goal allows us to make the right choice or at least see both sides of the topic.
• Raise Awareness. Businesses seek to raise awareness about issues that matter to them or their consumers.

Infographics, thanks to their versatility and comprehensiveness, offer us layouts where different infographic design ideas are suited to different goals.

• Information infographics are great for presenting overviews and sharing important findings.
• Comparison infographics with a touch of storytelling can raise awareness and show contrasts between the two options.
• Map infographics and flowcharts are ideal for showing summaries and providing simplifications.

Once you walk past the beginner level, you can get creative with layouts and combine multiple infographic styles to share a story with depth and angles.

How to make an infographic

What makes a good infographic? What are infographic design best practices? What must you do to create a data visualization tale that lands on its mark and never misses a beat?

Start with your story!

Dig up the story you want to tell

Every dataset has a story to tell. Sift through your data to find out the story you want to share.

Do you want to share a famous person’s journey to excellence? Want to explore a hypothetical scenario like what would happen if the earth stopped spinning? Have some fun coffee stats to share?

Your story will guide you toward the right kind of infographic design for itself.

Align your story with the specific goal(s) you want to achieve through it. Do you want this story to provide a general overview? Simplify a concept? Raise awareness so people can be inspired to act?

Whatever your goal is — even if it’s something as simple as sharing a few fun facts — note it down!

It will keep you focused as you look for the right infographic design idea.

The infographic below, for example, lists actionable steps for businesses to improve their sustainability practices.

The one below, on the other hand, outlines statistics related to farming equipment and its effects on agriculture efficiency.

Let your story find you the best layout and design to highlight its key points.

2. Collect relevant data for your story

Usually, data is the trigger that sets in motion the desire to create an infographic. You get your hands on some awesome numbers and facts and you can’t share them with the world. That’s where the search for the best infographic designs comes in.

But what about all those hundreds of times when you have a few infographic ideas but not the right data to put any heart into the story? Where do you go to find relevant data to support your thesis?

You have two options to explore:

• Refine your Google searches.
• Find data from public sources.

Let’s unpack the first one.

1. Make the most of Google searches.
• Use quotes to find exact matches. For example, “Single stream recycling process”.
• Add a specific website with your search query. For example, site:statista.com single stream recycling.
• Exclude related search terms by adding a minus sign in the query. For example, single stream recycling -Wikipedia.

2. Find data from public sources.

• Google Trends Datastore: To get data on the popularity of specific searches on Google and YouTube. Enter a keyword to know how many people, and from what places, are talking about it the most.
• Statista: Publicly available third-party data.
• American Time Use Survey: To measure how people in the United States spend their time.
• Kaggle: A data science competition platform with vast swaths of data available to the public.
• Data is Plural: A weekly newsletter of datasets.
• AwesomeData: A data science repository.

Once your data is ready and you know how it will weave into the story, proceed to the next step.

3. Choose a layout that fits the purpose

There are 9 types of infographic layouts. You can always find one that fits your goals the best. Additionally, you can also mix and match the styles to tell a more comprehensive and engaging tale but that comes after a lot of practice; when you know enough to break the rules comfortably.

At the beginner level, stick with these 9 to create the most effective infographics.

3.1. Statistical infographic:

These infographics share numbers, stats, and raw data to drive the point home. Statistical infographics can exist both as standalone pieces bombarding you with critical numbers and great insights, or they can also appear along with other data visualization to deliver a broader, more wide-angled picture.

The one below demonstrates the impact of e-waste and what will happen if we decide to recycle instead.

Environmental impact of gadgets used by students. Infographic by Fundingfactory.com

In the one below, the statistical infographic appears as part of a much larger topic where stats are presented to support the main idea.

The infographic shows the benefits of choosing slow fashion. Infographic by MyWellnessMe.com

3.2. Informational infographic:

Informational infographics are used to provide an overview of a topic or cover a specific topic in a specialized, in-depth way. The basic idea is to share information, so the design is often straightforward — a descriptive header, defined sections to organize the information, and often a listicle to ensure content retention.

The infographic below shares the essentials of gradient logo designs in incredible depth and detail but keeps the content straightforward and easy to understand.

Essentials of how to create a gradient logo Infographic by FreeLogoCreator.com

3.3. Process infographics:

Process infographics are designed to visually represent most how-to ideas. When you want to know how a thing is done or what goes behind the scenes on a particular topic, process infographics straightforwardly give you the lowdown.

The one below is a pretty neat template to follow. Sections and headers keep things clean. Numbered lists tell you the order of steps to follow. And related icons keep the information clear and concise.

3.4. Location infographics

Location infographics are also called geographic infographics. These creative infographic designs use the information and present it in the context of regions and nations. The purpose of these infographic designs is to understand how geographies relate to the data coming out of them.

In the infographic below, colored maps highlight countries from where the most Islamophobic tweets originate

Map showing geolocated Islamophobic tweets. Infographic by Umar Butler/ResearchGate

The following map shows the top countries with the highest refugee populations. A quick comparison of the two can help us see that the problems may not be what we’re always told they are.

Mapping the World Refugee Population. Infographic by Statista.com

3.5. Timeline Infographics

Timeline infographics aim to put things into the context of history. How things started, where they are going, and what is happening in the now.

As natural storytellers plus visual beings, timeline infographics combine two of the most fundamental aspects of how human beings learn. This layout focuses on chronology and uses several different design tools to support it. You’ll see pie charts, flow charts, lists, and several other elements in these infographics, depending on the scope of history you aim to cover.

This timeline infographic shows the history of fast fashion using simple graphics and concise text.

The history and timeline of fast fashion. Infographic by SANVT

But in the one below, the timeline is a bit more detailed and uses several types of infographic layouts to create an elaborate tale of our history.

Map and timeline of human history. Infographic by Juan Martinez/Behance

3.6. Comparison infographics

After listing infographics, comparison infographics are probably the most famous of the lot. You can use them for all sorts of for-and-against lists: pros and cons, advantages and disadvantages, why and why not, and so much more.

Comparison infographics are the best way to visualize both sides of an argument. Sure, many of your design choices may imply you favor one side, but if you control those decisions, these infographics can be great for presenting objective, unbiased reviews and ideas.

A pros and cons list for AI. Infographic by Antonio Grasso

3.7. Hierarchical infographics

Hierarchical infographics present information in the order of its importance. Pyramids and flowcharts are the best infographic types for when you want to introduce an order of importance or spatial or time-based relationship into the design. Think of hierarchical flowcharts in office settings that demonstrate management structure or the famous pyramid of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.

Both of these are examples of hierarchical infographics and allow you to understand information with its relative significance and order.

The USDA Food Pyramid shows the necessary food items to have in a healthy diet plan. Infographic by ConceptDraw

A pyramid infographic depicting the famous Hierarchy of Needs by Abraham Maslow. Infographic by VeryWellMind

3.8. List infographics

List infographics are crazy useful when you want to list down tips, ideas, or examples. You can also use them to summarize lengthy information or deconstruct an idea to its bare bones for quick understanding and sharing.

List infographics are by far the most common and well-known infographic types, popular with the people.

4. Plan your infographic design

Now we come to the best bit: designing an infographic!

Infographic design fundamentals are the same as with any other piece of graphic design. Keep it simple, make sure colors don’t clash, the contrast should be visible, fonts legible, and so on.

So, what is the nitty-gritty to master infographic design? Take a look.

4.1. Simple and necessary text

Keep text minimal in infographics

Remember that infographics work because there’s little text to deal with. The cognitive overload remains managed because the information is sparse and easy to digest. So keep the text on the minimal side of affairs for the best results.

4.2. Large and bold headers

Make infographic header large and bold

Make your headlines bold and large so they grab the attention and convey the gist of your infographic immediately. Even when your design requires sleek and refined fonts, strive to find a balance between aesthetics and function as you look for the right font size and style for your headers.

4.3. Use icons, symbols, and shapes

Incorporate icons, symbols, and shapes.

Reiterate your point and clarify your arguments with the help of basic shapes and symbols. Use them to support relevant text, numbers, and information. A teardrop symbol for a blood donation drive infographic, for example. Or a t-shirt vector to talk about fast fashion and its ills for the environment.

4.4. Befriend pastel colors

Choose pastel colors for themes.

Infographics and lighter colors go hand in hand. Most text, even in somewhat smaller sizes, becomes easily legible when the background color is lighter. Remember to prioritize contrast when choosing infographic colors. When working with richer shades, pay close attention to text legibility before you finalize your design.

4.5. Shrink your font palette

Limit font styles for better legibility

For the visual hierarchy and information flow, pick two or three fonts for each infographic. Assign each font for a special purpose such as header font, copy font, number font, and so on. Even when you think you’re designing an in-depth piece, the infographic design best practices demand that you keep your font library small and use repetition to improve the flow of ideas.

4.6. Keep it consistent

Maintain a consistent layout and design

Consistency is the holy grail for every successful graphic design including infographic design. Consistent use of design elements across the layout will help the eye flow from one section to another seamlessly. You’ll be able to symbolize how different pieces of information connect and if that connection is significant.

4.7. Brand your infographic

Include your branding in the infographic

As handy pieces of informative designs, infographics have a massive share potential. Make the most of it placing your logo design on every infographic you make. The ideal place for that is your infographic footers but in some cases, especially when headers have some space, you can also put them on top somewhere for the most optimal visibility.

Protip: Make it easy for people to find your brand. Add your social media handles in your infographic footer!

Lastly, share your infographic far and wide!

And, if you get stuck in any of the steps above, here is the link to our user-friendly AI infographic design maker.

With tons of creative infographic design ideas to guide you, several templates to choose from, and branding opportunities at the ready, we are an infographic design service you can count on. Our templates are designer-made and supported by AI. You can customize them to the last bit of their details, and add elements to present your data perfectly.

So give it a try today and design an infographic that’s ready to support your cause!