The dos and don’ts of infographics

When it comes to the dos and don’ts of infographics, our first definite do before you put pen to paper (or should that be keystroke to keyboard?) is to ask yourself three questions to bring the whole exercise into the sharpest possible focus:

1. What story do you want to tell?
2. How is this information best visualised? What information stands out?
3. What are the main takeaways you want your audience to take from your infographic?

If you skip this step, you could come out with something that doesn’t really do what you wanted it to, or something a bit flabby and confused that doesn’t have the immediate visual and educational impact required to achieve your no1 outcome.  Results!

Now you know what you want your infographic to do, let’s get into the fun part.  The creative.

What you should do and don’t do to create great infographics

Everybody loves an infographic, don’t they?

They’re more engaging than text. 

They’re quicker and easier to absorb information from. 

But there are also some really bad ones out there!  To make sure your next infographics don’t fall into that trap here’s a quick blast through our dos and don’ts. 

Do:

• Tell a story (with a beginning, middle and end)
• Keep it simple
• Show information in a way that makes sense
• Use appropriate metaphors, examples, and imagery
• Create graphics that visualise and represent any data in an easily digestible format
• Give at least some background and context to bring the points to life
• Create unique graphics that fit the content and tie it to you and your brand
• Leave plenty of room for the information to work
• Craft separate content that works properly across your various marketing channels

Don’t:

• Show a load of data with no ‘real world’ context
• Try to say too much at once
• Confuse or repel your audience with weird or cliched design choices
• Misrepresent/misinterpret the information for your own ends
• Rely on loads of charts and graphs
• Assume the reader already understands your topic
• Use a “one size fits all” approach for every topic, every channel and every audience
• Don’t clutter up every millimetre of space on the screen
• Forget to think about who you’re talking to and how/where they absorb information
• Try to cram everything you want to say into one chart or onto one frame 
• Use boring, overly long titles that try to cover everything in one boring, overly long sentence

If you’re thinking about producing new infographics or motion graphics for your social media channels or website, please get in touch by emailing us at [email protected].  We’d love to hear what you want to do and offer some suggestions on how you could do it.