How To Create an Infographic That Gets Noticed

A woman holding a whiteboard that says "Innovation" with data visualizations to help create an excellent infographic.

CopyPress

May 7, 2018 (Updated: January 18, 2022)

Infographics are the fourth most-used type of content marketing. This means that there’s likely a lot of competition out there for getting people to view your infographics. So what can you do about that? It might sound simple: Just create something eye-catching and easy to read and understand. But putting this practice into action may take more strategy than you expect. In this article, we cover the following topics to help you learn how to create an infographic that gets noticed:

Organization Choices for an Infographic
How To Choose the Right Words for Your Infographic
What Design Elements Affect Your Infographic?
Tips For Designing an Infographic That Gets Noticed
Infographic Resources

Organization Choices for an Infographic

One of the first steps to figuring out how you want to create an infographic is choosing how to present and organize the information. Knowing what layout you want before you even collect your statistics and information can make it easier to choose exactly which facts and figures fit best within the story you’re trying to tell. Some organizational options include:

Timeline

Image via Venngage

Timelines are a popular choice for infographic designs because they show information about the subject linearly in a way that’s already natural for people to understand. With this type, you can use simple icons to illustrate significant points in time. You can also use contrasting colors and varied font sizes to emphasize major events. Timelines lend themselves to topics such as:

Explaining history
Looking at the evolution of a product or topic
Sharing information closely tied to dates or eras

Alphabetical Order

Image via Venngage

If you’re sharing a variety of information on one topic, an alphabetical infographic could be a good choice. For example, you could make a design that shows the A-Z of infographics, discussing a keyword or statistic about them for each letter of the alphabet. This is another option that lets you organize information in a way that people are already familiar with, such as through dictionaries or indexes.

Venn Diagrams

Image via Cool Infographics

Venn diagram infographics are helpful for displaying data and information about two or more concepts with comparative and contrasting traits. The information that’s unique to each topic appears in a separate circle, and the information that applies to both appears where the circles intersect. Some topics that might work well with this type of infographic include:

Pro and con lists
Do and don’t lists
Comparison lists of similarities and differences

Data Representations

Image via Flickr by @billybrown00

Most infographics show statistics, numbers, facts, and other numerical data. Showing this kind of information in graphical form can make it easier for people to understand or make it look more persuasive. Some options to use for data representation infographics may include:

Pie charts
Bar graphs
Data plots
Line graphs

How To Choose the Right Words for Your Infographic

Though infographics are visual pieces of content, they still include text. As with any other piece of content, it’s important to get the words right to make the infographic most valuable to your audience. Think of your infographic as an essay. Each different section tells you one piece about the primary topic. Create an outline for yourself in a word processing or note program so you can add facts, sources, and information about each section. Some sections to consider including are:

Title
Subtitle
Introduction
Main problem or question
Supporting details
Key facts or figures
Conclusion
Call-to-action (CTA)
Source citations

Think about the text and how you intend for the design to flow. This can help you determine what information is actually the most important and effective for your graphic. Remember to use your target keywords throughout the graphic as you would in a traditional written piece for consistency.

What Design Elements Affect Your Infographic?

After you’ve chosen the flow and the content, the last phase is to determine how you want to display it all. What’s going to make people not only stop and look at your infographic but read it all the way through? Most times, it’s the design elements. When choosing a design, it’s important to pick a style and tone that carries throughout the entire graphic. The style should enhance and emphasize every point in your graphic and be unique enough to stand out among other similar infographics while still prioritizing clarity. Consider these elements when choosing your design structure:

Color Schemes

Decide what color scheme may make sense for your infographic. If it’s describing an aspect of your business, it might help to use your brand color palette for consistency. If you’re talking about a specific topic associated with a color scheme, consider using that. For example, if the infographic is about how much Halloween candy a store sells, you may use shades of orange and black for the infographic.

It’s important to use between two and four colors per infographic to keep it from becoming too busy or distracting. Three colors in varying shades–a primary color, an accent color, and a text color–is often enough. Don’t be afraid of white space either. Having spacing between your elements helps draw attention to colorful items and gets viewers to look at the important areas of your graphic.

Fonts

Selecting which fonts to use can be just as important as picking a color scheme. As with every design element, picking something that’s eye-catching but also clear and pleasing for the reader is ideal. Like with color schemes, try not to overload your graphic with too many different or contrasting fonts. Between two and four is still a good option, with three–one for titles and headers, accents or emphasis, and regular text–is ideal. When choosing your fonts, consider the mood of the piece. Is it serious or fun? Who’s the target audience? Is it children, pet owners, or corporate partners?

Answering these questions can help you choose which types of fonts are most appropriate for the infographic. Often the title and accent fonts are the ones that can be more creative and eye-catching. It’s best practice to use a readable serif or sans serif font for paragraphs or description text to make it as clear as possible. When considering fonts, also review how they look in other styles and sizes, such as bold. These changes may help you make your decision on which fonts are right for the project.

Symbols

Symbols are pictures, icons, or graphics that give infographics their unique feel. When used appropriately, they can help tell a story that reinforces the message and points you’re trying to share with your content. Consider what symbols make sense with your design and what they can convey to the audience. For example, a thumbs-up symbol often indicates something good or someone’s approval. It would make more sense to include it with positive or helpful content than with negative content.

You can use symbols in a variety of ways for infographics. They can take the place of certain words or phrases, provide a context for data points and information, or serve as decorations to make the piece more visually appealing.

Tips for Designing an Infographic That Gets Noticed

Use these tips to help you prepare an infographic that gets noticed on the internet:

Find an Image and Text Balance

Remember, an infographic is a visual representation of your information. Less text can actually be more effective. While the infographic can and should contain some words, try to use them only where it’s most necessary for clarity. Consider other ways to share textual information, such as turning a paragraph about statistics into a pie chart to help the reader better visualize the concept.

Too many symbols or images can also make the graphic confusing to read. Without enough textual information, a viewer may not make sense of the connection among original pieces of data you share. Finding a balance is key. There’s not a perfect ration of text to images, and it may differ by graphic and topic.

Use an Editor

Once you’ve created your infographic, get someone else to edit it, both for text clarity and visual aesthetics. You may ask a coworker, friend, or family member to review it for you. You can also consider hiring a freelance graphic designer or editor to proof the infographic for you. Getting someone else to look at it can help you make sure that it’s easy to read and interesting to look at.

These people can also catch any spelling or grammar errors you may miss, or consistency among the flow. If you have time before publication, it may be helpful to get feedback from multiple people to ensure the infographic is ready for public distribution.

Create Supporting Content

While infographics are content in their own right, you can create other supplementary content pieces that pull from the same information to repurpose the research you’ve already done. Consider writing a blog post or article that discusses the same information. You may also think about creating an explainer video or podcast episode discussing the content. The more pieces you can create around similar information, the more opportunities you have for content sharing and both internal and external linking, which can improve your reach and SEO.

Develop a Central Theme

Infographics aren’t just meant as community billboards to toss up a smattering of data and statistics. While many often include these elements, they’re themed around a specific topic. Choose your primary theme before you research and collect information, so that all your data is relative and focused.

Focus on Titles and Headings

Just like with pieces of written content, the headings and titles are likely the first things people notice about your infographic and the first things they read. If they’re not engaging, either in text or visuals, people may not take the time to stop and explore the graphic further. Besides choosing the right fonts, asking questions in your headings may help people stop and ponder, then view your infographic for the answer.

Cite Your Sources

When referencing information and data from other companies, make sure you cite your sources. You can do this in-text by mentioning the company name and adding a link if appropriate. You can also do this as you would for a research paper, by using superscript numbers and footnotes at the bottom of the graphic. This is key to proving that your statistics and data are real, from reputable sources that people can trust.

Consider Your Target Audience

Who are you making this infographic for? Is it for a singular customer or to sway a business into partnering with your company? What are the audience demographics? Knowing this information before you even begin the design process can help guide every choice you make. If you’re unsure of what the target audience likes, you can do market research through tools like social media to find out what’s most appealing.

Add a CTA

Remember, your infographic is a part of your content marketing strategy. Don’t forget to include an all-important CTA to encourage people to do something else once they’ve read through it. What’s the purpose of the infographic? Which of your business goals is it supporting and promoting? Knowing the answers to these questions can help you choose the right CTA for each one.

Infographic Resources

Looking for more information about how to create the best infographic and how they can support your content marketing strategies? Check out some of the other resources you can find from CopyPress:

Articles

Browse these articles to help you learn more about creating infographics:

eBooks

Read these eBooks to learn more about developing infographics for your business:

Blog Posts

Review these blog posts to discover even more information about infographics:

An infographic is a way to provide useful information wrapped into a stylish and easy-to-read graphic. They relay visual messages that are easy to understand and share across all your content marketing platforms. If you decided you’d rather let the experts do the work than design an infographic yourself, turn to CopyPress! Our team of creative, dedicated designers can develop infographics to meet all your content needs.