Here is a nine step guide in creating an infographic that will captivate your audience.
1. Decide what infographic to make
Is it going to be a brand infographic or an editorial? A brand infographic will typically be similar to press releases. You can use them to introduce new products, announce an acquisition or celebrate a new milestone. These types of infographics will use brand colours, fonts and any other guidelines you have to make it clear who produced the infographic.
Editorial infographics are usually story driven. They illustrate a topic’s history, share research or contrast and compare certain elements. Your company’s name won’t have to appear at the bottom as you are trying to provide value.
2. Lay the groundwork
Now you can establish the infographic’s audience and message, as well as the platform, format and size.
3. Gather the data
Collect all of the information that you would like to include in your infographic. If there’s any data that you want to include, this is the time to find it.
4. Uncover the story
Now that you have the information, it’s time to discover the possible stories. Look for any trends, growth, declines or anything along those lines.
When you have your story, you will be able to support it with all of the relevant data that you collected. Condense this into a one or two page brief – and voilà, you’ve got a story planned.
5. Build a wireframe
A wireframe is the term used for a graphic designer’s blueprint. Here you should create a draft of your infographic without worrying about any stylistic details. You just want to find out if all of your information will fit. This can also help you filter out any unnecessary data that you don’t need.
6. Create a mood board
If you ever redecorated before, you’ve probably tried a number of paints on a wall before choosing one. This use the same idea, bit it’s for infographics. Try out colours, imagery, icons etc. until you find the right ones.
7. Design
The design of the infographic tends to happen at the end of the process to help minimise the amount of mistakes. If you’re hiring a designer to do the infographic, sending it back for a number of changes can get costly!
8. Launch
You will need to launch the infographic on your chosen platform(s) before distributing it to journalists or posting it on social media.
9. Spread the word
Now it’s time to share it with the world! Be conscious of the infographic’s format however. Depending on where you put it, it can show up differently. Try to test it before posting!
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