We’ve all heard the phrase ‘a picture paints a thousand words’. Colourful images are great for grabbing attention. But you need words and numbers to communicate precise information.
By combining these elements, infographics can give us the best of both worlds, and engage audiences more effectively than text alone.
The power of infographics was shown in an eye-tracking test for the National State of the Environment Report.
The test showed that the infographics we developed to convey some of the report’s key messages really captured users’ attention. We found that the ‘dwell time’ – how long users spent looking at something – was more than 10 times greater for the infographic than for the text.
But infographics aren’t always the answer. They can be a powerful communication tool when created and used strategically but done badly or for the wrong reasons, they are an expensive waste of time and effort.
What is an effective infographic?
Infographics combine text and visual information to engage the audience and help them understand complex concepts.
Infographics can be about:
- data, to tell a story with data when a graph is not engaging enough or cannot present enough information
- a process, to explain at a glance how a process works
- a message, to help readers understand an idea or concept.
An effective infographic is clear and engaging, it means the audience says ‘Now I get it!’.
What is not an effective infographic?
Content creators can fall into the trap of wanting an infographic to enliven their work without thinking about what they want to say or what the infographic aims to achieve.
Common errors include:
- too many messages – trying to cover all details of the concept will result in a busy and confusing infographic; instead, focus on the key message you want your audience to understand, which might mean omitting some details, simplifying complex ideas or breaking ideas down into several parts
- too much text – reading large blocks of text slows the reader’s interaction with the infographic and weakens the overall message; brief, effective text that matches the graphics works better
- trying to be too close to real life – audiences can often more quickly and readily recognise a cartoon icon than a real-life drawing of the same object, and visuals don’t need to be realistic to prompt the audience to think of a certain thing; for example, younger computer users recognise the ‘save’ symbol even though they have never used a floppy disk.
How to create an effective infographic
Making effective infographics is an iterative process, involving a writer or editor and a designer working together. Tasks include:
- understanding the context – have a clear aim and know your audience
- finding the story – decide on 1 clear main message for the infographic; you should be able to sum this up in 1 punchy sentence
- establishing visual structure – a logical structure helps the user to understand the story, which might mean finding an overarching metaphor, such as a ladder to show progress, or an umbrella to show protection
- drafting the design – the design makes the infographic visually appealing without obscuring the message, and refining the text as you go will make sure it is as short as possible while still supporting the visual content
- testing the infographic with expert and non-expert audiences – the expert audience can identify what’s wrong or missing, and the non-expert audience can tell you whether it’s understandable.
Remember..
- An infographic is not always the answer! Sometimes you simply need a graph, statement or list.
- ‘Info’ is crucial to an infographic. An infographic is not just an illustration to liven up a page.
- Test and iterate! There’s no magic formula to developing a great infographic; you just need to think, draft and try it out with your users.
Learn more
- Find more guidance on communicating data visually in Biotext’s Quick guide to effective data visualisation and infographics.
- Keep an eye on Biotext training courses – we run short online workshops on data literacy and data visualisation, and writing and editing complex content.
- Subscribe to the Australian manual of style to access detailed guidance on communicating complex and technical information.
