This document provides information and guidance about creating effective infographics. It discusses that infographics can communicate information more quickly and easily than text alone. It identifies five common types of infographics and notes that infographics allow for telling deeper, broader, and evolving stories. The document provides tips for designing successful infographics, including thorough research, grouping related items, using color effectively, keeping the design and writing concise. It emphasizes ethics in infographic design and warns that charts can sometimes mislead if not presented carefully.

1. I N F O G R A P H I C SI N F O G R A P H I C S

2. The earliest humans on the planet
shared information in pictures that
were carved and painted on rocks and
caves.

3. Maximum information in minimum space

4. Your first Twitter competition:
Who might need an infographic?

5. Infographics are best used when...
● You need to communicate quickly
● A verbal or written account is too complicated–
or tedious–for comprehension
● Your audience can’t hear or read well–or at all

6. Sometimes an infographic tells
the story faster and better than
words.

7. The Art of Cutting to the Chase

8. Consider the difference
Text Version:
A recent poll showed
that 20 percent of the
residents in Precinct A
voted for candidate
Smith, 10 percent voted
for candidate Jones, 65
percent voted for
candidate Doe, and 5
percent vote for
candidate Lee.
How they voted in precinct A

9. Infographics can tell a deeper,
broader, and evolving story better
than raw data alone.

10. Infographic: A History of Social Media

11. Types of infographics
• Sequences
• Maps
• Diagrams
• Charts and Graphs

12. Text Boxes
• Bio-box
• Quick Tips
• Fact Box
• Ordinal Lists
• Compare-Contrast
• Pro-Con
• Outlines
• Ratings
• Rankings
• Scores
• Before-After

13. Your second Twitter competition:
What are the five types of
infographics?

14. Specialized Infographics

15. Dynamically-generated
Automatically update
themselves as new
data is collected and
added to the source

16. Multimedia

17. Graphics packages

18. Infographic ethics

19. ● Never reproduce someone else’s graphic without permission
● Use credible sources and always credit your sources
● Information, not fiction–stick to the facts
● Statistics can be flawed if you present them incorrectly–be
extra careful when dealing with numbers
● If you didn’t collect the data for your infographic, put on a
skeptical hat and track down the original study

20. Charts can lie

21. Designing infogrpahics

22. Parts of an infographic
• Headline – Make it big, bold, and clear
• Explainer – A block of text that explains the graphic
• Callouts – Labels providing details about specific
elements
• Source line – Identifies the origin of your data
• Byline – Credit to the infographic artist

23. Key points to successful design
• Thoroughly research your topic
beforehand
• Group related items
• Compatible design scheme
• Color is your greatest ally
• Keep it professional, no
ornamentation
• Keep the writing tight, concise,
use third person , and use action
verbs

24. Your last assignment:
Tweet me @RubyAria with your
pie chart of the four
artists/songs you can’t get
enough of currently
Create Your Pie Chart!

25. Thank you!
Enjoy your treats :)

26. Images courtesy of:
• Guide to coffee
• World Map
• Evolution
• Aquiziam
• Too Much Iron
• Edudemic
• Nikon Rumors
• Rebecca Hagen
• Heights Technology
• Pie Color
• Meta-chart
• Design Infographics
• Pentax
• Routledge

27. Works Cited
Golombisky, Kim, and Hagen,
Rebecca. White Space is Not Your
Enemy. Indiana: Taylor & Francis.
2013. Print.