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| Image courtesy of Hot Butter Studio |
An infographic is a visual representation of data or knowledge that presents complex information quickly and clearly. Infographics can include pie charts, bar charts, wave diagrams and symbols—any sort of visual representation of information.
However, the best and most effective infographics are designed to include a variety of elements, such as images, colour and text, in order to make them appealing and to grab our attention.
Why use an infographic?
As the internet continues its exponential growth, it brings us more and more information to read and try to understand, and there is only so much we can absorb. In today’s world, when most of us are time poor, who has the time to sift through pages and pages of plain text?
That’s where the infographic steps in.
Studies show that the human brain can process entire images that the eye sees for as little as 13 milliseconds. Images are also easily stored in our brain, making them more likely to be retained in our long-term memory.
This means you are able to convey key messages more quickly and effectively if there is some visual component. This is important to remember when you are creating web pages, writing blogs, or posting on social media.
Who Has the Time to be Across Every Platform?
It seems that new social media tools, channels and platforms are being launched every few months. There are now so many that, realistically, we can't expect to be across them all, all of the time.
This means that in an extremely crowded market place, you need to be able to make an impact, and to convey a message in the shortest time possible but yet in a way that nevertheless impacts upon the viewer.
Infographics therefore represent a sound investment of your time.
More Appealing, Easy To Share
A picture is worth a thousand words. This is definitely the case with infographics. People also love sharing content that has captured their attention. Which would you rather read—a detailed two thousand word report with multiple footnotes and tables, or a colourful, easily-accessible infographic that summarises all of that same data in fraction of the time?
Start creating your own infographics
It’s simple. There are plenty of free tools that you can use, such as Infogr.am or Piktochart which provide templates, icons, and readymade designs. Or you can leave it to the experts and ask a graphic designer to create one for you.
In either case, start to think visually about your blog and your social media posts—use the power of the image to hep you say what you want to say more quickly, efficiently ad effectively.
