Creating an infographic can sound intimidating. But don’t let it scare you. Getting started is easier than you think.
So you’ve done your homework, and you know the best way to increase your brand engagement, traffic and overall performance is to create an infographic.
Yet, when you google examples, you’re overwhelmed or lost and suddenly unmotivated. Well, luckily you took a deep breath, continued your Google search and found me.
Hello world! I’m Mike Ploger here with Visme to help you take your infographics from zero to hero. Helping others create infographics is what we do best. And in this video we’ll help you get off the ground with 14 do’s and don’ts of designing infographics.
Shall we?
1. Text and Visual Balance
The point of creating an infographic is to help a viewer understand the topic without reading what feels like a novel. As you begin, explore your content and analyze what could be turned into a visual.
One place to start could be turning statistics into graphs. Or if your theme is about the workplace, include a cartoon of someone sitting at a desk.
Once you’ve discovered a few ideas, start to remove any information that maybe isn’t the most relevant. Only keep information that directly drives your message home.
For the text that you do want to keep, consider using bold fonts or unique styles to help it stand out. Then put your ideas on paper. Create an outline like the one that we have here to help you visualize the final product.
This is the best way to get an idea of your text to visual balance.
2. Fonts and Typography
While you want to emphasize some of your text, you want to make sure you’re not overdoing it. There are two basic rules to keep you in line.
First, only stick to 2 to 3 different fonts. You shouldn’t need any more than 2, and if you want to add some flare, just change up the styling. Make it bold or a little bit bigger.
The second rule of thumb is to not go berserk with your text colors. Again, just like fonts, no more than 2 to 3 colors are needed. You want the text color to balance out with your icons and illustrations.
And if you want to explore more about font pairing, check out Visme’s video that we’ve posted in the description. Visme’s founder Payman Taei helps you decide what works best in what situation.
3. Margins
When you create an infographic, it’s easy for it to get out of hand and start to look sloppy. Keeping even margins around the edges of your infographic is the first step to ensuring a clean image.
The empty spacing on the right should be the same as the empty spacing on the left. Same with the spacing at the top and on the bottom.
Keeping an organized image is key in maintaining a viewer and our next example will help even more.
But before we get to that, here’s another pro tip. Visme templates have set margins. They can be found at Visme.co right now but first, before you leave me, we have some more tips to get to.
4. Spacing
Okay, keeping with spacing. Just as margins need to be equally spaced, the same is true with elements within a design.
Look at the difference between these two infographics here.
One has far too much text and no spacing plan. Meanwhile the other one utilizes white space and has equal spacing beginning with the headers, sub headers and even works all the way through with the icons and the texts.
All the design elements have equal spacing throughout the entire infographic.
If you’ve ever heard of the term gutter, it’s referring to the spacing that we’re talking about right now. And nobody likes clogged gutters.
5. Color Scheme
Choosing your color scheme shouldn’t require much time. The obvious choice is to stick with colors that match your brand, but if you decide to stay away from your brand, just make sure you use attractive colors to lock a viewer in.
Also keep in mind that colors have psychological effects on viewers. Bright colors can elicit happiness while dark colors are gloomy. So think ahead, be proactive and don’t choose any more than three colors.
6. Visual Hierarchy
What is visual hierarchy? Great question. Essentially it’s placing elements of a design in order of importance. Some details are more important than others, and that needs to be made clear.
Titles always takes the top spot, which is why they are typically the largest font and at the top on an infographic.
Then maybe after that you have a header, so you want to make that a little bit smaller than your title but bigger than the rest of your texts.
Your icons and subheaders should be substantial, but not to the point where they’re competing for attention. Which brings me to my next point.
7. Sizing the Elements
In order to create a visual hierarchy, the elements in your design need to be as big as their importance. However, that doesn’t mean every element should be a different size.
Keep repeated types of content the same size. Like your icons, headers and texts. This is another area where Visme’s templates make your life easier. The sizing is done for you, making infographic design easier than ever.
8. Infographic Size
Don’t begin creating your infographic with the impression that size doesn’t matter. It does. Depending on where you plan to share your infographic, there are a few rules to follow.
If your platform is Instagram or a postcard, a square or landscape format is the best. If you want to share on Pinterest, make sure you go vertical. By going vertical, you can also crop a square portion of the infographic and still post it to Instagram.
Plan ahead and optimize your infographic for the right platform.
9. Image Quality
Hey, maybe you decided to break the norm and use photography rather than illustrations. If you are doing this, you just have to make sure that you’re using the highest resolution images possible. I know, duh! But it needs to be said.
There are a few reminders that I have for you that could save you actual legal trouble down the road.
First, don’t use images you don’t have the rights to. And also, only use royalty free images that don’t require a license. Yes, you can find these on Google but only with the proper search terms.
10. Icons
The most important tip to remember with your icons above all the ones that we’ve already covered, is that your icons in your infographic must all follow the same style.
There are a number of different icon styles to choose from on Visme’s website. From line icons, flat or solid icons and even isometric icons that look 3D. But whatever style you choose for your first icon needs to be the same for your second, your third, your fourth and so on.
Lastly, as we have mentioned, just make sure your colors match your texts and only use free or licensed icons.
11. Interactivity
Including interactivity on your infographics is an excellent way to increase engagement and keep a viewer focused on your brand. Now, unless you’re a software engineer, this might sound pretty scary, but I promise anybody can do it.
Find a code widget that you like and copy it into the HTML editor of your website. Ensure it’s a responsive code so it looks good on any platform. Interactive infographics are best for your website but less responsive on social media.
However, you can still download them in JPEG format and share on social with a link as a call-to-action button. And if you’re still hesitant to dive into HTML coding, Visme does it for you if you use our infographic editor.
12. Animation
Just like interactivity, animation may seem like a scary task. However, the benefit of standing out and catching attention right away is always worth a little extra work. Before you dive in, there are a few important do’s and don’t to remember.
Do keep the animations balanced. Don’t go overboard. And do have the same delay time for each animation, one after the other. Don’t have them all move at the same time.
And to use your animated infographic on your website, copy the responsive code and insert it into a full-width section of the page. Insert the snippet into a code block on your page’s builder or into the HTML sheet.
13. Data Widgets
Now it’s not an infographic without information. Including research-based data is a necessity and there are plenty of ways to do so without boring your readers.
I’m talking about charts, graphs, maps, flow charts; take yourself back to elementary school and create the perfect data widget for your information.
Just make sure you don’t go overboard. Too many can be overwhelming. The same rules apply here as with our other tips. Consider the spacing, colors, sizing when implementing your charts into your infographic.
Just like with everything else, you must achieve visual balance in your infographic.
14. Legal Issues
Our last tip for you in this video could very well be the most important. It’s what will save you both time and money later on down the road.
We’ve touched on it already, but please make sure that you have permission to use any icons, photos or even data within your infographic. The last thing you want is to find a notice in your mailbox requiring legal action.
It’s simple and something you should always double check. Just ensure you have permission or the licenses required to use those visual elements. Also, go ahead and include the URL where you found the information. It’s better to be safe than sorry.
There is one really easy way to ensure you won’t run into legal issues. Do you have any guesses?
Build your infographic with Visme! By signing up for a free account, you have access to content within the editor that allows you to live a worry-free life filled with viewers and increase brand engagement.
Hey! That’s all I have for you today. If you haven’t already, I encourage you to sign up on Visme and use our infographic builder. I promise it will make your life a lot easier.
Once you do that, come back here and check out our YouTube channel to see how we can help your design life even more. Just don’t forget to hit that subscribe button so you get notifications for our latest content,
Hey! We’ll catch you back here next time. Thank you so much for watching and good luck! For now, I’m Mike Ploger with Visme helping you Make Information Beautiful.
