There’s nothing quite like an infographic when you’re trying to get information across in a succinct and easy-to-understand way.
Infographics are great when you want to distill a complicated statistic into something that anyone can comprehend, and they can get your message across in a glance to an audience that may not spend the time reading a longer explanation.
But there are tricks to creating an infographic that can effectively grab attention and relay information with clarity.
Take a look at what you need to know about designing infographics for content marketing….
Keep it Simple
In the article “Infographic Design: 5 Tips for Content Marketers [Infographic], you can see an example of what happens when one infographic has too much content for the image. If your design is too crowded with images or words, it’s not going to be effective.
It’s easy to overwhelm your audience with too much information and too many images in one infographic. However, doing this just muddles your message and confuses the viewer. What isn’t included in the infographic can be just as important as what is included.
You need to use negative space between words and objects so that each part of the infographic can stand out.
Narrow Your Focus
Another way to prevent overcrowding in your infographics is to keep your focus as narrow as possible
Ideally, you want the picture to illustrate one complete thought. When you start to add too many different thoughts into the infographic, it becomes unwieldy.
The whole point of using visuals is to simplify the topic for your readers as much as possible.
If you need to express two different, but related, ideas, you may be better off with two separate infographics, or by adding further details in the text below your infographic than by trying to cram too much information into one picture.
Keep your image narrow and focused on one point and you’ll wind up with an image that’s much more appealing and informative.
Add Appeal
What makes an infographic shareable?
In large part, the answer is visual appeal. It doesn’t matter how effectively your image demonstrates your point – if it isn’t also enjoyable to look at, your intended audience will pass it by. Images that are shared with others tend to be those that are easy on the eyes.
To a large extent, visual appeal is subjective, so it can be hard to pinpoint exactly what makes one image more appealing than another. However, there are a few rules to keep in mind that will help.
Use contrasting colors to make your images and words pop.
It’s difficult to see dark lettering placed over a dark background, or a light image placed over a light background. Nobody wants to get eyestrain trying to read an infographic, and a lack of contrasting colors detracts from the visual appeal.
It also helps to confine you to only one or two font styles, and to stick with a limited color palette so that you don’t overwhelm or confuse the viewer’s eyes. Use size and shading to create a visual flow that’s attractive and that naturally leads the viewer from one point in the picture to the next.
Implementing infographics into your content marketing may be more difficult than you anticipated. However, it’s worth the effort.
Great graphics can provide a valuable boost to your content marketing campaign.
About the Author: Cheryl Baer is a freelance writer who writes about content marketing and business.
