Saving 1,000 words

It might seem obvious, but you need to understand as much as you can about the infographic before you start to think about creating it. What’s its purpose? What’s the narrative? What should it look like? Where’s it going? Who’s going to see it?

The last point is perhaps most important of all. You should never forget the audience. There’s no point creating a fun or quirky design when you are supposed to be delivering a sombre or institutional message. The visual elements and language that you use will dictate the tone.

An infographic is only as good as the sum of its parts. You need the right content to create an impactful visual story. The content must be digestible. The content must connect. If you don’t have enough data, find some more. And if you can’t get the right information, you will need to manage expectations and have the “That’s not an infographic” conversation.

Less is more. Too much text will only confuse the reader and lessen the impact of the visuals, so it’s vital to strip out any unnecessary information and stick to the key messages. Just as important is the need to work with final copy – such are the intricacies of infographic design that if you have to reflow all the text or add more words, you might as well start the layout from scratch again.

The title should be short and snappy, delivering a clear message. You may want to grab the readers’ attention with something catchy or playful. Just remember that if the infographic is being produced in multiple languages, a play-on-words might not work for a non-English audience. Subheads can help in a similar way, drawing the audience’s eye to different points of the design.

Once you’ve got the content, it’s always worth drafting a rough design or storyboard, showcasing the main visual elements you’d like to include. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach for infographics. Come up with a structure that will provide the best platform to present the information, for example:

• Data-based graphic
• Timeline
• Process or workflow
• Comparing and contrasting information
• Geographic layout, such as a map

Just as a punchy headline catches readers’ attention, the eye is naturally drawn to any larger visuals. Creating a primary visual element within an infographic is an effective way to highlight the main message and help the audience quickly understand what they are looking at. Supporting data and graphics can be linked to this focal point within the design.

Don’t just throw the data on the page. The best infographics have a clear visual hierarchy within a cohesive design that has consistent elements running through it (fonts, graphics, colours etc).

Lastly, resist the temptation to overload on details or visuals. There should be plenty of white space around the infographic to help readers distinguish all the different elements. And when it comes to repurposing content in other languages, which often have a higher word count than English, white space can be the trustiest of friends.