How to choose the type of infographic?
Are you creating a presentation to include simply presented facts and reach a large target group? Use infographics! Above all, just remember that the right type of infographic is half the battle! A clear presentation of data will help you communicate with your audience and make it easier for them to remember the most important information. This is why infographics are an extremely flexible medium – you can use them in any industry and give them any flavour you want. Without a doubt, they are an ideal tool for presenting sales charts, showing the development of your company or achieved business goals. The possibilities are endless! As the popularity of infographics grows, so does the amount of inspiration we can use. Below, we’ve selected some of the best types of infographics to help you get on top of the topic!
Multi-chart infographics
This infographic is designed to show the visualisation of data using graphs, tables and numbers. It will certainly be a good solution when you need to illustrate a large amount of diverse data and show the differences between them. Maps, pie charts and graphs will help you with this. Remember, to keep everything consistent, it is important to have a uniform colour palette and illustrations.
Single line infographics
Unlike multi-chart infographics, this one uses only one type of graph, which should be its focal point. One graph is supposed to represent all the data.
Timeline
By their very nature, timelines are most effective when you want to emphasise the sequence of events. The chronological order will help to show the evolution of the subject under discussion, as a result of which your recipient will easily notice any changes taking place.
Location infographics
This type of infographic is usually used to present information related to geography, as it is the easiest way to visualise this kind of data. Therefore, by using maps combined with various charts, arrows and overlapping symbols we can show the topic in the most interesting way possible.
Comparative infographics
Primarily used to illustrate two, usually contrasting things. Of course, we can compare any chosen topics – people, places, products or ideas, and in order to distinguish such infographics from the crowd, it’s worth putting emphasis on design. The design should aptly illustrate the differences between the selected topics.
Flowchart (scheme)
A flowchart infographic is based on a single question, most often used as a headline. By providing recipients with answers to choose from, the infographic aims to help them make a decision. As a result, the variety of topics here can range from light and fun to serious and even really serious. Therefore, be sure to choose the right colour palette to illustrate the topic well.
Hierarchical infographics
The most popular way to show progressive data is a pyramid chart – you can use it to show information at different levels. Of course, each level should be connected in some way to the previous one and, of course, relate to one topic.
Process infographics
This type of infographic is used to show processes or instructions that are taking place. Primarily, you can use it to illustrate recipes, DIY tutorials or a set of rules to follow, among other things.
Educational infographics
These can be used to visualise an article or information that is difficult to understand. To create a good infographic, focus on the main points of the text you need to present, then highlight key points and support them with images, which will help your audience remember the most important information quickly and effectively.
Interactive infographics
Interactive infographics don’t really form one separate ‘type’ – you can use any of the above and expand it by adding information that your viewer needs to discover to explore the topic further. That’s why it’s a good solution if you want to create a clear and consistent infographic and at the same time you want to present a lot of information in it – it’s up to the viewer to decide if they want to see more by expanding each section.
To sum up
Nowadays, creating an infographic is much more than a combination of a piece of boring text and an incomprehensible graph. Therefore, choosing the right type of infographic for a given topic is half the battle. Without a doubt, if you make thoughtful design choices for your work and lay everything out well, you will easily be able to convey even the most difficult and confusing information to your audience. Above, we’ve listed some of the many ways to show data in infographics, and we hope that from now on you’ll know which type to choose to create the perfect infographic.