Infographics For Planners

5 Simple Rules of Infographic Design and how it can help planners sell work

As a planner, do you constantly find yourself drafting up creative ways to present your data findings within a deck but not knowing where to start? As a result, some of the visuals you come up with have either hit the nail on the head the first time or rather missed it entirely.

As humans, it is vital to our being to understand that 90% of the information we retain is visual. The human brain retains visual communication 60,000x faster than communication through text. Therefore, let us continue to use visuals through infographics to tell the story we are trying to convey.

The first initial visual form of communication happens as an infographic. Infographics incorporate symbols, illustrations and data visualization to creatively visualize the story that is told from a numerical data table.

Here are five simple rules planners can use to design infographics and how they can further help planners sell work.

RULE 1

When designing an infographic, always think of the “CON-TEXT”.

An infographic is considered a “CON” if it has too much text presented in the design. When developing, try to use typography wisely and only present the information that is most important. When trying to incorporate all information, you may begin to use text as a crutch and will in turn overpower the visual aspect of the infographic.

The key to creating a successful infographic is by using minimal text to represent the data. If it needs a lot of text then it is NOT an infographic.

Here is an example of an infographic on beer. The one on the left is over powered by text and minimal imagery, while the one on the right is centered on a large vector image of beer and minimal text surrounding it.

RULE 2

Prioritize the goals you have for the infographic. You should have at most two goals that you are trying to fulfill within one infographic.

When trying to have your infographic hit more than two goals, it may confuse the direction of the infographic and in turn confuse the audience who is meant to make sense of it. The goals you prioritize in the infographic should be understood by your prospective audience in 3 seconds or less.

In 2000, the attention span of the everyday consumer was 12 seconds. In 2012, it decreased to 8 seconds. In 2014, it was at a low of 5 seconds. In 2017, what rate do you believe the attention span of the everyday consumer to be now?

In this infographic example, there are more than two goals presented. The goals are the number of new jobs, area of the new jobs and the employee. When looking at this, the infographic does not read the correct information.

This reads that “19,000 new engineering jobs were created in Massachusetts.” — which is wrong!

RULE 3

Light bulb moment!! The attention span of a goldfish is about 9 seconds. As of 2014, the attention span of a person was 5 seconds. Therefore, this leads up to come to the conclusion that…

People care less than goldfish!

It is not that people literally “care less” but rather want to receive and understand the information quickly. The best way to tackle this is through the designing process. When designing, have your visual hook in the center of the page and place all supporting stats (minimal text) around that visual hook. The visual hook will engage the person and then drag their eye to look past the visual and at the rest of the information on the page.

In this infographic example, there are only two goals presented. They are the number of new jobs and area of the new jobs (presented by a distinct location in Massachusetts).

When completed with the specific research data this will read that “19,000 new jobs were created in the United States, which can fill all the seats of the TD Garden and leave 400 people standing.” — which is correct!

RULE 4

Remember: When designing an infographic, always think of the context.

Good context is 50% of a successful infographic. This is accomplished by showing a balance of qualitative and quantitative information.

The other 50% is supported by how successfully the qualitative and quantitative information is designed.

Here is an example of having have your visual hook in the center of the page and placing all supporting stats (minimal text) around that visual hook.

RULE 5

Use the correct and consistent data visualization throughout the specific build and/or deck.

It always helps when consistency is represented within your work. Here are examples of elements you can use to make sure you are keeping consistency within your infographic/deck.

Now, onward to great infographic designing! Don’t forget to cite your resources in these designs as well!

For more information, follow Amy Balliett’s courses on Learning Infographic Design located on lynda.com.