INFOGRAPHICS: WHAT’S THAT ?

Human beings are visual creatures. Our brains process visual information far better than text, 60,000 times better to be precise. Whoa, that’s huge! So doesn’t it make perfect sense to present people with colorful images over boring texts?

People are bombarded with truckloads of information on a daily basis, an estimated 34 GB per day! Over the years, there has been a huge overload of information, but no easier way to process it. Therefore, it is important to create engaging content that stands out and makes an impact on people’s minds. Text, no matter how interesting, cannot completely achieve this feat, and that’s exactly when infographics come into picture.

Infographics may sound like a modern term, but its usage is as ancient as the stone ages. The cave paintings made almost 5000 years ago, were the first known infographics.

The world has become so fast-paced and no-one really has the time and energy to expend on reading through chunks of information.

Our attention spans are also shrinking to the size of a pea. Hence infographics does the required spoon-feeding sparing you from burning your brain cells.

So, what are infographics?

The word infographics is basically a blend of the words information and graphics. It is a visual representation of content using design, color, graphs etc to ensure that the viewer gets a clear understanding of the subject matter quickly and effectively. It has been found that visual information is understood as quickly as 8 to 15 seconds!

What does an infographic exactly do?

• Infographics enhance communication by making it more simple and easy on the eyes.
• It helps in presenting a lot of complex information in a way that is easily comprehended by the viewer.
• It ensures that the information is grasped more quickly and effectively.
• It engages the viewer and persuades him/her to invest in the information.
• It basically helps in carvings a niche in the viewer’s mind-space.

What encompasses an infographic?

The three main components of infographics include color coding, graphics and reference icons.

Where can it be used?

The answer is, everywhere! From corporate houses to educational setups and in design, infographics have found a widespread usage and proved as a major asset over the years. Infographics are used to explain the workings of something, to present complex data like statistics and numbers, in drawing comparisons and outlining similarities and differences between different entities.

The role of color in infographics

Colors are one of the most important aspects in infographics.

Colors have a way of evoking powerful emotions and grabbing one’s attention as well as creating engagement. Hence it is of great importance to use the right colors.

Choose colors that are appropriate with the content and the target audience and ones that are easy on the eyes and that don’t overshadow the content.

According to color psychology, the color red evokes appetite and excitement. That pretty much explains its widespread usage in a lot of brand logos. E.g. popular food brands like McDonald's, Pizza Hut, KFC have red in their logos.

Orange evokes creativity. Blogging sites like blogger use orange.

Blue evokes a sense of trust and hence it explains why a lot of banks use blue in their logo.

Some important considerations

• Make sure you don’t stuff the infographic with a lot of text. Choose the most important points and use it concisely.
• Use fonts that are in alignment with the content and the target audience.
• Leaving adequate amounts of white space is also important.
• A good infographic is a balance between texts, graphics and space.
• A great infographic tells a compelling story.
• It also has a catchy title that describes what the infographic is all about, at one glance.

The above infographic depicts the various services provided by a business adviser.

You can see that the colors used are complementing each other and aren’t overshadowing the content.

The fonts are uniform and there is plenty of white space.

The font color is in contrast with the background color, thereby enhancing its visibility.

There are pictorial representations that enhance the information further.