How do you identify a good infographic? Well, how do you identify a good tomato? There are certain qualities in a good tomato that you look for when you’re at the produce stand: firm flesh, good color and ripeness, unbroken skin, no bruises. A good infographic is…well…a good infographic is actually nothing like a good tomato, but you still need to be able to tell a good one from a bad one if you want to have a successful promotional campaign (or make a tasty sauce).
Well Defined, Catchy Title
An infographic (IG) is like a visual essay in many ways. As such, a good infographic needs a catchy, well-defined title. Your readers need to look at your IG and instantly know what it’s about and what all the data they are seeing means. The IG page should be set up with the title of the infographic as the title tag of the page. It should also be in the anchor text for all links leading to the IG. Make it as easy as possible for the reader to find and understand the image.
Good Data Visualization
Data visualization (“data viz” if you’re in “the biz” ?totally rhymed!) is one of the most important aspects of a good infographic (maybe the most important part). Infographics that are too wordy or lack original or interesting artwork don’t get shared. The designer needs to come up with interesting ways to present the data being dealt with in the IG. An infographic about oil supplies around the world could feature a graph where the amount of oil in each country is represented by a tanker truck. The more oil a country has, the longer the tanker truck. You look at that and you instantly understand: “Oh – that country has more oil than that one!” That’s good data viz!
Uniform Color Scheme
This is not quite as important as solid data visualization, but it is important nonetheless. If you are using an IG to build up your brand, make sure that your brand’s colors are tastefully integrated into the infographic. Alternatively, if brand colors aren’t a major issue with the IG, use a palette that reflects the issue you are addressing. An IG about environmental concerns in the world’s jungles would be heavy on greens, browns, and some blue (for water, etc.) with occasional splashes of red, orange, and yellow when accents are needed (text, etc.). Introducing neon pink into this color scheme is going to be jarring and draw the viewer out of their connection with the piece.
Good Organization
I can’t begin to tell you how many times we get disorganized infographics submitted to our user generated infographic gallery. Infographics are not easy to design, because a large amount of information has to fit into an easy to understand flow. Good infographics tell stories with this flow, they don’t feel cluttered, and they don’t stress you out with too much to look at all at once. What’s the best way to determine if your infographic is well organized? Show it to anyone who doesn’t have the time or attention span to look at it in the first place: ie your CEO, someone with ADHD, or that intern trying to prove himself. If the infographic catches their attention long enough for them to really delve into it, that means it’s organized well and not too overwhelming.
Creative, Interesting Visual Choices
This goes hand-in-hand with the data visualization. It’s not enough to just be representing data visually so that there are fewer words – it’s also about making sure that those images are compelling and interesting. Every infographic should have at least a handful of images and elements that make you laugh, smile, smirk, giggle, or rub your chin. If you don’t get a physical and intellectual reaction from your IG, send it back to the designer.
Memorable Takeaways
You’re never going to build brand awareness and get shared on social networks if you don’t leave your audience with key takeaways. If you want to get across to your viewers that a football field worth of rainforest is destroyed every second, you could drive this point home with an image of a football field with bulldozers on it, pushing down a wall of trees. Next to this, a stopwatch with the second hand at the “one second” mark. Of course, more upbeat information (like how a baby kitten is adopted every 22 minutes – fictional figure!) is often more likely to be shared, but awareness-building can happen for all kinds of information.
Share-ability
If your IG looks good and has interesting information and valuable takeaways, then it’s going to get shared. You can make this even easier and more likely by making sure that you always use an embed code. Embed codes make the sharing process more or less fail-proof. Users just copy and paste the code into their blogs or social media outlet of choice and your site is guaranteed to get the link-love that it deserves. People love effortless sharing.
Conclusion
So there you go – just like reading an explanation of how to pick out a good tomato, you learn a lot more about the process from going out and doing it than from just reading about it. Start poking around at various websites that host IGs. Pick out the ones you like the best. Look for interesting data visualization and which color schemes work the best and which don’t. Personal taste is extremely subjective, but there are often some key elements that we can all agree on when it comes to good IG design.