Tips for Choosing a Visually Appealing Infographic Layout

In the last decade, infographics have become a powerful marketing tool for businesses due to their immense visual appeal and shareability. In fact, after videos, infographics are the most popular means of sharing content. They act as an effective marketing medium that relays information creatively and engagingly. And while it's crucial to design and share the right infographic, it's also essential to understand what purpose the different types of infographics serve and how to choose a suitable layout.

The first step is making an essential checklist of a great infographic design, as this article depicts.

Checklist for a good infographic layout

Before deciding on what information to put together and how to finalize a suitable layout, it is vital to understand the key elements of a good infographic. Regardless of the type of infographic a business or creator chooses, this checklist will help them better understand how to create a successful design.

1. Communicates one central idea

An infographic should read like a story with relevant images (just like a children's book). The chosen layout must include elements that relate to each other and convey different aspects of a single idea.

1. A compelling title

An infographic should always have a descriptive and catchy title and follow the three C's – Clarity, Crispness, and Conciseness. A common practice is to use numbers in the headline to make it compelling and highly specific.

1. Simple design

Too much information and graphics or puzzling data don't make much sense in infographics. A good design will have sufficient white space and include graphs or charts to explain complex information. Ensure a unidirectional information flow, and avoid any unnecessary elements that make the infographic too confusing.

1. Relevant data & visuals

Infographics are meant to cut out the fluff one finds in articles or long, explanatory videos. The data and visuals in the infographic must mention references and sources. For clarity, the infographic designer should also ensure consistent colors, appropriate fonts, and vector images.

1. Informative statistics

The right information is the key element in an infographic. Any statistics shared through infographics must be valuable, accurate, and relevant. It should also have descriptive titles and subheadings to convey information.

1. Shareability across platforms

Brands that invest time and resources in creating infographics want their content to be shared amongst a large section of the target audience. But to do that, the infographic must be sized so that it can be quickly downloaded and shared across social media platforms. Any infographic that takes too long to download or has large, non-compressed image files won't be shared much.

How To Choose The Right Infographic Layout?

Choosing the right layout for an infographic largely depends upon the information to be shared and what visuals will make it most interesting.

1. Understanding the purpose of different infographic layouts

There are ten main infographic types: list-based, information maps, comparison-focused, data visualization or statistical, flowcharts, timeline infographic, process-oriented, animated infographic, infographic resume, and image-focused infographic. To choose the right layout for infographics, it is important to understand the purpose of that infographic and what type of content one wants to promote.

1. Create essential layers

A good infographic has three essential layers, the 'must-see', 'can-see', and 'should-see'. The 'must-see' element focuses on the essential information that the brand wants its audience to see and understand. The 'should-see' layer adds some interesting insights to the content, whereas the 'can-see' layer will have all the elements that make an infographic engaging and fun.

For example, in this infographic, the must-see layer is its title, the main headings, and 'current-record statistics'. The 'should-see layer' is the record holder's names and dates. And the 'can-see layer' which makes the infographic interesting and eye-catchy is the character shown beside every point.

1. It's easy to comprehend

The main purpose of creating an infographic is to relay more information in an interesting and easy-to-understand way. A well-chosen layout will focus on sharing the full information in the simplest possible way, so the audience doesn't get confused. For example, an infographic with different statistical charts would work best to share important data.

1. Smooth navigation

A major difference between videos, articles, and infographics is that the latter minimizes the viewer's effort to understand data. Articles require readers to scroll through the entire text to get the information they want; the same applies to videos. But in the case of infographics, a single glance can help the viewer see the information they seek. The layout should be easily navigable, so the viewer understands the relationship between the data and images shared merely by sight.

1. No compromise on beautification

It is understood that infographics should be educative and inspiring. But a good layout will also have all the necessary elements that make an infographic eye-catchy. A successful infographic must have the right fonts, iconography, photography, and appropriate white space with harmonious colors. All in all, it must create a soothing experience for the viewers.

In a Nutshell

The internet offers a variety of tools to create unique infographics, some even offering templates for different layouts. But the choice of template and a clear understanding of data placement are vital to make an eye-catchy infographic design.

Many businesses prefer to hire professional designers or reputed agencies to create infographics that help their marketing efforts. The design mavericks at these agencies can create attractive infographic layouts and infographic designs to catch the target audience's attention instantly. Hiring infographic design agencies offer two-way benefits for businesses–they get the expertise in infographic design without allocating many resources while capturing the target market's attention through their marketing efforts.

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