Communicating though infographics

Jessica Kriklewicz Team : Design Tags : Web Design Usability User Experience Featured

Infographics are a popular and effective way of communicating thoughts, ideas, facts quickly and effectively. They can represent a large amount of data/information in a small space using graphics, hence the name info-graphic. They also don't have to cost the world. Bonus!

One of the best reasons to use info graphics in your design is that these days we suffer from information overload, we consume 5x as much information today as we did in the late 80’s. On average users only read 30% of words on a given web page and that is only declining.

One of the best reasons to use info graphics in your design is that these days we suffer from information overload, we consume 5x as much information today as we did in the late 80’s.

Infographics help cut this amount of text data we have to translate, which makes it easier for our consumers to digest the information.

Another great reason to use infographics is that they can create their own personality and can be easily branded to a business/company using a company’s pre-existing colours, fonts, icons, and any
other elements. They are also a great way or breaking up big blocks of text.

At a stretch, if you are stretched for time, this can be achieved by creating a simple infographic with mere typography.

When you start designing your infographic, think about the story you want to tell, take your reader on a journey, and most importantly think about the end result you want. Make sure you keep styles
consistent throughout the design and keep in mind the visual hierarchy.

Some interesting facts that might make you decided to use graphics in your next design:

It only takes us 150ms for a symbol to be processed + 100ms to attach a meaning to it.
People following directions with text and illustrations do 323% better that people following directions without illustrations.
People remember: 10% of what they HEAR, 20% of what they READ, and 80% of what they SEE and DO.
Almost 50% of our brain is involved in visual processing.
We can make 'visual scene' of an image in less than 1/10 of a second.
Researchers found that colour visuals increase the willingness to read by 80%

Facts taken from: http://neomam.com/interactive/13reasons/

Also, you can ?nd some good info graphics here: http://graphs.net/