We Should Be Teaching Infographics. A couple decades ago or so USA Today did something monumental in the world of news: they made information much more visual.
In an effort to boost readership (and sales) they did something that, at the time, seemed entirely radical: increase the size of the images to make the news much more picture-heavy. Reduce textual content, in other words, and increase visualization. It seemed ridiculous: reduce the amount of news in order to sell the news. Clearly, the effects are obvious. 20 years later, and our news is so visualized you probably can’t imagine it any other way. Recently, in juxtaposition with the image, infographics have resurfaced (they’ve been around forever, but haven’t really picked up steam in the media until the last decade or so). So what are they? The crazy thing is, as pervasive as they are, I wonder: why aren’t we teaching infographics in school? Several writers and researchers have addressed the effectiveness of infographics. Help spread visual literacy.
10 Lame Documents that Would Be Better as Infographics. Infographics, it seems, have taken the media by storm.
Because they are visually attractive, eye-catching, accessible, fun, and–if done well–quickly and effectively informative, people are drawn to them. And businesses have caught wind of this. We see infographics in magazines, on blogs, and even on corporate “About Us” pages in order to sell news, ideas, and products. But what if infographics were used for more “common” documents–the stuff we use day-to-day? Would they make our lives easier?
Here’s my list of ten documents that I think could be improved if we turned them into infographics. #1: RecipesEver found yourself missing a step or an ingredient in a recipe because it was buried in a long list or dense paragraph? #2: RésumésFor far too long, résumés have remained dull and difficult-to-read documents. . #3: InstructionsSome are better than others (IKEA has taken a beating for some of theirs), but instructions that are entirely visual oriented have great potential. What We Think about People according to Google Autocomplete (Infographic) Visual data analysis. Infographs. 20+ Tools to Create Your Own Infographics. A picture is worth a thousand words – based on this, infographics would carry hundreds of thousands of words, yet if you let a reader choose between a full-length 1000-word article and an infographic that needs a few scroll-downs, they’d probably prefer absorbing information straight from the infographic.
What’s not to like? Colored charts and illustrations deliver connections better than tables and figures and as users spend time looking back and forth the full infographic, they stay on the site longer. Plus, readers who like what they see are more likely to share visual guides more than articles. While not everyone can make infographics from scratch, there are tools available on the Web that will help you create your very own infographics. In this article, we’re listing more than 20 such options to help you get your messages across to your readers, visually. Read Also: The Infographic Revolution: Where Do We Go From Here? What About Me? “What About Me?” Vizualize.me Piktochart easel.ly. Awesome Infographics. Infographs. Infographics. 10 Awesome Tools To Make Infographics. Advertisement Who can resist a colourful, thoughtful venn diagram anyway?
In terms of blogging success, infographics are far more likely to be shared than your average blog post. This means more eyeballs on your important information, more people rallying for your cause, more backlinks and more visits to your blog. In short, a quality infographic done well could be what your blog needs right now. Designing An Infographic Some great tips for designing infographics: Keep it simple! Ideas for infographic formats include: Timelines;Flow charts;Annotated maps;Graphs;Venn diagrams;Size comparisons;Showing familiar objects or similar size or value.
Here are some great tutorials on infographic creation: Creating Your Infographic Plan and research.If required, use free software to create simple graphs and visualisations of data.Use vector graphic software to bring these visualisations into the one graphic. Free Online Tools For Creating Infographics Stat Planet Hohli Creately New York Times Many Eyes Wordle. Over 100 Incredible Infographic Tools and Resources (Categorized)
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Total items listed: 112. Time to compile: 8+ hours. Follow @DailyTekk on Twitter to make sure you don’t miss a week! Update: Be sure to check out our latest post on infographics: Infographics Are Everywhere – Here’s How to Make Yours Go Viral. I love a good infographic!