Data visualization and Infographics have become highly used tools not only by marketers and SEO specialists, but also by journalists. Wikipedia reports that “In newspapers, Infographics are commonly used to show the weather, as well as maps, site plans, and graphs for statistical data.” However, nowadays not only some single stats are highlighted with the use of Infographics, but the whole article may be presented in an Infographic style. Subjects highlighted in newspaper Infographics are extremely diverse – from sporting events and various types of government statistics to wedding tips and versions of sinking of the Titanic.

The newspaper’s interest in Infographics and Data Viz is completely understandable. In the world of information and data overload, it is extremely important to present information shortly, clearly and in a visually attractive way. What else apart from Infographics can fulfill these requirements?

As we already know Infographics are a unique combination of text and graphics / visuals. And it has also been established that 90% of information transmits to our brain in a form of visuals. That’s why Infographics are perceived as one of the most effective tools to grab readers’ attention and deliver them the required message. Not surprisingly that there is an increasing number of newspapers and magazines that are setting up departments inside editorial offices to develop Infographics. Those Infographics are aimed to accompany complicated articles with a large number of figures using clear eye-catching illustrations.

Publishers mention that publications with Infographics get higher attention and higher number of hits than those without such illustrations. Moreover, think about increasing role of Twitter in media world. Do you think it is possible to transmit some news in just 140 characters? Obviously not. But since an Infographic can be saved as a standard JPEG image it can be uploaded together with some short message and can tell readers the whole story in a single image. It is easy and effective. Readers would love to share this type of tweets.

However, it is important to remember that since Infographics in newspapers are used not only online but also printed, their designs should be print-friendly. It means that graphics used in newspaper Infographics are less colorful (primary black and white colors, sometimes with addition of 1 extra color, for example red, to highlight some important data) and simpler (mainly iconography). But if designed nicely, this doesn’t make Infographics less appealing.

Latest reports predict that in near future Infographics are going to be one of the leading formats for presenting information in newspapers and magazines. It will be an indispensable element of delivering news. Even though making them understandable to a wide audience is not an easy task that can be solved only by highly professional and experienced Infographic designers.

Many gossip that Infographics are dead and it isn’t worth it to invest in this media any longer. Well… Do you really think it can be the truth when more and more respectful news websites, companies and bloggers (for example, Huffington Post, General Electrics, Mashable and many others) not only use Infographics on their websites but even have separate sections for them? Even such gurus as Forbes and The Guardian don’t stay away from this topic and talk about Infographics, their benefits for businesses and predict their future. Following them, we predict that Infographic was, is and will stay alive and will be used as an efficient marketing tool in the upcoming years. But let’s talk about the future of Infographics in a little bit more details now.

Infographics have become so popular due to their real problem-solving ability. They act as an effective information disseminating and viral marketing tool, engage audience and make people share them on social media. All that helps you increase your brand visibility and recognition, attract more viewers to your website and, as a result, boost your business. So isn’t it worth to consider Infographics in your marketing campaigns? And since more and more businesses answer “Yes” on this question, Infographics are a beloved tool for many marketers in 2010s.

Democratization of Creation Tools

Nowadays not only giants are using Infographics. Start-ups, SMEs and even individuals create Infographics for their own. Obviously small players don’t possess 4- or even 5-digit $$$ budgets and should search for some more liberal alternatives. This could be free online software, freelancers or some inexpensive Infographic design agencies that charge somewhere in between $300 – $700 for their budget Infographic design packages.

As a result, nowadays practically everyone is in a state to create its own Infographic, quickly and easily. And since content becomes a king, businesses have more time for research and need to spend less time on designing Infographic. Also more and more users are familiar with Infographics, if not even are their fans, so that the Infographic’s message gets to users clearer and faster.

However this increased flow of Infographics results in their diminished quality, both design- and content-wise. But even though there are still plenty of high-quality Infographics, the saturation of the Internet with this media may tire the audience. So to prevent a possible decrease of the potency of this medium, businesses are in never ending search for new innovative, unique designs and styles for their Infographics – minimalistic, cartoonish, corporate; interactive, video, PPT and many other.

That is why all those who are about to create Infographics should take the following aspects into consideration:

Understanding audience and topic + Literacy => High-Quality Infographic

For Infographic design process the following formula works:

Speed + Accuracy => Automation

Increased Interactivity and Socialization

As social media plays very important role, not only in our leisure time but even in business, Infographics tend to be more socially generative in 2013. It means that audience becomes not only the company’s target but also the Infographic’s content. The possibility to create a real-time visualization brings unique user experience and living, interactive factor into the forefront.

So What?

It means that Infographic is not just a fun entertaining tool. To make it work, you should clearly understand your company’s goals and align your future Infographic with them. And it would be great if you can introduce socially generative visualization to make your audience a part of real-time content.

Your Infographic should also be functional. Even if you create it yourself, you invest your time and effort. So it would be great to make your Infographic a multifunctional tool that can be used many times throughout different ways (i.e. both on- and offline). It will help a lot if you are able to identify your company’s biggest communication problems as well as opportunities and to create a beneficial communication with help of your Infographic.

Your Infographic should also have a clear call to action so that your audience can easily understand your message and respond to it the way you wanted.

Finally, search for opportunities to automate the process of Infographic creation, especially if you are planning to have multiple Infographics. We would suggest you to find a good Infographic design agency that will help you in this not so obvious task. This investments will definitely pay off. And how to find a good Infographic design company has been already explained earlier. Have a faith in Infographics and good luck with them!

Our last blog article dealt quite vividly about Infographic resumes, what are they, and why are they. Now it’s time for you to have one. And for that you need to follow some salient guidelines. This time the blog will try to help you carve out some of your own Infographic resumes if you are an aspirant. Even if you aren’t, the information would definitely come in handy (at least to guide an aspirant)…

Planning

The first step to any big thing is a proper planning. And when it comes to Infographic which is purely a graphic work, proper planning is the utmost important. Look back over your text-based CV. Make sure you only give the most important and relevant features in the new CV. Do not hide any significant information in an obscure position. Anything that you are proud of or you have achieved make it bold, bright and central. Decide which place is best for you to give the information so that they get in the notice of the reader. Any prior experience or other language proficiency, give these info at the top. Arrange the content accordingly and interestingly.

 Color

Color choice is a big deal. Try to go for a neutral yet soothing color. You are here to impress your would-be boss, do not indulge in something gaudy or loud, else you will lose your impression before it is made actually. So go for complementary colors; try Adobe Kuler with ample of color choices for you to try out, or even create and save. The best is to seek advice from an expert if you are not sure about the colors.

Consider the medium

Print it or go digital. Design your CV to fill the space available and so that it is viewed easily in its entirety. If you plan to go digital as it is normally done, then make sure it is easily viewed by a person with smaller screen than you. Landscape orientation is perhaps the best as it fills the screen and looks very impressive.

Picking the right program

For the choice of the software for your Infographic resume go for the best ones. Like Adobe Photoshop  and Adobe Illustrator. However as both of the software is expensive and require a level of skill and experience, you can also try the free alternatives online. Wordle and Tagxedo are a good starting point for the novice with less or no design skills. They could be easily put to use. However people seeking for a more comprehensive free tool can try Gimp, a much simplified version of something like Photoshop with drag and drop functionality.

Design tips

Strike a perfect balance between image and texts, and if possible, let just the images do the talking. Do play with a range of styles but keep the CV clean as much as possible. In order to make the CV attractive don’t make it busy. Perhaps a white background and less color is a good idea. Your images must be varied and large while focusing on the more important stuff.

You’re done

There you go, now you have come to the last phase of the process. You have an Infographic CV in your hand to highlight your skills, and just awe your would-be employer. It is an appealing choice when you need to stand out amongst the rest of the lot. Try it yourself, and be sure to get the call… All the best..

An impressive resume is imperative for a good job… Indeed! An old adage goes something like this: “The first impression is the last impression”. Adhering to the adage, if you impress your interviewer or HR manager on the very first day, you will hit the bull’s eye. How??? If your resume or CV is unique and out of the box, it is ought to blow the HR manager away.

CV or Curriculum Vitae is the brief yet self explanatory overview of your experience and other qualifications. Your CV speaks for you. It makes the reader of the CV have a clear view of you, your proficiency and other attributes. Thus CV creates a base or a foundation, on which you are judged. It goes without saying that a CV has to be clear in nature with all the necessary details provided in it.

Now as a CV is a ‘brief’ overview as mentioned above, you have to keep in mind that it does not bore your would-be employer. If it is drab and shabby with unnecessary details and blabberings, you can take it for sure that you have let go off the job that could have been yours… Gone are the days with big biodata and boring content. Now is the time of being short, simple and mainly – UNIQUE… Upgrade your CV!

Now it is not really about being academically outstanding and unique, as it varies from person to person. This blog article is here to tell you how to upgrade and make your CV look smart. Well as we all can see and of course experience, Infographics are there in all the phases of our life. From medical information, to product/service information – everywhere Infographics are the boss. So why not trying them in CVs as well?

Your CV in Infographic style will also carry a special message about you. And that is, your Creativity! It makes your potential employer understand how creative you are, and of course creativity of the mind is an important requisite to land up a job. So what is the harm in being a bit different? Check the two Infographic CVs below:

What did you infer? Indeed they are unique in their own way. Don’t they say more than a standard CV? And don’t they do that in a lot more unique and effective way?

Basically CVs in Infographic style are nothing but a more clear and concise yet attractive and engaging piece of information. You can give your academic marks in statistics and charts just like it is done in a normal Infographic. Your extra curricular activities can be given in bullet points. And your accolades and other achievements can be represented in nicely designed timeline. In short, you can take help of the engaging graphics and icons used in an Infographic to convey information about you.

This way there remains a fair chance for your CV to be paid quality attention, and not turned to be just another addition to the pile of CVs already on the desk of the interviewer. Standard Word CVs may be still considered professional, but now the digital era has put a spin on the concept. Instead of the conventional A4 size full scape paper printed with your biodata that is quite mundane compared to the virtual creative CVs, make your CV a treat to the eyes of the HR manager.

And of course if you are really serious and looking forward to a job you have to enchant the HR manager on the very first instance. As mentioned earlier he has to glance through hundreds of CVs in a day. All are just the same. If all of a sudden something unique, something ingenious catches his eyes, you can very well imagine he will pause. There you go, half of your work is done… You have impressed him! Be prepared for the interview call… All the best!

You have decided to go for a Video Infographic – great decision! We have already talked about this type of Infographics and discussed its benefits (see here). In few words, Video Infographic is something new and innovative that has a high engaging factor. This engaging and in the same time clearer and  more direct way of storytelling makes people simply love your content, share it with friends and relatives and stay on a website longer.

But now you may start worrying about the fact that some viewers of your Video Infographic don’t have sound installed on their system… So they won’t get the main message and all your investments and efforts would be spoiled? Or Video Infographic with professional voice over is a bit out of your budget… Problem? Not at all! There is another great way to solve this issue – using text in the Video Infographic itself.

Nicely animated text can do the magic for your Video Infographic. It can come flying in and out, come and disappear giving way to the next text, come in pieces of letters forming a full sentence, and in many other styles allowing you simply play with words in the Video Infographic. The viewers will never be bored with your Video Infographic and will get a clear idea of your main message. Adding to that nicely designed visuals, background music and situational sounds and your Video Infographic is complete.

But as in any recipe, you should keep an optimal proportion of ingredients in your Video Infographic. Don’t oversalt! For example, each scene should maintain an optimal amount of words. However, there is no hard and fast rule about the number of words. It all depends on your power of observation what is looking clumsy and what is in perfect amount. It is good to use fewer words per slide. Too much text slows down the presentation and makes the video jampacked and busy. So instead of putting the whole paragraph in one slide, divide it into smaller logical portions and increase the number of slides. Believe me, this way your Video Infographic will look much more dynamic, engaging and easy to understand. Add to that appropriate visuals and your job is done.

However, here is its own trick. A sequence between the graphics and the text must be there. Like the text must adhere to the graphic and vice versa. If the text shown says something and the graphics are something else, it can spoil the whole video as the information conveyed is unclear. The viewers must find an appropriate sync between the text and the graphics. Moreover also keep in mind the size of the graphics. Like they should not eclipse the text shown.

Also don’t forget about the font and its size. Your text must be very clear to the viewers’ eyes. The text must be in a font that has fair readability. As it is a video that continuously changes the scene, the text must be written in such a way that the viewers can read them easily. The text can be ALL CAPS, bold, italic. Decide what is best for you. For example, if your Infographic deals with increase in something, keep the angle of the words UPWARDS. And if it deals with any stats, the numbers must be bigger and bolder than the rest of the text. You can also highlight some important words or stats with some different, brighter color.

However, keep in mind that even such an engaging type of content presenting as Video Infographic can be spoiled by making it too long. It is nice to watch it for 1-2, max 3 minutes. If it is more than that your viewers would be overload with the information on the screen and the chance they will stop the video becomes higher. So go with the KISS rule – Keep It Short and Simple! And move forward with your Video Infographic. Now you are knowledgeable enough to get one that will become viral! Good luck!

You have a business and decide to create a great Infographic to give it a new impulse. So you need a suitable design agency to design it for you. But what if you are a novice in that field and have no clue how to find good Infographic designers? There is a huge chance of getting lost in the myriad mushrooming design agencies all over the market. Which one of them is the best suitable for you? What to expect from the agency? What qualities it must have to meet your requirements?

This blog article will be an answer to your queries about what exactly you should take into consideration in your quest for the best Infographic design agency. So let’s start.

First and probably the most important one, do not just go by the superficial image of an agency. You never know whether they will be able to live up to it or not. The promises may turn out to be false, incurring huge financial loss to you.

Therefore, the first key factor to be considered is the price and value. Whether you are a small or big business, your money is the result of your and your employees’ hard work. Of course you won’t let it go astray. Check out the quotes for the Infographic designs offered by different companies. Are they nominal or will burn a hole in your pocket? Do they have a budget pack? If you are a novice and this is your start-up business, find an agency that has a nominal price quoting or a budget pack.

Next important thing is company’s Infographic design portfolio. Do they really have one? If so, then check the quality and variety of their designs. How your Infographic will be designed or what will be the overall aesthetic quality of it is determined by the portfolio held in front of you. Companies usually put only the best Infographics there. So if you are not happy with the quality of designs in the company’s portfolio, for example, Infographics are clumsy, unprofessional and jam-packed, don’t expect that they will do the magic in your case.

But even if the quality of the Infographics satisfies you, don’t forget to check if the designs are similar or are based on clip-art images. If so, cancel the deal. Go for a design firm that really provides you a quality portfolio with ample of designs, not just template solutions. If you decide to go for Infographic to stand out from the crowd, then your Infographic should have a really unique design that matches your business.

What is the agency’s  work experience? These come next in your checklist. Evaluate their work experience, go through their testimonials and client reviews. This is super important as this would give you an idea of the satisfaction level of the previous clients with the company. Their client base and work experience will be clear to you as well. This will come in handy for you to make a decision.

Be thorough about their turn-around time and design process. How many initial concepts will they provide? Within how many working days will they send them to you? Will they provide revisions and if yes, how many? If the revisions are not included, how much will you be charged for those? When will you get the final design? (If you have a short deadline, this question shouldn’t be forgotten.) Knowing the answers on them beforehand will prevent you from many negative “surprises” after the start of the project.

Apart from all these basic questions you must also be aware of few more. Are there any hidden charges? Some agencies keep  hidden costs which you are unaware with at the beginning, like for bulk orders, minimum order commitments, revisions, etc. So you may be charged at the end without even knowing and having this cost in your budget. Also check if there is a money back guarantee? What if the designs fail to impress you and you want to halt the project? Some well-established Infographic design agencies will refund you the full payment in case you aren’t happy with the design. Isn’t it a great bonus and security you are getting from the company?

Ensure also you are getting the copyright of the Infogaphic.This will prevent your great Infographic design from being copied and sold to others. Check also if you get an original source file – it will be very useful if you decide to make some small tweaks yourself in future.

If you have some confidential information in the Infographic, don’t forget to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) before sending the content to the agency. It will ensure that your Infographic won’t become a promotional material for the Infographic design company and won’t end up in their portfolio without your allowance.

Finally check what are their promises regarding marketing your Infographic. If they provide Infographic promotion service, will it bring certain number of inbound links? Pay attention not only to the quantity but also to the quality of these links. Few high-quality, relevant links will do a much better job rather than myriad of low-quality ones.

Hope these information prove to be useful and you are now well prepared for starting your first Infographic design project. By the way, useful articles in the company’s blog can also tell you about its professionalism. So what is the reason to go and search for any other Infographic design company?

With everything around going all trendy, graphic designs have also picked up the line and are showing certain fads and trends sure to dominate the year. Some of them may cross this year and continue beyond. And it is always good to know the trends beforehand as photographs, images, pictures, vectors, illustrations, all are linked to Infographics – they are their soul. Let’s now go through some of these relevant graphic design trends.

Most of the downloads worldwide are in the vector format, owing to the manifold advantages of the format. Then comes the photo format, that is high in demand as well, and lastly illustration.

We also have interesting local trends and ‘what is hot where’ in our list. USA was enticed by a rather unusual theme – Throwback, that ruled everywhere, from election campaigns to bakery. In South Africa it was the Back In Future theme that prevailed. However with a tinge of vintage vectors, colors and graphics. UK got flooded with Anglophiles getting united with the UK national symbol. It was all about celebrating and commemorating the Diamond Jubilee of the Queen, and also the Olympics. Netherlands preferred the traditional Dutch Tulips with lavish colors and bright hue. Russia saw the massive craze for Fashion Photography featuring gorgeous fashion divas and models. (No doubt the hub of some best fashion photographers) The French are the worshipers of great Outdoors, Tours, Fun Outside, Recreation, Entertainment, Travels, and the likes. Images promoting these were greatly demanded and are still on the rise, gradually flooding the market. Simple, Minimalism, Cubism and Modern Design trends are the prevalent craze right now in Brazil. The simpler, the better patterns – crowded and jam-packed designs are out of the market and trend. Germany is one step ahead with Stark Whitish Backgrounds and Minimalism that allows the subject to shine. Australia is fond of vibe and energy, thus showing the trend of Warm Tones and Vibrant Colors. Finally, whimsical and incoherent Floral Designs is what China is looking forward to.

Time for some evolving trends now. Three yesteryear trends have perhaps came back, and this time in the form of Green, Nostalgic and Geometric designs. Green is an all-prevalent color, but nowadays it has been seen prevailing in all aspects; from organic produce to sustainable manufacturing. Old fashioned vintage elements giving way to simplicity and modernism, is where the key essence of Nostalgia resides. And square, triangular, hexagonal, pentagonal, all other Geometric patterns are getting hyped all the more.

Apart from this, various other trends are treading forward, some are here to stay. Such as, Macro, Global and Minimalism. As the names suggest, graphics have gone beyond just the superficial and dived deep and close. Close to the macro level. Graphic designers are thinking globally and acting locally. That’s how the ‘Glocal’‘ trend in design works. And Minimalism says everything though in a lesser tone. With clean lines and simple shapes, the clutter is cut.

It is no longer just about photographs. Designers are opting more on scalable vectors rather than the raster images for web and mobile designs. While it was just a meagre 6% back in 2005, it increased to 29% on 2012, and the percentage is continuing to soar high every day.

And last but not least, the color scheme. The hues all set to shine this year, are mostly the bright ones, yellow (#FFFF00), blue (#0000FF), red (#FF0000) and another shade of blue, the aqua (#00FFFF). The colors with all their shades are going to smear the year.

So this was the list of some graphic design trends that are to be followed in the oncoming years and are already in use in many places. But most importantly, now that the trends are known, Infographics can get some fresh air and take up some of these trends in them. Especially since Infographics are a fast boosting trend as well, with +525% in the last year!!! Follow these trends – create your Infographics in the trendy designs and make your users’ eyes out on stalks! All the best

Note: Images used in this article are taken from Shutterstock’s Annual Design Trends. 2013 Edition Infographic.

In recent past along with the conventional Static Infographic, we have seen the advent of a new form of Infographic,  i.e. Interactive Infographic. Infographic is an umbrella term that has spawned this new genre. Interactive Infographics are truly engaging and give a better user-experience, and have been popular since they have been started using widely.

However talking about Interactive Infographics, no wonder even they have different forms and styles. Let’s discuss about one of the many styles of Interactive Infographics.

Infographics animated in GIF format. Now this has become a rage. Embedding motion in Infographics is not something new or first, as we have seen Video Infographics soaring high. However, these do not fall under the genre of Video Infographics, rather are something truly unusual. They are a form of Static Infographics only, just with a slight variation. And of course this variation, however slight, cannot be belittled.

The content gets valued to a great extent as in GIF format the key facts can be animated, put into motion, can be revolved, can be just moved from side to side, or in any other direction. This makes the user grasp each and every points individually and more clearly. And also the impact is more. The moving images catch our attention then and there and prevent our concentration to deviate. Though GIF format has been used and abused for long, but now the application is all the more perfectly executed.

Generally they are simple in approach with not many ornamental features, but the very fact that some parts of its content move and turn and revolve, strikes the users. Basically animated GIF Infographics have all the features of a normal Static Infographics, and quite a few features of Video Infographics. Static features in the sense that not the whole content is put into motion, just some of the key facts. And video features in the sense that it contains motion in it.

One more fact about GIF Animated Infographics are you don’t have to find any other submission platform for them. Rather you can submit them to the same websites and blogs where you normally submit your Static Infographics. This is an added advantage of these Infographics.  However it is unlikely that they would lost in crowd as they have the x factor – they simply move… And what is unusual or different immediately strikes us, thus making your users return to your Infographics thus making it go viral.

Not just an attention grabbing tool, but a lot more. GIF Animated Infographics not just give entertainment, but infotainment. How? They can explain and elaborate some aspects of the topic discussed earlier in a better and clearer way. Let’s jot them down, the benefits of GIF Animated Infographics :

• They are static yet extremely innovative and attention grabbing.
• They help to explain some difficult key points more clearly.
• They can be submitted to the same websites and blogs where the standard Static Infographics are submitted.

Thus this was all about the GIF Animated Infographics, the latest trend, that has already garnered acclamations and extensive applications. Let’s look forward to probably some more modifications in this form in near future.

Everything is transitional; nothing remains just the same, rather changes from time to time. Continuous new wave of changes take place in most of our surrounding concepts and idea, of which Infographics are no exception. Various changes and modifications are taking place in their forms and styles, and now its time to discuss another likewise change. The new style (or rather a trend) is Infographics in Prezi. Prezi is basically a free non-linear, zooming presentation tool to create Infographics in 3D and fade-in animation way. Its visually pleasing and cutting edge style gives it a suitable choice for Infographic designers to go for it. It makes you Glide!!!

Prezi is a cloud-based presentation software allowing users to create interesting, multi-dimensional presentations that are far more attractive than usual presentation. This new and unique technique makes each of the Prezis (that is what each of the presentations called) engaging and enjoyable. Unlike the usual linear presentations, Prezi enables users to experience a non-linear presentation with the zoom-in and zoom-out process. This additional benefit adds a zing to your Infographics rendering it even more appealing.

Instead of the usual linear presentation, Prezi enables users to create a visual map so viewers can zoom in and out interactively opening up a new world between white boards and slides. The zoom-in & zoom-out and pan movement all are new to the start up marketers, and is highly demanding to them. Prezi’s zoomable canvas makes it fun to explore ideas and the connection between them resulting in visually captivating. Your Prezi Infographic must be designed in a way so that it is remembered by many. It incorporates a psychology in its design, based on how visual images space affect memory. Your Prezi Infographic has all the chances to go viral and become shareable!

So instead of traversing from one slide to another, you can zoom, swoosh and segue from one idea to the next, presented as text, image, video or a combination. The more your Infographic is different from the other the more you can stand out in the market. In Prezi presentation each of the slides is presented in moving and floating way, unlike the slides you see in PowerPoint and SlideShare.

To be precise, it is like a big canvas on which you can put your content anywhere at any place, without any limit. One information can glide to the other, using its zebra wheel. It allows users to zoom in and out of the text, resize and change font style, embed videos, crop images and tilt text. Prezi’s zooming feature allows users to highlight the important points in the Infographic, and the tilting feature adds a fun flavor in its presentation. If your users are shown the exact information of worth they feel contended, and this is what Prezi does. You can zoom-in the key points.

It is a proven fact, the more attractive and engaging an Infographic is, the more it tends to go viral. Who would otherwise want to see a boring and dull presentation? This new trend of Infographics made in Prezi is not just a trend but a necessity. The more you create your Infographic in an unique way, the more viewers you get.

Instead of boring static slides create slides that are animated and presented in a more lively and animated way. That way the whole Infographic will move on the screen and will appear enjoyable to our eyes, no matter how much lengthy it is. This is the reason for Prezi Infographics to garner such a high demand and popularity. It is not a fad but the future of modern Infographics…

Infographics are the most indispensable marketing tool today. Various complex idea and concepts are conveyed through an Infographic in an easy way. Complex ideas are broken into small nuggets to make them easier to grasp. But how? How these attractive piece of eye candies are created?

There are a number of software and tools that are required to create professional Infographics of the best quality. Some of them are Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign, PowerPoint, Prezi, etc. Some free tools can be cited as well, like Hohli Charts, Piktochart, infogr.am, etc.

Creating Infographics in Adobe Photoshop is a comfortable task, however a lot of manual work has to be done. Such as for a line chart drawing in Photoshop, line segments has to be drawn manually, which is time consuming. Nevertheless, Photoshop is a treat to create anything unique. It lets you play with images, modify them from the scratch, altering them, design the layout with vast array of tools, and what not.

Next software that comes in handy is Adobe Illustrator. You can easily opt it as your graphical tool of choice. It is a great vector based drawing tool best for line arts, custom shapes, etc. Besides it has built-in graphical data tools that produce fancy looking graphs after inputting data from a spreadsheet. Adobe Illustrator gives you the most control over the design process, besides making it go faster…

Adobe InDesign can be as well cited as an efficient Infographic making software. It has a fast performance, auto-save recovery options, dark color schemes that reduce eye fatigue, non-destructive crop tool, and other custom tools for perfectly balanced and enthralling Infographics. You can place the graphics, rotate and scale them as per your discretion, create layouts, objects and groups, create and format tables, work with excellent color and gradients, and all these in one package.

PowerPoint and recently Prezi have been widely accepted as steadfast Infographics designing software. You just need to know a handful of PowerPoint tools to make good use of them. Text, Picture and Shape, are the most important elements in PowerPoint for easy and fast creation of Infographics. To insert any image simply drag any PNG or JPEG file into your slide. Four essential tools are the Fill, Line, Effects and Style.

Fill determines the primary color of that object or text. The Line of an object determines the color of the outline surrounding the object. Effects tool enables you to add some design elements to the graphics. You can work with a variety of features that includes shadows, bezels, outer glows, and 3D effects. Finally, the Style option enables you to choose from a number of pre-designed colors, lines and effects that can be applied to your graphics. This can be used for objects, lines and texts.

As Prezi has 3D templates, you can give your users a truly spatial journey. You can zoom out and zoom in to show the overview and minute details of the Infographic, respectively. Your Infographic becomes even more cinematic and claims unshared attention.

These were some of the most common and efficient software to create Infographics in a smooth and simple way. Now let’s quickly take a look at some free tools for creating Infographics.

Firstly, Hohli Charts. It is based on the Google Chart API and is an excellent tool to create charts as you prefer. You are able to create lines, Venn diagrams, bar and pie charts, radar charts and scatter plots.

Then comes Infogr.am, a free web-based tool with great interface and nice themes. You can create charts using real data and add your own image and videos with ease.  The finished Infographic can be instantly shared on social media or embedded on a website.

Finally Piktochart. This free tool offers you a number of decent free themes to create simple visualizations. Its customizable editor allows you to change color schemes, fonts, add different shapes, pre-loaded graphics and your own images.

So these were the list of the main software and tools used to create Infographics. However, it must be remembered, Infographics created by high quality designer software like the Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop are usually of a better quality than the ones created in the free tools and templates. It happens because there is a chance to show creativity in Illustrator or Photoshop, but in case of the free tools or PowerPoint and Prezi, you have to use already made clip arts that are trite and unoriginal. After all Infographics are something unique and creative, that demands originality and creativity. Make good use of them and awe your viewers. All the best!!!