Everything about the world today centers around technology and it shows even when we process information. Infographics are what people use today to explain information to others simply and effectively. Using infographics is a way for people to use visuals to communicate ideas, statics, business information, etc. The average person started to use and understand infographics in the early 1990’s. Although businesses started using infographics in the early 1990’s, they have become increasingly popular in the era of mainstream internet and now more than ever with the dominance of social media for the exchange of information.

Visual.ly – a website built around infographics – recently posted an article on the history of infographics – an interesting read! Visual.ly “empowers people to tell stories with data” – and they’re always on the lookout for designers to work on their team – with 21,626 infographics on their site, you can imagine how many designers they have to hire to keep up with the demand!

We recently posted an infographic about the rise of digital textbooks and the slow fall of traditional print textbooks. Design in Demand: The Textbooks of Tomorrow – talked about how this new trend is beneficial both the environment and to designers, layout artists, and illustrators, as it drives an increasingly frequent demand for design of textbooks since there is not much of an excuse for an outdated digital textbook!

Infographic Design

We decided to talk to a creative professional who has had the chance to work on infographics – a project that many designers jump at the chance to work on, especially those who are typography obsessed!

Mica Knibbs is a 2010 graduate from our Kelowna campus. He has sucessfully built his business through social media and word of mouth, and is the Creative Director and Owner of Crema Communications, an interactive marketing and design agency that serves clients in a wide range of industries.

In his own words, Mica describes infographics as “visual ways of presenting useful or fun information in an engaging manner. The social and fun aspects are relatively new to infographics, and are now being used to help take infographics (largely for content that is fairly light-weight) mainstream.”

He adds that not all infographics are created equal, and that some can miss the point entirely: “It doesn’t matter how great the style, design, colors, typography, or the research are on an infographic if it doesn’t relay the important information to its target audience.”

What Makes a Good Infographic?

An infographic is successful when the “reader” can look at it with a quick glance and understand the stats or story being conveyed. Any type of information can be formatted in an infographic, such as wedding planning or business management. They can take the form of flowcharts, diagrams, timelines, structure and order in a way which is not possible using just text. They are also found everywhere in this day and age. This massive demand in the industry also makes demand for more graphic designers. The business benefits of infographics include:

• Increase brand awareness
• Build links (directories, social bookmarking sites, and social networks)
• Improve SEO
• Shareable (Conversational Marketing)
• Understand complex business concepts
• Increase visual appeal of basic information
• Increase rankings for related search term

Infographics have been around since cave men used cave paintings and primitive maps. In present day television news programs, traffic signs, public transit, financial reports, and websites, all employ the use of infographics. There are some great sites to check out what infographics are all about. Some great sites to check out when it comes to infographics are speckyboy and Daily Infographic. These visual pieces of information and art are the present and future.

Thinking about trying your hand at infographic design? Here are some great resources to check out:

• 10 Steps To Designing An Amazing Infographic by FastCoDesign
• The Do’s And Don’ts Of Infographic Design: Revisited by Smashing Magazine
• You Suck at Infographics by Wired

Infographics aren’t only about relaying statistics – they can be fun too! Here are some of our recent favourites from the last few weeks:

Check out our data visualization blog.

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