"In the event that you haven’t heard, a recently available study … said that people now, as humans, have a shorter attention span than goldfish."
That is clearly a humbling assessment that John Meyer, co-founder and CEO at Lemonly, shared in a session called "How exactly to create infographics that are worth one thousand words" at Ragan’s Visual Communications and Infographics Summit in Denver.
Humans could be near the top of the food chain, however they weary in something in the period of time it takes your dog goldfish to reduce interest for the reason that ceramic deep-sea diver resting on the gravel.
How do organizations have any hope at keeping employees’ and customers’ attention?
Meyer’s solution is infographics.
"It’s a noisy world out there," Meyer says. "Infographics are interesting. They’re colorful, they have interesting pictures and headers. They cut through the noise, they grab the attention-but we also understand that you wthhold the information. We’re wired to be visual creatures and remember these things."
Here’s Meyer’s nine-step process to creating infographics that captivate:
There are two types of infographics, Meyer says: brand and editorial. Brand infographics are like visual pr announcements. They introduce a fresh service or product, celebrate a milestone or announce an acquisition. Brand infographics feature the organization’s font, colors and general design guidelines, rendering it clear who produced the infographic.
Editorial infographics are story-driven. They share new research, compare elements, or illustrate a topic’s history. The organization’s name doesn’t usually appear before bottom of the infographic, as the goal is to supply value, not trumpet a brand.
Both brand and editorial infographics are powerful, Meyer says: "You merely have to decide which you intend to be, since when you make an effort to be both, it falls just a little flat."
Knowing whether you’ll create a brand or editorial infographic, you need to establish the infographic’s message and audience, together with size, format and platform.
"If you are in high school as well as your English teacher says you are going to write a study paper, you focus on an overview. Follow that same model," Meyer recommends. "What’s the thesis of your infographic? What’s the primary point? What’s the target? … Outline your three details, your three high-level themes. … Then, will there be an overview or conclusion?"
Amass all the details you want to use in your infographic. Collect any data that may help tell your story.
Once you have gathered all of the relevant information, examine it for possible stories. "We’re needs to search for trends," Meyer explains. "Are we seeing growth? Are we seeing decline? They are all good things to consider, and you are going to discover the story you are likely to want to tell."
When you identify your story and will support it with relevant data, condense the info right into a one- to two-page brief. Don’t make it any more, Meyer warns, or your infographic will be too much time and lose your audience’s attention.
Editing is essential to good infographic design, Meyer says. If certain data don’t match your story or you are feeling that you’re stretching to add something, you must manage to cut it.
A wireframe is a graphic designer’s version of a blueprint. Draft your infographic without fretting about colors or stylistic details. Focus only on the layout and ensuring all of your data fit. This task provides an additional possibility to filter any unnecessary or irrelevant information you’ve missed.
If you have ever redecorated an area, you may have created a board with paint swatches, tile samples, photos of furniture, etc., to have a feel for what the area would look like before starting redecorating. A mood board fulfills this same purpose for infographics.
Compile all of the colors, fonts and graphics you would like to use to see if they work very well together before you create the ultimate product.
"It’s hard to find yourself in a designer’s brain, but this can be a closest way we are able to do that," Meyer says.
Meyer says he loves to remember that design doesn’t come before end of the infographic-creation process. "There’s lots of foundational work to an excellent infographic," he explains.
Unless you feel safe designing the infographic yourself, hire a designer. To find the right person for the work, Meyer recommends looking for someone with good typography, iconography (the opportunity to use icons and symbols to represent things), spatial layout and a feeling of grid and format.
Before you distribute your infographic to journalists or on social media, you will need to launch it on the correct platform. For instance, animated infographics must go on a video platform such as for example YouTube or Vimeo. Interactive infographics should be hosted on a website, because they use HTML and Javascript.
Once your infographic includes a home, you can share it with the world. Be aware of infographics’ format, however.
"Don’t disregard the platform … Infographics appear and feel different based on where you put them," Meyer explains. For instance, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest require images to vary sizes to seem correctly. Based on what size images these networks allow, infographics could easily get squished and stretched.
To resolve this issue, Meyer recommends going for a screenshot of the very most interesting portion of the infographic, sizing it appropriately, and posting that image to operate a vehicle viewers fully infographic on a far more appropriate platform.
