Boost Your Website with Successful Infographic Design

Infographics entice visitors to engage and retain information – we’re visual beings, after all! Nail your infographic design and reel in your audience’s attention with our guide on infographics for websites.

Selecting your web content is a crucial step in developing your online presence. Fluffing up your website will do you no good: you need content that is engaging and meaningful to your audience.

If you’ve tried every trick in the book to decrease bounce rates and reel in customers without much luck, infographics may be the answer you’ve overlooked all this time.

An infographic is a data-heavy collection of imagery and minimal text, giving an easy-to-understand overview of a specific topic.

Just like the complexity of web design, infographic design is no walk in the park either. There are a lot of components to an infographic, which, when thrown together unsuccessfully, will have bad side effects. Your visitors will get confused, also known as the ultimate web design faux pas.

Don’t fret because we’re going to break infographic design down. We’ll provide an answer to the question “What is infographic design?” and delve into the nitty-gritty of how to design infographics.

But first, let’s emphasize why infographics are the perfect component of any website.

Infographic statistics

Many marketing agencies study our behavior towards digital content. With staggering competition, it’s valuable to know what sort of content works and what doesn’t. Infographics often come out of these studies as winners.

• We process visuals 60,000 times faster than text. (3M Corporation)
• Infographics can increase the traffic on your website by up to 12%.
• Infographics are liked and shared more than any other type of content on social media. (NN Group)
• Infographics are 30 times more likely to be read entirely compared to blog posts or news articles. (Digital Information World)

Let’s set you up for success by going over a how-to.

Examples of content you can transform into an infographic are:

To grab your visitor’s attention, you must quickly present useful and high-quality information. An infographic is an ultimate way to do this. You can instantly provide informative yet striking visuals. By simplifying complex data, you’ll communicate in a way that speaks to most people.

The digital world is all about fleeting moments. You compete with many distracting factors as a brand, from flashy reels to pop-up advertisements. Rather than joining in on the shouting contest, you could also choose a different approach.

And these statistics barely scratch the surface. Time and time again, research proves that we are, in fact, visual beings. We process visual information not only faster, but remember it much better as well.

• Year reports – Instead of presenting your achievements in dull report form, give last year’s statistics some visual appeal by showing them in an infographic. Like the above infographic example for Domuso.
• Marketing data – Does your business need advertisers or investors? Reel them in by enticingly presenting your marketing data with a clear infographic.
• Tutorials – Step-by-step content works exceptionally well in an infographic, as it immediately shows what is expected of your audience and contains a storytelling element.
• Blog topics – Long-form articles are a great tool to provide your audience with informative content. Adding infographics breaks up the text and emphasizes the most important information.
• Industry trends – What’s going on in your industry? Displaying trends in an infographic is a great way to entice people to share your content.
• News items – The same goes for news items; if something important has happened, an infographic helps you convey this information clearly and concisely.
• Upcoming events – Instead of going for the old-school Facebook event, put in a bit more effort and display your upcoming event in an infographic form.
• Surveys – Perhaps the most utilized way of infographics are those displaying survey results. With a quick overview, you can lift the veil on your results, enticing your audience to read further.

What is infographic design?

Infographics provide an effective way to dissect complicated information and present it in an engaging and simplified manner. Additionally, it’s a great tool to spruce up mundane topics. There is one big but, and that’s the fact that you need stellar design.

A pie chart with randomly placed segments, an information overload, no chronological order: infographics have many culprits.

Case in point: below infographic example by NSW via The Guardian. Four stick figures represent 43,000+ nurses, but an increase of 3,000 nurses is represented by 23 stick figures. Although the numbers may be factually correct, the visuals paint a misleading picture. And if there’s one thing a good infographic shouldn’t be, it’s misleading.

How to design infographics

Designing an infographic involves nailing each element and then putting those elements together in a cohesive overview. Let’s go over each component your infographic should include.

Data

There is no way around it; to design an infographic, you need data first. It’s crucial to gather your data before starting on the design. Going the other way around can cause a confusing layout.

First, you should know who you’re designing your infographic for. What type of information are they searching for? Remember to make your content valuable to your audience. And what level of knowledge do they have about the topic? This will determine how in-depth you can go and how much terminology you can use.

Next up, it’s time to set a goal for your infographic. There are several goals an infographic can have, like visualizing a process, reporting on data, making a comparison, or providing a timeline.

With your infographic’s goal in mind, gather your information. Sometimes you can collect the data directly from your business, and sometimes you need to do external research. In most cases, you need to do both.

Copy

With your research done and dusted, the following step is the copy. Although an infographic is mainly about the graphics, the text will establish the narrative of the story you’re trying to tell and provide adequate context.

There are a few essential qualities the text of your infographic should have:

• Easy to understand – An infographic is about a quick visual overview, so ensure the copy fits this description rather than adding an extra layer of effort.
• Compelling – Use verbs to encourage action, like ‘learn’ or ‘jump in.’
• Enticing – The text should clearly convey the main value proposition.
• Informational – Use your text to add context to the data that you’re displaying, don’t add text for the sake of filling in your infographic.

Graphics

At this point, you have a pile of information and text that needs to be visualized. That’s where graphics come in.

Graphics of an infographic can roughly be divided into two types: theme graphics and reference graphics. Theme graphics are the underlying representation of the topic, or theme, of the infographic. Reference graphics are the graphics directly visualizing data.

You’ll often see icons and illustrations used in infographics. There are numerous ways to get your hands on trendy icons, like the ManyPixels royalty-free library filled with over 2000 icons and illustrations.

Design

Time to put all of the elements together and create your infographic. Designing infographics isn’t an easy task, which is why we’ve specifically chosen the above order of elements.

Once you’ve carefully considered each element before starting your design, you’ll have a better idea of how much space you need and which type of infographic fits your data best.

If you are a graphic design novice but don’t have the budget to hire a professional designer, it’s best to go with infographic templates. A simple Google search will lead you to many straightforward platforms filled with various infographic templates, like Canva. They offer an easy drag-and-drop system suitable for most beginners.

Tips & Tricks

Lastly, here are some tips and tricks regarding infographics design.

• Make it branded – Take the opportunity to add your branding elements to the infographic. You can use your brand’s color palette or add your logo. The infographic example above is an excellent visualization of how to make it branded.
• Show, don’t tell – Don’t overdo it on the text if you can use an icon or illustration instead. This will help you display your information quickly and effectively.
• Focus on shareable content – You ideally want your audience to share your infographic. Focus on that by ensuring the information is valuable and adding a call-to-action (if applicable).
• Keep it simple – Your infographic is all about simplifying the information you want to share. Use universal icons and language to keep your infographic understandable.
• Be unique – Instead of using one of the first infographic templates you set your eyes on, make sure your content stays unique. Hiring a professional designer is a great way to ensure unique, high-quality design if you have the budget.

Final thoughts

Infographics are fantastic tools to display complex or dull information in an easy-to-understand and enticing way. Your visitors are quick and clever, so instantly hitting them with valuable yet striking information is the way to go. That’s where infographics come in.

Unfortunately, there is no foolproof formula for a successful infographic design. One design slip-up could lead to a confusing infographic, the last thing you want on your website. Hiring a professional infographics designer may be worth the initial investment if you're not too confident yet.

Hopefully, this article has convinced you to spruce up your web design with some attention-grabbing infographics.