One of the tools that I have been fascinated with learning about is the infographic. I have seen infographics for all kinds of data and all audiences. I found them to be a fascinating way to display data or give instruction. I wasn’t sure about however about the tolls overall effectiveness and I had not seen any research or stats on this until I began researching infographics for this project.

My interest was initially peaked in a couple of ways. First, as a learning professional, I’m always looking new and compelling ways to display training data to our leadership team. Infographics seemed like a great way to make sense of things.

Secondly, as a parent, I find that lists don’t work with children. I have a list of chores for my son to do every day and he never reads it. I thought an infographic with his morning routine might be more impactful it would also help me understand how children process information.

As I looked into the effectiveness of infographics, one stat in many different formats keeps coming up. The majority of people are visual learners. According to the Social Science Research Network about 65% of us learn this way. Another way to judge the increasing popularity of infographics is to not how much people are looking for information on them. Well according to Life Learn searches for infographics has increased 800 between 2010 and 2012

It seems that infographics appeal to us because they help us process complicated data quickly and easily. Below is a map put out by the American Heartworm Society about heartworm incidents in in 2O13. Using a list of states and their heartworm cases, it would take us quite some time to get a sense of where heartworm is prevalent and where it is almost nonexistent. The image below instantly transmits that data. It makes it so easy to understand that we can begin to speculate about the data in

other countries. Is being along the coast a risk factor for Heartworm It would take me forever to sort and review this data and then pick up this distribution pattern. Infographics do an excellent job of making the data appealing.

Additionally, pairing data with a related graphic can increase retention of that data point by 55%. When people read the text alone, they likely remember about 10% but when that text is accompanied by an infographic retention is about 65%. 65% also represents the number of the population who are estimated to be visual learners.

In researching how effective and relevant infographics can be, there were a number of statistics that caught my attention. The first is that infographics are 30x more likely to read than text and 17% more likely to be believed. These statistics convey the power of the visual medium to sway the way we think and act. Infographics have also become popular. In 2013 the word infographic was on average searched for 67,000 times per month. So, if you combine the visual impact and the popularity of infographics, it becomes clear that this form of communication can be a powerful addition to your communication arsenal.

There are several skills involved in creating infographics. The first is graphic design. You don't have to have to be able to create images, but you do need an eye for images that draw people in. You also need to understand the subject matter a bit. Almost every topic has a bevy of both good and bad statistics. In a good info graph, those statistics are your argument, so you need to pick the right ones to display. On my infographic, I quote a stat that said 90% of the information you take in every day is visual. To me 90% I such a high number that it draws you in as almost a certainty and gives weight to whatever come comes after it.

The most important aspect of an infographic, however, is the story you tell. The reason I believe infographics work is that they visually tell stories. The story can be about one thing, or it can be about a whole multi-step process, but it must tell us a story that we can understand. I think that is the power of infographics when done well they tell a story in a unique visual way that is compelling and immediate. I saw an infographic of the Kurdish people as part of the Syrian war. The graphic showed that they are about 25-30 million Kurds, they have no homeland and they are spread out across five countries. I have heard about the Kurds since the first Iraq war, and this infographic is the first time I think I understand the nature of these issues and exactly where they lived. A successful infographic can tell a compelling story. Below we have an infographic about what kids hide from their parents. As a parent, I found this story quite enlightening.

One of the other great things about infographics is that there some sites where you can create them for free. One of the links at the end of this blog will take you to an article that gives you ten different options that all have different features and price point. My two favorite mostly free sites were Canva infographic maker and Easel.Ly Both these sites have tremendous amounts of resource to use for free. They also offer premium content starting as little as a dollar. These sites also have templates that you can use and modify with simple switching options that will have you creating infographics in no time.

The paid site that I most enjoyed using was Piktochart. Like all the other sites it has robust templates to choose from. Piktochart also has more functionality to choose from such as being able to pull in data of your own from Survey Monkey, Excel, and other programs. I also liked the quality of the assets, but again that could be personal preference.

If I had to compare the three, I would say that Canva’s offering is the best site to use if you plan on making infographics and more for free. The interface gave me some headaches when I changed pictures,

but once I got the hang of it, it was easy to use. However, if you wanted to get more options on the cheap Easelly is offering a Pro Account for 3 dollars a month. With that account, you get access to hundreds of thousands of images, dozens of templates and more. Canva's options also have an individual rate of 12 dollars a month. Piktochart has an education option for 39.99 for the year. I don’t think you can go wrong with any of them, but I preferred Canva. The interface as simple and easy to use and felt like they took no time to create once you had your story in mind. (See the interface screen cap below)

The final question for me to answer was usability. Who can use this and why? In my opinion kids as young as 8 or 9 should be able to use this tool. The interfaces on the three products I discussed were simple enough to be used by children with some help. And I think the output actually could appeal to their visual natures. I can see this being used to as part of any project was displaying visual information is important. I also believe this is a great tool for adults. When done correctly it can show information in ways that people can digest quickly and what more do you want. To illustrate that point take a look at my graphic below. In it, I have most of the stats that I have gone over in this presentation. The presentation seems to make a difference. Again I can see this used in multiple ways. Infographics seem to work for everything from process and procedures, for comparisons, for reference, to tell visual stories and on and on. I firmly believe that this product is effective in what it does and can be used by a wide range of people.

Regarding support and tutorials, there are hundreds of articles and videos about creating using and marketing infographics. They run the gamut from firms that create and sell these services, to professors in marketing and technology. There are also some articles that help you figure out how to use infographics with a different population including students. I did not find some communities dedicated to infographics, but I did find a few dedicated to graphic design on sights like Pinterest a google+. There are also a number of forums where one could ask questions and get suggestions from. Additionally, all of the tools cited here allow you to ask questions to either a designer or the user community at large.

I would never have discovered so much information about infographics if this had not been one of our assignment possibilities and after utilizing the tools I can honestly say that everyone who has to display information should have one of these accounts. Infographics are a relatively easy way to communicate information to people. I believe that for the effort involved in creating one of these displays pack more impact and punch than most other products. I can’t wait to figure out ways to use them going forward.

Below is the infographic I created using Canva to tell the story of this blog post.

https://www.heartwormsociety.org/images/pdf/InfographicIncidenceMap2013.pdf http:// www.forbes.com/sites/tjmccue/2013/01/08/what-is-an-infographic-and-ways-to-make-it-go-viral/#329b315353c3

https://desk.thecontentcloud.net/five-statistics-infographics#.WFnpBHeZNBw

http://www.skilledup.com/articles/create-your-own-infographic-mike-wirth

http://www.creativebloq.com/infographic/tools-2131971