Create an Infographic

Great tutorial how to create an infographic by Jeff Kear:

1. Come up with a catchy idea

Usually I scan sites like Quora, LinkedIn Answers and industry sites to find out what people are talking about and what they’re asking questions about. This gives me insight into what topics are timely and what information would be valuable to my target audience.

2. Research

You can do one of two things here. A) You can conduct your own research, which requires a database of potential respondents and a survey tool like Survey Monkey. B) You can scour the Web for data and statistics related to your topic. I usually do the latter because it is quicker and you can compile data and ideas from multiple studies and articles.

3. Outline

Now you need to compile your data and assemble it in a way that it has a narrative flow. Think about how you would present this data if it were in an article and then flow it out that way first. Then cut out all the unnecessary copy, leaving you with headings, brief descriptions, labels/captions for graphs/tables, and the data itself.

4. Decide on a graphical theme

Most effective infographics have a graphical theme that somehow relates to the topic at hand. Come up with concrete ideas for your backgrounds, color palettes, font selections, icons, graphs/charts, etc.

5. Sketch out your layout first

Call it a wireframe, call it a sketch. But just make sure you know where information is going to go and how things are going to be arranged.

6. Design away

You can either use the Abobe Creative Suite if you are familiar with those products or an online tool like Piktochart if you are more of a design novice.

7. Post on your blog or Web site

Make sure that the first place that the search engines encounter your infographic (and make sure you label it with an tag that includes the appropriate keywords for the graphic) is on a Web property you own. And include embed code so visitors to your site can embed the infographic on their sites (with a link pointing back to your site).

8. Post the infographic on other sites

Submit your infograhic to be posted on industry blogs, media sites and graphic sites (like Pinterest) … and make sure you put your URL on the infographic so that if the sites don’t link back to you there is still a way for someone to find the source of this great graphic. And repost it from time to time when it is relevant.

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