We love infographics.
We love magically compressing large volumes of information into a simple, effective graphic. Despite our neverending thirst for knowledge, humans actually have an average attention span of 8.25 seconds. So with an average silent reading speed of 238 words per minute, you have a whopping 33 words to get your message across before minds start to wander. Infographics can help you to get your point across faster and with greater impact than words alone. Here are ten great examples of how infographics can help you to get your voice heard.
Food and Wine
The pairing of food and wine is an art, and this infographic design explaining it is a masterpiece. They’ve condensed the complexities into a single chart and accompanied it with a user-friendly key explaining how it works. Chef’s kiss from us!
https://winefolly.com/deep-dive/simple-food-and-wine-pairing/
Most read books
An interesting little infographic illustrating the most read books of the last 50 years. They’re styled simply to look like a bookshelf, and the data speaks for itself. That’s an awful lot of Harry Potter books!
Writing essays
We’re very, very glad we didn’t know about this infographic while we were writing university essays (just kidding). Understanding the differences between inspiration, reference, and downright plagiarism is actually quite complex, but this logical flowchart guides the user through the process.
Less is more
This is a fantastic example of when less is definitely more. The daily routines of some of the world’s best creatives have been broken down into a single chart, allowing you to compare and contrast the rituals of your favourite geniuses and to remind yourself that true greatness will require you to get up a few hours earlier.
https://podio.com/site/creative-routines
Poppys
This infographic takes the poppy, a traditional symbol of fallen soldiers in war, and translates it into a beautiful and poignant reminder of the horrors of war. Each poppy represents a conflict that has led to more than 10,000 deaths, with the wispy stems originating from the year the war began and blossoming at the end.
History
Can you condense the history of life on Earth into a single graphic? Yes. This colourful spiral illustrates 4,600 million years of evolution with a few mass extinction events thrown in for good measure. It also includes silhouetted maps illustrating how the planet we inhabit has changed along the way.
https://www.behance.net/gallery/10901127/History-of-Life
Information
This infographic shows that you can present information in unique shapes that are relevant to your topic for added impact. The infographic is very easy to understand – the larger circles represent the countries with the highest emissions, and it’s colour-coded to differentiate continents.
https://venngage.com/gallery/post/global-carbon-footprint/
Nice and simple
Sometimes, simplicity is the best approach. This infographic whittles down design principles into bite-sized images for easy digestion. There’s no elaborate colour scheme, and a series of simple icons manage to explain a semester of design college straight away. Very handy and clever.
https://visual.ly/community/Infographics/education/6-principles-design
Communicating with colour
This infographic by GOOD Magazine examines the income levels among various religious groups in the US. This is another example of colour and simple design being used to swiftly communicate large volumes of information.
https://www.columnfivemedia.com/work/infographic-the-almighty-dollar/
Ignoring the rules
This infographic completely ignores the rule book, and we love it. It’s such a complex and detailed graphic that it begs you to poke around and take a closer look at it. The guiding arrows show a clear pathway through the image, which explains the processes that books go through from concept to bookshelf.
