If you’re getting ready to create an infographic, it’s important to understand the 13 basic infographic types so you know where to start. We’re covering these main types with templates and tips for each.
In this video, you’ll find tips and examples of each of the major 13 infographic types. And better yet, each of the templates represented in the video is available for you to customize in Visme .
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A quick Google search can show thousands of examples of infographics. What if I told you they can all be placed into just 13 categories? Follow along.
Hello world! Mike Ploger here back with Visme — the king of the infographic design world.
There are many components to creating your own infographic. Conducting the research, compiling statistics, determining the medium and of course, designing the actual infographic image itself.
Starting with a blank canvas when doing so could either make you look extremely creative and original or the more likely scenario is the infographic turns out sloppy, unorganized and confusing. But that’s why you’re here.
In this video, not only will I share 13 different types of infographics you can create, I’ll also share templates for each that are available for you to edit on Visme’s website right now. Shall we?
Our first infographics are the statistical infographics. Do you have more facts and figures that you can keep track of? If so, organize them into an infographic.
This is your opportunity to take advantage of various charts and graphs as well. Bar charts, line graphs, spider charts, scatter plots — you name it, I can guarantee you there is a data widget out there that is useful for your information.
One way to share demographic information is with these types of widgets. As you can see in our example, the developer used pie charts and bar charts and even a map at the bottom. Whenever you have hard numbers or factual information, infographics like this are the ones for you.
If it’s words rather than numbers that drive your message home, we recommend using informational infographics. These rely heavily on the written word and text rather than data like we just discussed.
An example would be an elaborate recipe or tips for becoming a better public speaker or how to set a goal for yourself as you can see here.
Anytime you need to explain something — especially a topic that one need to be revisited by your audience — turn it into an informational infographic.
Our third infographic directly relates to time. Has something evolved over months or years? Has there been improvement or worsening figures due to recent actions? Highlight these changes with a timeline infographic.
If you’re showcasing events that occurred in a chronological order, there’s really no better option. How have trends changed? How far has your company come since first launch or what about the history of a person like Vincent Van Gogh?
These are all possible topics that may spark ideas for you. Pro tip: Be sure to include icons and images in the infographic itself to add curb appeal and to help your viewers with association.
The how-to infographic is, well, just as it sounds. It’s an infographic built for explaining how to do something.
How to make red wine, how to file for unemployment, how to vote by mail, how to properly remove a tick, how to jailbreak an iPhone — not that I recommend doing something like that, but the possibilities are endless.
An easy way to tell if this is an infographic for you is if there are instructions involved. Creating something challenging like a brand style guide? Well, there’s a how-to infographic for that too.
Similar to both our last two infographics is the process infographic. While these are similar, they differ in that they’re meant solely for describing a process. How do you go from point A to point B?
Examples would include the product design process, how it gets from idea to prototype to mass production and finally quality assurance. Or if you’re in sales, how do you go from generating leads to closing a sale? Or help a potential customer see the journey they’ll go on with an infographic like this.
Pro tip: Be sure to pair each step in the journey with numbers 1 to whatever to help them follow along. That’s the easiest way to separate a process infographic from say a timeline infographic.
The comparison infographic is one that carries a ton of benefits versus just putting it on paper. With these, you can line up two or more things side by side and weigh the differences.
It could be people or places or products you’re considering buying. By putting them side by side in an infographic, you can really display all the pros and cons, the similarities, the differences and relative advantages to each.
It’s a huge benefit to your audience or even yourself if you’re trying to make informed decisions.
When you’re dealing with places, a location infographic is likely your best bet. You can show the different trends, preferences, demographics and more by displaying information on a map.
The scale of the map is entirely up to you. It could be counties in a state or countries across the globe.
One you may have seen recently is how the Coronavirus pandemic affects different regions. Before that, maybe you’ve seen statistics on crime rates, unemployment rates or how the cost of living varies across the country.
Some processes have a number of different routes that can be taken in order to get from point A to point B. If this is the case, we recommend using a flowchart. This can be edited however necessary to create a flow and help an audience understand a complete process.
There can be multiple branches rather than just one defined path. This example here shows the hierarchy of a company’s employees. While it works well for these purposes, well, let me just show you what we have next.
You don’t always have to use a flowchart to show hierarchy, because, well, there are actual hierarchical charts.
If there are varying levels of importance with your subjects, whether it be staffers, ideas, difficulty — a hierarchical chart with a pyramid is a great way to display that. These infographics organize your information and compare the different levels, clarifying any confusion with the viewer.
Your medium and audience are two of the first considerations when deciding on an infographic, and there’s nothing better for social media than a single chart infographic. These are just as they sound. They use one single chart or graph to display their information.
This can be quickly digestible as they should be easy to understand and not littered with tons of text. Actually, they’re one of the top 3 most used types of infographics with flowcharts and list-based infographics also included.
Sometimes numbers are best utilized in a paragraph rather than as a data widget. This might be the case if there’s one fact or statistics with numbers that just jump off the page, making it take a step back and think — WOW!
Use a visualized numbers infographic when your information is on the edge of unbelievable and doesn’t require additional information. Sometimes, adding too much unnecessary data will just cloud the item you want your audience to understand the most.
As we continue down our list, our 12th infographic is the anatomical infographic. You may immediately think of an infographic in a doctor’s office displaying the different areas of the brain or bones and human body.
However, you can get creative with these and go a step further. How does anything work? Maybe a watch or a television or display the different elements in a cheeseburger. How about things you can’t touch, like the anatomy of an online presentation or what it takes to be an information designer.
All of these would make for great anatomical infographics. Which makes me wonder, what can you come up with?
And last but not least, it’s likely not the reason you’re watching this video, but it is a way you can take your career up a notch, and that’s with an infographic resume.
Black and white resumes consisting of lists and bullet points are things of the past. Now if you want to stand out and impress an employer, you’ll turn your boring resume into an eye-catching infographic.
Use charts to highlight accomplishments and statistics. Use icons to catch readers eyes. Add some color, have fun with it as you show yourself off.
My final pro tip, if you’re in a creative field like marketing, graphic designer, or even applying for a startup of some sort, I’m looking at you. This is what your resume should look like. Don’t miss out on a creative job because your resume isn’t creative.
And that’s all folks! 13 up, 13 down. Once you’ve decided on an infographic you feel is perfect for your project, I encourage you to go to Visme.com to see our infinite amount of templates that you can use.
They’re already built, just waiting for you to edit them with your information and your preferences. But also, please drop a like down below and even subscribe if you feel you learned anything today. We want to support you and that’s one way you can support us.
We’ll hope to catch you again soon. Thank you so much for watching! With Visme, I’m Mike Ploger helping you Make Information Beautiful.
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