How to create infographics with 8 commonly used tools Are

Are you a Web Designer in charge of creating graphic designs or infographics? Or bloggers who like to make graphic designs? If so, then the tool for creating infographics is very important for you to master, right? Infographics should also be viral, so they can increase website traffic.

Creating a great infographic requires Photoshop skills and can take a while to create. That is why we must be smart in choosing an infographic maker tool that is free and cool and easy to speed up the process of creating infographics. What the hell?

What is an infographic?

According to the Cambridge Dictionary, infographics are defined as pictures or diagrams or a group of pictures or diagrams that show or explain certain information. Infographics can consist of just one or a diagram containing information or a series of images and diagrams that explain a particular information topic.

Reporting from Lucidpress, infographics are visualizations of data or information. In short, infographics can be created with a variety of layouts that differ in visual scope. This infographic visualization consists of a chart, an icon, and a short text section that contains an idea or information. As a piece of content, infographics have several elements that contribute to giving readers an understanding of the main topic of the content concisely and interestingly.

Broadly speaking, infographics can be interpreted as a collection of images, charts, and concise text that provide an overview with the aim of making it easier for readers to understand a topic. Infographics are tools or ways to perform visual communication. Creative infographics generally consist of images and effective explanations. So, in addition to being attractive, infographics can also grow the attention of readers.

How to create an infographic

Before creating an infographic, one needs to review the purpose of the infographic. According to Midori Nediger, there are at least six main steps in creating an infographic. The six ways to create an infographic are as follows:

1. Choosing a topic

The first step in selecting this topic is to make a brief description of the relevance of the infographic and its purpose. The topics chosen must also be adapted to the reader’s opportunities. After the topic is selected, you need to make an explanation and simplify the information process that will later be conveyed to the audience. If you want to create an infographic with non-commercial topics such as research and survey results, then you need to simplify the explanation and prioritize the graphical appearance of the survey with a concise explanation. The topic chosen will determine how an infographic is created and structured so that it is not too long or boring for the reader.

2. Determine the audience

Just as the topic of information is generally needed differently for each person, so are infographics made. The intended audience for infographic creators generally varies according to the purpose and topic of the information. Someone can make infographics with educational topics that can define a specific target audience to make them learn or understand something easily.

In addition, for infographics with commercial purposes, someone makes infographics with a persuasive nature or a tendency to lure readers into becoming consumers of a product. Specific targeting can increase the reach of an infographic in a campaign or the success rate of content. Likewise, infographic content can be tailored to the target content, such as images and colors used to attract readers.

3. Collecting data

To strengthen information or topic exposure in an infographic, the presence of data can be very important. This can be done by obtaining data from a second (secondary) party or presenting the findings themselves; for infographics of research or survey results; and other relevant sources. Several steps can be used to collect data, namely through a Google search by adding “Xls., CSV., or TSV.” in the search. In addition, data repositories can be found with related research or research through government agencies and private research institutions, both at home and abroad.

4. Visualize data into infographics

Infographics are one of the most concise and attractive ways to present data. This is done by visualizing the data through graphics and explanations that are displayed in a certain design order through infographics. This data visualization process can be done using the ICCORE method which consists of informing, comparing, changing, organizing, revealing relationships, and exploring.

The visualization steps in infographics using the ICCORE method can be described as follows:

• Inform: data visualization in infographics must be informative. This means that infographics are expected to convey important messages or data points that don’t require a lot of contexts to understand. You can create it by displaying numeric statistics with large, bold, and colorful text. Likewise, you can highlight percentages in the form of a donut chart or pictograph with the most attractive design and explanation possible.
• Compare: if you want to show the difference or compare the similarity of data or information, then an infographic with a comparison model can be of interest to readers. This infographic can be made using a bar, column, or other charts with the aim of informing a comparison or difference in data or trends from time to time for a particular topic.
• Change: if an infographic wants to highlight changes in a trend over time, several forms of charts such as area and line charts can be used to show changes that have occurred over time. Timelines between events (timelines) can help readers understand changes in data over time or explanations about changes in space and time
• Organize: if an infographic is showing a certain pattern, ranking, and order, then its creation needs to be adjusted to show the three main aspects with information or brief explanations for each element. The way to organize an infographic with a model like this is to use a table or Venn diagram for the intersection of certain patterns.
• Reveal relationship: a good infographic is expected to be able to show how relevant data and topics are specifically. Even complex infographics can be explained by displaying two or more variables for a data set. Convey and display data that has relevance to a specific topic, and of course, avoid long-winded explanations for data.
• Explore: Interesting infographics are expected to be able to make readers explore or explore information for their own sake. This can happen if an infographic has specific visualizations for each data and topic, and can be created on an ongoing basis so that readers can choose for themselves which content they will explore further.

5. Create a layout

The next step is to create a layout or infographic layout. A good and interesting infographic is made by presenting the layout and design with a flowing model and not confusing the reader. The layout of this design can also be arranged by placing the “title”, “main question”, and “supporting statement” in order.

You also need to make sure that all table or chart designs are symmetrical or easy for readers to follow. Some general things such as reading order from left to right or top to bottom can make it easier for readers to understand each information and infographic design well. These layouts generally include grids, templates, coloring, scales, and font styles for text.

6. Review the overall design

After determining and organizing the content conceptually, the last step taken is a review. Make sure that the layout of the grid to the font style used is not difficult for the reader and easy to understand. Likewise, the colors or charts used need to be adjusted to the web page as well as the main color background where the infographic will be displayed. To do an infographic test, use your coworker as an audience and ask him or her to provide feedback on the infographic’s design and ask if he or she captured the main information in the infographic.

8 free tools for creating infographics

For those of you who want to summarize the creation of infographics or do it easily, the following tools or applications for making infographics can help you. Creating awesome infographics requires Adobe Photoshop skills and can take a long time to create. Therefore, several free infographic creation tools can help you speed up the infographic creation process.

The following are 8 applications or tools that can be used to create infographics,

• Canva: One of the most popular infographic creation tools is Canva. There are hundreds of free design elements, which allow you to experiment with data visualization. Canva will make complex information more eye-catching and easy to digest.
• Dipity: Dipity is a great tool for creating, sharing, and embedding visually appealing infographics that integrate video, audio, images, text, links, social media, locations, and time stamps. You can use it for free. However, Dipity also offers a premium plan with the advantage of being able to create custom brands and iPhone backgrounds, analytics, and apps.
• Google Chart: Maybe you are familiar with this one tool, but it never hurts to dig deeper into the cool tools to create this one infographic. Google Chart tools from Google Developer are very powerful, easy to use, and free. You can choose from a variety of graphics and configure a series of options to suit the look and feel of your site. By linking data in real-time, Google Developer is the perfect infographic generator for your website.
• Visme: Ever heard of this cool tool? Visme allows you to create presentations, animations, mock-ups, banners, and of course infographics. After logging in, you will be greeted with a visual of all your projects (the space will be empty if you haven’t created any projects). Well, this one application is also suitable for you to choose to create interesting and informative graphics.
• Piktochart: Not inferior to other tools, Piktochart is a good application for creating various types of infographics. You can choose from several different formats, including the size of the infographic (height and width), the size of the presentation (for a set of presentation slides), posters, and reports. You can then either create your own infographic from scratch or choose one of the templates provided by them (some are free and others require signing up for the Lite or Pro plan). Interesting right?
• Venngage: Just like Canva, Venngage offers several options to choose from when it comes to creating infographics. Through this application, you will also find templates for making reports, promotions, posters, and infographics. For the infographic section, later you will find additional options based on topics and categories such as statistical infographics, comparisons, charts, tutorials, timelines, geography, and so on. In addition, another advantage of Venngage is the ease of using these tools.
• Infogram: For those of you who want to access various charts and maps and upload photos and videos to create cool infographics, Infogram is a good choice. This tool can customize the data that makes up infographics in an Excel spreadsheet style and can be easily edited. You can publish selected infographics to the Infogram site, post them to your site or share them via social media.
• Snappa: Snappa is another tool for creating infographics that you can use. The advantage of this tool is that you can use many of the existing supporting features even if you don’t create a paid Snappa account. Snappa offers templates, free image collections, fonts, icons, and built-in tools that can be used when you create infographics easily. Because of the convenience it offers, you can even create infographics with Snappa in just 15 minutes.

The following is an effective and interesting way to create infographics and some applications or tools that can make it easier for you to create infographics. Through these applications and tools, it is hoped that you can create infographics in a concise, fast, and efficient manner.