Cash in on the Power of Infographics

Viewing data used to be boring. Not anymore, thanks to the infographic.

It seems you can’t venture onto the Internet these days without running across one of these handy little aids. Whether it’s how to properly wash your dog or the keys steps to accurately installing the latest version of Adobe Photoshop, you can bet that somewhere out there is an infographic.

So how do you make use of these tools that Internet geniuses seemingly whip out of thin air, and more importantly: how do you make your own?

Creating these graphics used to be the province of graphic designers, so not surprisingly the tools most commonly used for infographics are Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. If you already have access to these programs and some experience using them, you can make beautiful and detailed graphics fairly quickly.

There are plenty of tutorials online for both Photoshop and for Illustrator. When choosing between the two, keep in mind that Photoshop infographics don’t scale well, so if you’re planning on making poster-sized or larger graphics, Illustrator is the better tool.

If you don’t have convenient access to these programs, and don’t want to invest the time in learning them, there are several alternatives.

One of those alternatives is a program you probably have right on your computer: Microsoft’s PowerPoint or Apple’s Keynote. While they aren’t the graphical powerhouse that Adobe’s programs are, it’s quite easy to create good-looking infographics using these programs, particularly when it comes to graphs and charts for displaying things like sales data.

Here’s a quick tutorial on how to use PowerPoint to create infographics as well as how to utilize the many templates PowerPoint has to offer. Here’s a good tutorial to create infographics using the Alpha tool in Keynote.

If PowerPoint or Keynote aren’t your thing, don’t worry. Given the popularity of infographics and the many ways they can be used, there are also quite a few free online alternatives to make them as well. 

• Easel.ly — Designed primarily with flowchart style infographics in mind, Easel.ly provides you access to a library of arrows, shapes and connector lines. You can customize the text with range of fonts, colors, text styles and sizes and then upload your own images.  
• Venngage — This simple and easy-to-use tool lets you choose from templates, themes, and hundreds of charts and icons. You can also upload your own images and backgrounds to further customize your infographics.  
• PiktoChart — This application claims you can use it “to create beautiful infographics in as little as 10 minutes” even if you’re not a designer. Piktochart has over 400 fully customizable themes with ready-made images, graphs, and colors you can edit and adjust according to your preference. The downside is that while the basic program and a small number of templates are free, access to the good stuff is locked behind a paywall.  
• Canva — This popular online application is free, with many templates for different infographic purposes and formats. This YouTube video will get you started.

Love them or hate them, infographics look like they’re here to stay. Take advantage and use them to turn your marketing from boring to fun.