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Infographic advice needed!

by wordsandthebees
12 replies
Hi Warriors,
I'm just dipping my toe into the world of infographics as I think they look awesome and are a great way to keep content fresh and interesting.

Can anyone offer me any guidance on the best way to create something? I'm a complete newbie in this field so have no idea if it's best to use an app or get a graphic designer to do the work??

I'd love to hear your experiences and what you've found works well for you. My business is a one-woman-band and I don't have a techy team behind me so I need the most straightforward options!
#advice #infographic #needed
  • Profile picture of the author claraghosh01
    Hi,

    You can create infographics easily with Piktochart.
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  • Profile picture of the author Chris-
    For high-quality image editing there are great free tools.

    First you need to understand the difference between vector and bitmap images. Vector means lines, shapes, blocks of color. Bit-map means things like photos, which are made of pixels (each pixel is a point with its own color).

    For creating and editing vector images, InkScape is a free software that can do anything you can imagine, and has most of the tools found in the paid softwares like Illustrator and CorelDraw.

    For bit-mapped images, GIMP is free, and similar to the expensive ones like Photoshop.

    If you want to add something special to images, 3D images can also be created with free software, but that is a steeper learning-curve. Blender is a great free 3D software. Or for a much easier way to do some 3D images, without too much cost, consider Bryce, which is much easier to learn, and very good at some things (but not so good at others).

    Don't forget things like making charts in Excel (or OpenOffice, which is free, and very good), then you can edit them in GIMP (by clicking "print screen" on your keyboard, and pasting into a new document in GIMP), and either add text in GIMP, or use InkScape for more vector stuff (export it as bitmap, import into GIMP and combine it with other things, etc.).

    Hope that helps

    Chris
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    • Profile picture of the author wordsandthebees
      Originally Posted by Chris- View Post

      For high-quality image editing there are great free tools.

      First you need to understand the difference between vector and bitmap images. Vector means lines, shapes, blocks of color. Bit-map means things like photos, which are made of pixels (each pixel is a point with its own color).

      For creating and editing vector images, InkScape is a free software that can do anything you can imagine, and has most of the tools found in the paid softwares like Illustrator and CorelDraw.

      For bit-mapped images, GIMP is free, and similar to the expensive ones like Photoshop.

      If you want to add something special to images, 3D images can also be created with free software, but that is a steeper learning-curve. Blender is a great free 3D software. Or for a much easier way to do some 3D images, without too much cost, consider Bryce, which is much easier to learn, and very good at some things (but not so good at others).

      Don't forget things like making charts in Excel (or OpenOffice, which is free, and very good), then you can edit them in GIMP (by clicking "print screen" on your keyboard, and pasting into a new document in GIMP), and either add text in GIMP, or use InkScape for more vector stuff (export it as bitmap, import into GIMP and combine it with other things, etc.).

      Hope that helps

      Chris
      Thanks Chris,
      That's great information and is exactly what I was looking for!
      I assume with GIMP and excel some kind of artistic flair would be necessary? I'm not the most creative ha ha
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      • Profile picture of the author Hunter MI
        I would recommend checking out the quicksprout blog, Neil uses some well designed infographics there.

        But when it comes to designing your own, you can use a similar style to his designer. Which you may be able to achieve in Piktochart.

        Piktochart provides you with some free character graphics to use. If you don't have to the graphic design skills I would recommend this route.

        However, if you do have the skills, or want to test them out, I'd recommend using a vector based graphic design tool as Chris mentioned.

        Using excel to create charts and stuff is a good idea, but you will definitely want to style them to match the rest of the infographic.

        Here are a few tips I can give you from experience...

        1. Work on your title: Very key, you only have room for about 10 words to craft a title that tells a story so make it count.
        2. Keep it organized: Tell your story using 6-10 data points.
        3. The design points that matter most: Using lots of white space, 3-4 main colors, and show your data in a creative way.
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        • Profile picture of the author wordsandthebees
          Originally Posted by Hunter MI View Post

          I would recommend checking out the quicksprout blog, Neil uses some well designed infographics there.

          But when it comes to designing your own, you can use a similar style to his designer. Which you may be able to achieve in Piktochart.

          Piktochart provides you with some free character graphics to use. If you don't have to the graphic design skills I would recommend this route.

          However, if you do have the skills, or want to test them out, I'd recommend using a vector based graphic design tool as Chris mentioned.

          Using excel to create charts and stuff is a good idea, but you will definitely want to style them to match the rest of the infographic.

          Here are a few tips I can give you from experience...

          1. Work on your title: Very key, you only have room for about 10 words to craft a title that tells a story so make it count.
          2. Keep it organized: Tell your story using 6-10 data points.
          3. The design points that matter most: Using lots of white space, 3-4 main colors, and show your data in a creative way.
          Thanks Hunter MI,

          Piktochart definitely seems to be coming out on top for someone with my design ability!
          It was actually Neil's infographics that drew me to the idea of using them myself, they look great and they're always so informative. He does say that their popularity has decreased since more people have started using them but I know my contacts haven't seen them yet so it'll be good to freshen up my content.

          Will definitely try Piktochart for that..

          Thanks again
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  • Profile picture of the author 100jancic
    Check out Canva's infographic maker as well

    https://www.canva.com/create/infographics/
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    I’ll teach you how to build an online business and make a living for yourself from Internet Marketing ===> http://StojanJancic.com
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    • Profile picture of the author wordsandthebees
      Originally Posted by 100jancic View Post

      Check out Canva's infographic maker as well

      https://www.canva.com/create/infographics/
      WOW! I use Canva all the time and I didn't even know that section was there! I've just checked it out, I'm going to use that to create my next blog, it looks so easy to use too!!

      Thanks so much for that awesome tip
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  • Profile picture of the author harryvent
    For making best infographic design, I am using Photoshop some alternate choices are Easel.ly and visual.ly. Try these sources to make your infographics more attractive.
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  • Profile picture of the author PPG19
    I agree Infographics are a great way to drive trafffic. Many famous marketers like Neil Patel got really famous by starting to usie infographics. This free tools are great but if you want to stand out from the crowd you will need to hire a professional.
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  • Profile picture of the author introspective out
    I agree that Canva is a great option for beginners since it offers an easy to use interface with its drag and drop function if you want to create your own design or using a template. Another similar site is Venngage that has a 3-step process of creating infographics.
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    Introspective Out
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  • Profile picture of the author my abaco vacation
    There are a lot of infographic tools you can actually find online like Piktochart, Canva, Visme, Visually, and more. I think it really depends on your working style and how comfortable you are with the tool. I suggest that you try out some of the free tools and decide from there which one suits your needs best.
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    My Abaco Vacation
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  • Profile picture of the author Pat H
    Thanks everyone for the great suggestions! Infographics always seem very popular on my Facebook page although I've never created one myself. Nice to find some options for creating them here.
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