The inside track on infographics: creating appealing visuals

We talk to two professional designers to find out how to make the most of an infographics opportunity

You’ve got to love a good infographic. Attention grabbing, insightful, provocative, memorable. They can be all these and more.

“They’re a great way to get across complex ideas,” says Stef Bayley, who’s created more than a few in his time as infographic designer at national newspapers, design agencies, global consultancies and for FirstWord. “They can draw in and engage the viewer in a way text can’t on its own.”

For businesses, infographics can quickly and easily communicate all manner of content to audiences both inside and outside their organisations, from sharing key successes and stats to explaining complex but critical operational knowledge such as manufacturing processes, customer journey maps or compliance checklists.

They are effective because text is harder for our brains to engage with than images – and can be trickier to retain and recall. Research shows that after three days, the average person can recall just 10 per cent of what they’ve read, but a tidy 65 per cent of what they’ve seen.

“The real art is to strip away extraneous information. But go too far and you will lose the message.”

Like so many things, creating a good infographic is harder than it looks, but graphics specialists are not just design experts. They make sure they understand the business and its context, or the issue being explained. In addition to creating something visually arresting, they will also ensure the right data and facts are being used to get the message across.

Getting the balance right

“The real art is to strip away extraneous information,” says Bayley. “But go too far and you will lose the message.” So how do you know if you’ve gone too far, or not far enough?

It starts with the idea, which must convey something useful and/or meaningful. The events leading up to a plane crash, how much of modern life relies on batteries and the future of shopping – all have proved great in theory and practice.

Once the idea is pinned down, make sure there is a budget and that both are signed off by the right person to ensure no time is wasted. “It does happen that a client will come to you, discuss the idea, get a sketch and then find out there’s no money or the boss doesn’t like it,” says Paul Weston, who’s worked with companies ranging from The Telegraph to Meta as well as FirstWord.

Drilling down into the detail

If all goes to plan, the next step is working up a detailed brief tailored to the right audience. Designing for a student revising for exams demands a different approach than for an IT buyer at a bank. The former needs tips and checklists; the latter wants facts about a product and the challenges it overcomes.

“Set up a call and chat the brief through. You get so much more from a call than from a written brief.”

Next comes the story outline, what the available data and sources are, level of assumed knowledge, brand guidelines (colours, fonts, banned words etc) and a note of where it will primarily be seen – hoarding, poster, newspaper (digital or printed), desktop computer, laptop, mobile or social media. For a graphic that is going to be viewed primarily on a mobile phone it’s three to five elements max; for a newspaper it can be pretty complex and take up to a whole page.

The brief needs be discussed with the designer to make sure they understand as much as possible about what you’re trying to achieve. “Set up a call and chat the brief through. You get so much more from a call than from a written brief. I can ask questions to really understand what the client wants. It also helps price the job,” says Weston. “The call shouldn’t take long and it means everyone is on the same track.”

Stress-testing the brief

For Bayley, now’s also the time to chew over the value of the information he’s been given. “Part of my job is to work out what is there and what it can be turned into, spot weaknesses – old data points, data that is skewed by Covid, for example – and make sure the sources are robust,” he adds.

Armed with the brief, brand guidelines and notes from the call, Bayley and Weston suggest a good next step is then to make a rough sketch – also known as a scamp – to show the client. Any crossed wires should then become apparent. A sketch will also highlight any areas where more information is needed. Again, make sure the sketch is approved by the decision-maker to avoid complications or the need for a re-brief later on.

“It can be a pain because decision-makers are always busy. But it saves a lot more pain down the line,” says Bayley.

 

Once the sketch is approved the designer can incorporate all the detail and submit it for review. “You get a much better outcome if all comments and amendments are fed back to the designer through one person. It sifts them and helps pick up conflicting comments. And it avoids the ‘askhole’ – where people just comment because they can and you get stupid requests,” says Weston.

Designing for success

But what actually makes a good design?

According to Weston, it’s the visual element and the headline. “You need a strong visual feature, that’s the hook,” he explains. “It works hand-in-hand with the headline. Then a short intro. And the eye should be able to steadily work round the piece to soak it all up.”

In the case of the plane-crash infographic, below, the area where the crash happened is in a lighter blue, drawing the eye. Then the words explaining the timeline are easily followed thanks to the number reference.

Bayley tries to design along the way an eye scans – in an F or Z shape. “These are design principles. Headline, down, along the scale, follow the line of a graph. It’s about making it easy for the viewer,” he says.

Both are clear about what makes a bad design – too much info and too many words. Bayley also finds it difficult when clients are wedded to weak elements – perhaps data obtained from their own small-scale survey or an inappropriate visual – and he says some brand guidelines on colour can make his job harder. “I did one recently when the colour palette was all the same hue – pink, orange and red. There was no decent contrast.”

Other common mistakes are illegible fonts, words over pictures making text hard to read and meaningless icons. “It’s impossible to get some really complex technology or banking element into one 40 pixel by 40 pixel icon. You have to be realistic,” says Weston.

Having said all that, there is also a bit of magic you get from a professional designer. Yes, software tools are available to make infographics and the latest version of ChatGPT claims it can make them too. But as always, only experience and skill can turn something fine into something memorable that will do its job and stand the test of time.

So if you think you’d like to cut down on words and up the visuals to make a report sing or stick on social media, give us a call. We can help thrash out ideas, draft a tight brief and supply a designer who will create something visually compelling that gets across your key points to your desired audience in a beautiful and engaging way.