Infographics have seen an explosion of growth in recent years. As people are trying to find new ways to communicate information, graphic design has proven to be effective and entertaining. Mint has been especially fond of graphical representations of information, with near daily postings of fantastic infographics. Take a look at yesterday’s post on coffee and you will get a feel for how cool these can be.
I’ve gone though and gathered a few of my favorite examples of effective communication through infographics. Some are more entertaining than functional, but they send a message in an easily digestible format that makes you hungry for more. Here are several infographics that show how this medium can be a powerful way to spread ideas.
Click to enlarge each picture.
Colorful infographic with lots of information. Easily readable type with examples and illustrations for many of the how-to’s.
From the book Show Me How, a great illustration for hikers and campers. Not so much an infographic, but the idea is the same: the illustration explains more than just words could.
This graphic shows tons of different ways to hack your sleep patterns. This is a vertical infographic that almost reads more like an article on a webpage than a page in a book.
I found this graphic on Photoshop keyboard shortcuts shows us a few things. First, the content is what is important here. Print this out and put it next to your keyboard or monitor for a quick reference. Rather than a huge vertical picture, the size lends itself to be easily printed. I would think that for a Photoshop reference tool, it would look better. The design is uninspiring, but that might not have been a priority for the designer.
Just how big is a petabyte anyway? Freaking big apparently. Speaking of petabytes, Farmville pushes over a petabyte a day. My WTF moment of the week.
Here’s an example of a graphic that is more on the entertainment side of the information spectrum. This random assortment of life hacks might be better expressed as just a bulleted list. None of the pictures serve a purpose, but then again infographics wouldn’t be infographics without illustrations. This is not without some value, though. I have a new way to get free phone chargers now.
Another entertaining and extremely important graphic that all men (and some women) should read. This is probably the manliest infographic out there.
And just to show that infographics are nothing new, a gem from Mutual of Omaha from the 1950′s. I can only assume this was in a magazine when it was first run. It’s funny and entertaining to us now, but back then it was extremely informative to a real threat.
Consider using infographics in your overall marketing plan. As you can see, these can be used to entertain as well as educate. Infographics work well to supplement whatever promotional activities you currently have. They are easily shareable, easily digestible and there are people willing to seek them out and spread them no matter what the topic. Also, consider hiring a dedicated designer from our pool of talented students! You’ll be glad you did.
