How to Use Infographic Design to Engage & Inspire Readers

A well-designed infographic can be a great way to expose people to new ideas and educate them on important matters. But if you want to make the most impact with your infographic design, you have to understand the unique strengths and weaknesses of the medium. Then, you can maximize those strengths and avoid potential pitfalls.

One possible weakness can be that by nature, a single infographic won’t leave much room for too many overly complex ideas. But that doesn’t have to be a problem! In fact, part of what makes infographics so effective is their ability to educate or inspire people through simple data points.

That means that when it comes to infographic design, the first question to ask is, “What am I trying to say? What’s my main point?” Once you know that, you can structure your whole design to support it. It’s easy to drown your message in too many distractions, and you don’t want to have so much going on that the story is lost.

So cut out the clutter and keep your infographic design lean. Pick one main point and focus on saying that one thing well rather than saying a dozen things poorly. That doesn’t mean, “don’t add subsections or bullet points”—that style is part of what makes infographics so easily digestible, after all. It just means that every piece should be serving your main idea.

But what about the strengths of infographics? Well, one big one is right in the name: graphic. Visuals are a fantastic way to back up your message and keep your readers engaged.

However, in order to take advantage of that strength, you have to make sure that you actually display your data visually—and beyond just standard bar graphs or diagrams. Get creative. Try to think outside the box in terms of how best to “show” information relating to the actual content you’re hoping to share. With a little brainstorming, you can come up with fun, interesting visuals to complement what you’re trying to say.

They’re called infographics for a reason, so make the info and the graphics work together!

For example, we created an infographic for Bridge Builders Foundation. Bridge Builders inspires and equips the underserved youth throughout the Los Angeles Area to pursue higher aspirations in life.

Take a look at this infographic to learn about Bridge Builders and how they support young Black and Brown boys and young men:

‍

As you can see, we designed this infographic so it wouldn’t be cluttered up with too much noise. We got a firm grasp on what Bridge Builders wanted to say, and we leveraged every piece of the puzzle to serve that message. Then, we put appealing visuals to work, ensuring that this infographic design would catch eyes and engage readers.

That’s how you use infographic design to spread awareness for a worthy cause.

At Acton Circle, we’re passionate about using our skills to bring awareness to organizations, especially in communities of color. If you have a project you’d like to partner with us on, reach out!