Creating Infographics for Fun and Business

Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.

Time to get creative. How do you display something in a pleasant manner that tells the most important information about a specific topic? I love the idea of creating my own infographics as I am a visual learner.

First step is to decide your topic. What do you want to convey? Is it a recipe or the instructions for making a blanket? Once you have that piece in mind, the rest is pretty simple really.

Checklist for Creating an Infographic

• What is the most important information? This will be your centerpiece and of necessity be given greater prominence in the display. You can do that by making the picture larger or changing up the color as well as making the text bolder.
• Title. Does your title match your content? Is it easy to understand? Does it draw you in and have you wanting to read it?
• Story Telling. Make sure the story you are telling flows from top to bottom. Lead your readers on a smooth journey through the info, balancing text with images.
• Keep It Simple and Easy to Look At. Keep your use of images to a minimum and use only the text needed to convey the information.
• Language. Limited complicated terms unless they are absolutely necessary for the topic. Make it easy to understand.
• Fonts. Use fonts that are easy to read. Fancy curlicues or fonts in cursive may make it too uncomfortable to read and you could lose the folks you want to attract in the first place.
• List Your Sources. Give credit where credit is due. Giving sources adds to your authority. You want to ensure that people can verify your information. In addition it creates transparency and credibility.
• Legend. Depending on your topic, it can be important to label symbols and patterns. At the very least, use text to explain what the different symbols mean as I did in a previous blog using genograms.
• Publication. Consider where you are going to use this infographic. Is it going to be published on the internet? Is it going to be used for publicity or education? Choose the best media for your project. For Grandmas passing on a recipe, you can have these printed out as a gift.

Much of the above information comes from an infographic I found on the internet. You can check it out

Then I went looking for a really good example that a Grandma might use to pass on information. Don’t you think printing this out and having it laminated would make a great Christmas gift? I found this infographic on Grandma’s Apple Pie from taskandtool.com on another website: coolinfographics.com. Now that’s how you source your information within a blog.

Back to the apple pie infographic – isn’t that a fine looking apple pie? If you click on the image, you can see it up closer. You’ll see that the infographic follows all of the steps above.

• The title tells you exactly what to expect.
• The infographic includes all the most important information in an easy to follow manner going from the top to the bottom.
• It tells a story using easy-to-read fonts and pictures.
• It is very pleasant to view and the source is listed at the bottom.

How can you use this for yourself? If I were a betting person (and I’m not), I’d bet that you can imagine lots of ways to put this to use. I love creating things. How about creating an infographic for the recipe your kids call you to get every year? You know the one. In our family it was Stuffed Flanksteak. Yum.

Anyway, whatever it is, make it, take a photo of the various stages of development and the end result. Then put it together with the instructions. Get it printed up and laminated. (Yes, there are many steps here that can better be shown in another blog.)

Now in the case of a recipe, invite your family or friends over to eat. Prepare that dish and give them the recipe infographic as a gift. Another option: Sending fudge or cookies in the mail? Make the recipe infographic a part of the gift.

There are ever so many ways you can put this to use.

What infographic would you like to make?