4 Considerations for Creating Professional and Attractive Infographics for your Presentations
Statistics show that 65% of persons are visual learners and that the brain processes information 60,000 times quicker when it is accompanied by some visual support (graphics, images, photographs). If you are not using images or graphical elements in your message, you are ignoring most of your audience.
In the last 6 years, infographics have been one of the most popular visual representations in the marketing and sales industry and in the education field. Why are infographics so popular? Because infographics are visual representations that show in a clear and easy way complex information. For instance, statistics, corporate reports, simplify complex concepts, making comparisons, even to design your resume.
But before creating an infographic you must be clear on what is going to be its use. Are you using it for digital marketing campaigns, for your social networks, to be printed as pamphlets or for a presentation (either in-person or online).
In this article, I will share four things you must know to create infographics for PRESENTATIONS:
1. What type of information you want to show?
You must be clear on what type of information you want to show and what part of that information needs to be designed as an infographic for better understanding. What is the purpose of your presentation? Educating, selling, closing a deal, seeking an investor. Identify which is the most important information you want to share with that specific audience. Making a presentation to a group of investors is not the same as making a presentation of a work team or a class.
Review in all your written material the information that is complex and needs to be clear and easy to understand. Focus in your audience; may be the information is not complex for you (since you’re the expert), put yourself in their shoes. You may have an audience that is qualified in the topic, a professional audience or public that does not know the topic you are going to talk about. Never assume that all your public is going to understand your presentation. Most people are visual and if you use infographics properly they will absorb your message quickly.
2. Graphical elements to use in your infographics
The kind of graphical resource to use in your infographics will depend on the type of information you have selected to present. If your presentation has much information on statistical reports, projections or you need to make numerical comparisons and correlations, I recommend you use bar graphics, pie charts or other type of graphs or diagrams. If the information is a list of contents or tips, you are explaining a process or defining the steps of a model, I recommend that you use iconographies, images or timeline or process diagrams (place link to my YouTube video). There are cases where you can combine the use of graphics and diagrams with iconography. Creativity has no limits, if it is done strategically.
I, particularly, love icons; they help your presentation to look professional and creative. Icons are excellent substitutes for bullet points.
But don’t confuse icons with clip art. Clip art are images that are illustrations and many of them are childish or cartoonish. Instead, icons are vector images representing in a simple way an object, a person, things, among others.
3. Infographics Design.
Presentation Format: When designing an infographic for a presentation, consider the format of your presentation. It may be standard (4:3) or wide screen (16:9). Never copy and paste a vertical format infographic (for example, 800 pixels by 2000 pixels) made to be seen in your computer or mobile device to a presentation. You must adapt the infographic to your slide format. That is why it is important that you design your infographic from scratch.
Colors and Texts: when designing your infographic, do not design it as something isolated. Try using the same theme and style of your presentation, so it shows the infographic is part of your message. You can use the same personalized template of your corporate image. Use the same text font of the rest of your presentation. It is important that there be harmony and coherence in the design of your presentation.
4. Less is More
When creating an infographic for a presentation, you must consider that you cannot overload the slide with too many graphics or icons. This will make your audience not to absorb the information quickly. You can show one idea per slide. If your infographic is extensive, I recommend that you divide it in parts and place each part in one slide. Don’t worry if the infographic is not all in one slide. Remember you don’t have much time to present your message, either in an in-person presentation or online. Go straight to the point. If you must simplify your infographic even further, then take the time and perfect your message some more.
Infographics are powerful visual representations when presenting complex information to your audience in a clear and quick way. Remember it’s not the same creating an infographic for a digital marketing campaign of to be published in your social networks or blog, that an infographic for a visual presentation.
The idea of giving you these four considerations when designing your infographic is for you to be aware of how valuable infographics are in a presentation when they are well designed.
I hope these recommendations will help you. If you need to know something specific about infographics, leave a comment.
