A picture's worth a thousand words, but an infographic is worth a million.
Bar charts and graphs, although informative, are outdated versions of infographics; using design and animation to portray information to your target audience, means they’ll retain 65% of the information when it’s presented visually. Infographics are an example of rich media, a vital tool for businesses. Rich media complements the brand image, encouraging consumers to fully engage with your content.
Seaspiracy
Recently, I watched the Netflix documentary ‘Seaspiracy’ and found myself able to recall and quote some of the statistics that were presented, (with a memory like Dory from ‘Finding Nemo’, I knew that the graphics must’ve done something right). I researched and analysed some of these graphics to try and pinpoint what helped me retain this information.
Using engaging colours and visuals increases comprehension by 70%. Typography, graphics and colours used in infographics all play a part in helping consumers absorb information. The documentary uses strong colours such as red, white, black and blue. These colours compliment and contrast each other, making the information stand out (especially information displayed in red).
This infographic contains five words; however, the message is abundantly clear, it highlights the comparison of the captured and killed dolphins between 2000 and 2015. A bar graph structure is used, though the bars are formed using dolphin icons. The use of the dolphin icons is to visually show the animal in question without having to use extra text. The team working at Seaspiracy have really used the ‘a picture paints a thousand words’ formula to their advantage here, almost wasting space, leaving it blank to draw our eyes to the icons and condensing the amount of text needed to the absolute minimum to convey the message to their audience.
Only 1 in every 12 dolphins are saved, the rest are killed, the use of red to depict the blood of the dead dolphins is extremely powerful.
Unlike the previous infographic, this example uses a pie chart to display the information. This choice of a circular pie chart is clever, as the circle graphically represents the world and highlights the overwhelming majority of co2 is held in our oceans.
The graphic is further strengthened by the use of a moving sea image as a background to the pie chart. The typography for the ‘93%’ is simple, bold and is by far the largest element on the graphic. This typography is highly legible and easy to understand, forcing the audience’s attention to go directly to this dramatic statistic.
A line graph is then used to represent the pacific bluefin tuna’s being hunted to extinction.
The line graph contains only a start and end date along the x-axis (again keeping the text minimal). The y-axis just consists of the word ‘population’, the simple nature of this infographic helps your attention be immediately drawn to the focus point.
The red line is very eye-catching in contrast to the blue background. Additionally, the connotations of the colour red typically can symbolise death, danger, and blood. This use of colour helps the viewer to understand the severity of the damage caused by the commercial fishing industry.
The focal point of this graphic is the huge decrease in the population of pacific bluefin tuna with less than 3% now left in the ocean. This statistic has also been displayed in blood-red, drawing the viewers eye to the purpose of the graph. The eye naturally follows the red line down the rapid decline, leading them straight to the shocking statistic and the dark silhouettes of the tuna in the background are almost haunting.
How can infographics help your business?
So, what can be concluded from this analysis in terms of marketing strategies for businesses?:
• 86% of businesses predict that visuals will be an important part of their marketing strategy in 2020-2021.
• Make sure you use visual information rather than just text on any marketing materials.
• When producing content for your business, take a step back and think ‘would I stop and engage with this material?’.
• Businesses bombard their consumers with unnecessary information, which can be overwhelming.
• Condense information and make it stand out. The mindset needed for creating a successful infographic is ‘SHOW, don’t tell’.
• Look at the words on your infographic and analyse how essential they are. If they are essential, then perhaps think of an innovative way to display them with visuals rather than text. The simpler the graphic is the more likely your audience will be to retain it.