Infographics can be a powerful tool to spread knowledge or promote a business. But if they don’t tell the whole story, they are ineffective. To avoid these mistakes, you should use specific details to make your infographic more believable. For instance, an infographic about the evolution of the web should have concrete details about events in the history of web development, such as when the world wide web consortium was formed in 1994 and Flash was introduced by Macromedia in 1996.
Too many colors
A good rule of thumb to follow when designing infographics is to stick to a color scheme of six to ten shades. This is because each color has a unique wavelength and energy. It is important to understand the psychology of color in infographics. Using too many colors can make your information feel overwhelming.
If you aren’t sure how many shades to use, start by looking at the Viz Palette, which is a tool that helps designers choose colors. Colors can also be used to separate categories. For example, the political parties are red and blue, so they should be easy to distinguish. However, if a particular color pops out too much, you may want to adjust its saturation.
While content is the cornerstone of an infographic, the colors used in your infographic are equally important. Choosing the right colors for your infographic will make your content come to life. Not only will it set the mood, but the colors will also capture the audience’s attention in the first few seconds. In addition, they can help you highlight different data sets and their relationships with one another. Choosing the right colors is also important because it will affect readability and the experience your readers have while reading your infographic.
Too many words
Using too many words in your infographics will obfuscate the content and turn readers off. Infographics should be simple, bite-sized chunks of information that clearly convey your message. It’s a good idea to avoid using more than three hundred words unless you’re presenting complicated, detailed information.
Infographics should focus on one or two key points and make use of graphics to emphasize them. To keep the amount of text to a minimum, you should use subheadings and group data points by key point or subheading. In addition, you should use the right font size for each section.
A central image in your infographic should convey the core theme. Mike Redaelli, creative director at Reputation Capital, recommends using data points only to support the main thesis. Using too many data points will confuse your audience.
Unsupported claims
Infographics can be very effective tools for a marketing campaign, but if you want to avoid misleading the audience, you should always check the source of data. Good infographics show reputable data in a clear, meaningful way and put it into a bigger context. However, they should never make unsupported claims, which can be very misleading.
Too much data in a single piece
Using too much data in a single infographic can lead to confusion, and you should aim to include only relevant facts in your infographic. When you are presenting complex information, it is best to present it in a balanced mix of data and illustrations. The balance of data in a single infographic will also help you avoid creating a visually overwhelming infographic. In general, there is no need to include too many statistics, either.
Often, designers create huge infographics and have to downsize them before releasing them to the public. Ideally, the infographic should have one font size that is readable and is no larger than 600 pixels wide. However, many infographics are longer than this, and the user will find it difficult to read it.