Interactivity is like chocolate; it makes everything better. The interactive infographic is a format that works better than standard infographics do. Interactive infographics surprise and engage, and they have all the ingredients required to help viewers remember their content.
Turning your ideas into an interactive infographic is the easiest way to engage your audience and wow them with your communication. Did you know that you can create free, stunning, interactive infographics without needing any programming knowledge in just a few minutes? Learn how in this post. Read on!
What is an interactive infographic?
An infographic is a type of content in which concepts are represented by favoring images and icons over text. They’re a type of visual communication, given that they use visual elements to complement words, making the information they communicate easier to understand.
Infographics are a practical way to explain or simplify concepts or to clearly organize and number elements such as lists, rankings, or steps of a process.
If you add interactive elements and buttons to an infographic, it becomes an interactive infographic. Then, along with the advantages of infographics, you get the added opportunity to interact with the content, which allows for even more effective communication. It has been shown that people remember as much as 80% of information when they actively participate in and interact with it.
Plus, interactivity allows you to include as much additional information as you’d like without cluttering the content or ruining its design. You can include text, video, GIFs, images, social media posts, and audio in a secondary layer that only appears when people click on the infographic’s interactive buttons.
Why use interactive infographics?
Regardless of your communication goal, by using an interactive infographic, you’ll achieve:
Improved comprehension
We know that 90% of the information our brain broadcasts is visual and that we process images up to 60,000 times faster than we process text. That’s what makes visual communication more effective.
Plus, ever since the inception of the internet, we’ve been changing how we consume content in order to combat information overload. Did you know that we process up to 100,500 words a day? We do so by reading less. Instead, we tend to scan because otherwise we wouldn’t be able to take in that volume of content.
That’s why interactive infographics are the best way to summarize and communicate data or processes while also getting people’s attention, helping them remember what they saw, and reducing barriers to comprehension.
More shares
In the last few years, searches for infographics on the most popular search engines have increased by 800%, and well, who doesn’t like their information to be concise and attractive? Due to its many advantages, this format has become a social media superstar. In fact, infographics are shared up to three times more than any other kind of visual content.
The variety in infographic types and formats means that there’s an infographic that’s perfect for publishing and sharing effectively on any website, whether on a webpage, blog, or social media platform. The animation and interactive effects work on any platform.
Better retention
The viewers of an interactive infographic play an active role in communication. Interactivity enriches the experience, as they can’t just glance at it; they have to get involved and make decisions to interact with the various elements.
These viewers are no longer passive spectators. They’re not just looking. They’re doing something. That difference is what turns the passive consumption of information into an experience, making the content more memorable and improving its retention.
How are they used?
Interactive infographics are extremely useful in any professional sector. They’re a great way of turning any information or process into a piece of content capable of engaging your audience. Here are some of their uses for different professional applications:
If you work for a company
- Present results or data of any kind in a succinct, visual way, making it easier to understand.
- Tell the story of your company.
- Strengthen your marketing strategy by showing off your product’s features in a dynamic way.
- Explain your value proposition clearly and innovatively, multiplying its reach by turning it into something your audience can and wants to share.
If you work for a news or journalistic platform
- Explain complex concepts or topics that are trending in the media.
- Turn specialized (economic, scientific, political, etc.) statistics and data into visual creations your audience will want to share.
- Highlight your content, increasing its reach and visibility, by sharing it on social platforms.
If you work in education or professional training,
- Introduce a topic and put it into context.
- Create a study guide, bibliography, or other kinds of relevant lists.
- Summarize a topic.
- Create a mind map.
Tutorial: How to Make an Interactive Infographic in 5 Steps
1. Define your target audience, your message, and its tone.
Consider and analyze the audience you’re addressing; is it the general public or are they experts in a given topic? What’s the age range of your audience? What are they interested in? This will help you plan your goals and focus your creative work.
For example, knowing what social media platform your audience prefers will determine the ideal dimensions of your infographic, and your audience’s profile will give you clues about the colors and designs that they’ll find most attractive.
If you’re not sure where to start,try putting yourself in your target audience’s shoes and creating a mind map like this one. It’ll help you see things more clearly.
In terms of the message, it makes sense to make it as specific as possible. If you can summarize the main idea of your infographic in five or six words, you’re on the path to success. Regardless of who makes up your audience and the message you’re hoping to communicate, use simple language. A warm, approachable tone will make your creations easier to digest and, thus, more useful overall.
2. Locate the stellar content you’d like to include.
Gather the graphs, illustrations, videos, and other multimedia resources you want to include in your infographic. Ideally, you’d group them together in a single folder to have them ready to plug into your creation for maximum efficiency.
Only choose content that adds real value and that helps your audience understand the message. The goal is to achieve more with less, maximizing the understanding of ideas by reducing the time and effort needed to consume the information.
Create the text for your infographic, making it as descriptive and succinct as possible, eliminating extra words. Keep in mind that some infographics can be understood even without reading their text. In other words, the text should complement the visual resources, but it shouldn’t be the main element communicating your message.
3. Create the structure of your infographic.
The structure can make a big difference in how easily the concepts presented are understood. Creating an outline by hand is a good habit that will help you when it’s time to create.
Apply the traditional structure of a story. It always works! To do so, divide your infographic into three parts:
- An introduction, with a title and a brief paragraph
- The body is where most of the important information is found. This is where the visual components are most important. It can be long as long as it’s visually attractive; the goal is to make your audience want more.
A solid ending or conclusion, which can serve as a summary or a call to action. The idea is to leave your audience with the key concept explained in your infographic.
4. Scaffold your information.
One of the keys to success for an infographic is the effective division and scaffolding of information. Place the main ideas on the visible portion of your infographic, and add supporting information in buttons or other interactive elements so that it shows up when a viewer interacts with your content.
This way, you’ll engage your audience while making your information easier to digest.
Animation effects are effective at making interactive elements stand out. The components that move on the viewer’s screen will get their attention. It’s almost impossible to resist clicking on them!
5. Create your design.
You don’t need to start from scratch. If you use an infographic template, you’ll work faster, and it’ll be easier to structure the information.
How do I choose an infographic template?
In Genially, there are hundreds of templates for making infographics that come with stunning interactive and animated effects. They are easy to edit and entirely customizable. In the Infographics section of the Panel in Genially, you’ll find 3 kinds of templates: horizontal infographics, vertical infographics, and diagrams. So, when should you use each one? Here are some tips to help you decide:.
- Horizontal infographics are perfect for showing time-driven processes, maps, or dashboards in an effective and visual format.
- Vertical infographics offer the ideal layout for displaying data, lists, or complex content visually and simply. The vertical dimensions make it more mobile-friendly.
- Diagrams are visually simpler given that they’re built around simple geometric shapes and clean designs. They are frequently used for analyzing data or creating timelines.
Once you decide which type of infographic best suits your needs, the next step is to choose your template. You can skim through the templates available or type a keyword related to your topic in the panel’s search bar.
Once your infographic is ready, it’s time to put it out into the world. With Genially, you can share your creation easily with a link or by copying its code to insert it into a website in WordPress or another platform.
If you have a premium plan, you can also download it in different formats, including HTML5, to present it offline while preserving its interactive and animated effects.
Examples of awesome interactive infographics
Would you like a bit of extra inspiration? Here are some examples of interactive and animated infographics created with Genially. We’re sure they’ll inspire you to make your own infographic!
Resume infographic
Did you know that a resume infographic is the format preferred by hiring teams?
This format allows you to highlight the strong points of your work history and skills in an attractive way. How about making a resume like this one?
Read More : 7 types of interactive content for social media & when to use them