Infographics are an essential part of communicating relatively general information on a subject for an educational purpose or even to inform people within the government on a topic. It can act as a summary of a piece of writing or can provide a general overview of a subject. They are often used as part of a larger document to get key information across clearly.

Features of an infographic:

Many features come together to create an infographic, and they can be crucial to the clarity and use of the poster. This includes things such as the layout which depends on where the infographic is intended to be seen as they can be found in a range of locations, such as digitally on a phone screen – which would be best-displayed portrait with thin columns, or on a computer screen – which would be best horizontal. Infographics are also commonly found printed in magazines or newspapers, or even just as a poster, which also affects the style in which they are presented.

Colours

Colour is a crucial part of any poster, allowing it to be eye-catching and attractive, but with the wrong use of colour, it could be the opposite. Sticking to only a few colours would make for a better poster, ensuring these colours complement each other. The use of bright colours together is not usually a good idea, especially not a bright background. The image below also shows clearly the effect of having dark writing against a dark background or light writing against a light background.

Figure 1. Example of coloured text against backgrounds which make it hard to read.

Layout and text

The information in a poster should flow with ease, with a layout which makes sense to the reader as to what should be read next. There should also be minimum writing in each section, and bullet points should be used to keep it simple and readable. If there is too much writing, no one is going to read it. The font size shouldn’t be too small either, especially if it is to be printed off as there won’t be an option to zoom in.

Data

It is important not to overwhelm a poster with unnecessary data, so only include essential graphs etc. Data should also be presented in a simplistic way, to make it as easy to read and understand as possible.

Overall, it is important for the quality of the infographic that all the features are considered and combined to produce a well-presented, educational and enjoyable poster. This will maximise the reader’s interest and therefore the number of people who read it.