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72Writing Infographics That Won't Make People Mock Infographics

Pity the humble infographic. Why? Because, like a Kardashian, it's ubiquitous and it inspires strong, often negative reactions.

SaveDelete, a blog that publishes tech and computer marketing tips and news, once ran a roundup of the “Top 13 Infographics that Mock Infographics.” (Among them, the very meta data set “The Number of ‘Infographics’ I've Seen This Week,” and “Infographs Are Ruining the Internet.”)¹

But when done right, infographics can be a powerful marketing tool. They're easily shareable and portable, functioning as content party favors that allow your audience to repost the material on their own blogs or sites, thereby spreading your message for you.

An infographic is what it sounds like—information expressed graphically via drawings, pictures, maps, diagrams, charts, or similar elements—all held together with a coherent visual theme and typically published as an image file. They are also produced in video form.

Infographics are not about self-promotion. The best of them express rich, objective data in a way that's more accessible and engaging than a dense spreadsheet or ho-hum pie chart. Generally they take one of four shapes, says Joe Chernov of HubSpot: an illustration of the “state of” some business sector or function; a checklist or resource; a compare-and-contrast study; and the evolution of a movement, demographic, or industry.

Popularized in the 1930s and ’40s for editorial use in magazines (though ...