By Vincent Derama, Design Specialist
For a business, it is important to send the right message to
your audience, but it is equally important that the audience can understand
your message. After all, not everyone is an expert. Today, any individual can
access the Internet and find very specific answers to very specific questions,
but if their questions involve you or your message, how do you know that
they’ll remember that information?
Information graphs or “infographs” are visual tools that communicate
information simply and aesthetically. They take profuse and in-depth knowledge
and present it clearly and concisely through visual representation. Infographs
typically contain statistical information about a specific topic or field of work,
but have also been adapted to communicate themes and ideas as well.
The value of infographics as a communication tool can be
attributed to the way our brain processes information. For instance, right now
you’re reading this article, line by line, taking in everything in the
chronological order it was written. Because we read in a linear pattern, our
brain cannot process information faster than we can supply it. The brain can
process visual information up to 60,000 times faster than text, however. When
you look at a picture of, let’s say a beach, every element of the photo is interpreted
simultaneously, so you know the image is of a beach. Even when viewed
separately, say separate images of palm trees, sand, or waves, you can infer
that a beach is connected to these themes. However, after just describing a
beach to you, you had to process that information linearly (e.g. palm trees ->
sand -> waves = probably a beach).
Infographics are a valuable communication tool. When
communicating with your audience, as a business or otherwise, an infograph
brings a level of professionalism and expertise in a given topic through your
ability to clearly convey complex data or information. Additionally, people
want more visual content. In fact, there has been an 800 percent increase in “infographic”
searches on Google throughout the past two years. The viral potential for
visual content is at its highest. Who knows, maybe your next infographic could
be your breakout in Internet immortality.
