4 Tips to Creating Effective Infographics

Infographics can help break up the wall of grey that some may experience when designing papers, layouts, or other pieces of informative work. The visual element allows the eye to understand the information in a new and interactive way to grab the reader’s attention even more. On the other hand, it can be difficult to create infographics that are purposeful and that enhance the piece as a whole, rather than report or display facts that have no relevance to the text surrounding it. Here is a short, simplified list of how a designer can create infographics that are simple, yet effective:

When given a lot of similar information, it helps to break it all down into smaller groups so that the development of the infographic is easier to digest.

1. Organize important information – Sometimes when given the task to create an infographic, the client will just hand you a list that is chalk full of all types of information that may or may not relate to one another. Because of this, you need to spend the extra time to organize all that you have in order to mentally comprehend how you will transform the lines of data into an interesting infographic. Breaking it down into smaller groups will make the task so much more doable.

Finally figuring out how to layout the information in an effective way can turn into a much more dynamic infographic.

2. Roughly create a layout – Once all of the information is organized in an easy to understand manner, the next challenge is creating a layout that allows readers to grasp all of the details without getting overwhelmed by the surplus in either numbers or text. There are so many different ways to layout information in creative and engaging ways that is is helpful to sketch out a few different options and see which conveys the message the best. Adding a variety of spaces between each chunk of text eases the eyes and allows the brain to process the information much better than if they were clumped together haphazardly.

Here, color separates the different sections to make it easier for the reader to understand the graphic as a whole.

3. Add color – Color can be an element that is sometimes misused, as it has the potential to take away from the purpose of the entire infographic. However, color does not always have to be a bright, bold hue from the rainbow spectrum; it can also encompass neutral colors, even black and white. Depending on the information provided as well as the context of the infographic, variations in color can be an enhancing element to the whole of the work and add a new dimension to the infographic’s intention. Bright, inviting colors can make a chart much more dynamic, while subdued colors may compliment the serious tone of information within the graphic. Every choice made within the infographic should be purposeful.

Sizing of numbers and text can engage viewers so that they read the specifics more in depth.

4. Play with typography and visuals to make it more compelling – You can finally adjust the graphic to suit the client in terms of how he or she wants to be seen, whether that is with minimalist design or the artful organization of a lot of text. Different people have different needs; therefore, their viewpoint on what is important will more often than not differ than their business counterparts. An illustration may add a fun or instructive element that breaks up the text, making the visual easier to read and understand. Larger typography or alternating fonts can also help readers visually organize the sections within the infographic. While there are an unlimited amount of options, the challenge is not getting sucked into the black hole of font families and visuals so as to make everything much more complex and distracting.

Ultimately, the choices made when creating any type of visuals should help bring out the information in a creative way so that it piques the reader’s interest enough to continue reading. With the Internet, we have access to so many different infographic designs and inspirations that can guide our own work, and there is a such a large range of examples to show that successful visuals can vary from being minimalist to complex. The end product of your infographic should convey the client’s intended message, so some of those decisions can only be made by you, the designer. Every design differs from the next, and it is your choice to decide how you want your creative content to be seen by everyone else.

Sustainability in Packaging

With the increasing attention and investment towards the prevention of global warming over the past decade, a large point of interest is creating minimalist consumer products that follow the well known trio of “R’s” – reusability, reducibility, and recyclability. Some companies are already trying to follow suit and create small environmental initiatives to make their product and packaging more environmentally friendly. However, there are some difficulties that companies can face when trying to accomplish these goals.

With such well known products and branding, it can be difficult to transition over to creating something that is sustainable but also reliable. Some environmentally friendly materials just are not as trustworthy and stable as other ones, which could potentially cause the consumer loyalty to shift or decrease. But also with newer products and forms of packaging, there may be some difficulty in finding affordable materials to invest in that also have the potential to be disposed of or reused in a new and interesting way. So much money is already spend on packaging and should be put towards better advancements to assist the environment rather than damage it.

Companies who strive to reach their goals in more drastic ways begin to have a better consumer following, as there are some individuals who only believe in brands that also believe in the environment. It can be difficult, however, to quickly be marketed as a sustainable brand while also using materials that are deemed “green.” Unfortunately, this is where some places tend to cut corners and try to brand themselves as sustainable, when, in fact, they are not.

Efficient, environmentally friendly packaging does mean that brands can save money to put towards other endeavors, but it also is important that the packaging is created with materials that can be used multiple times or can degrade safely and successfully within the environment.

These bags are only an example of how companies can take a common household product and rebrand it to make it more environmentally friendly.

There are a fair amount of places that create excessive packaging for products to ensure safety or to just make it so much more difficult and frustrating for the consumer to use or open. This can be easily remedied with a redesign of the packaging itself. Trying to find ways for the product to be integrated within the packaging can help alleviate the over-packaging problem. 1stWebDesigner gives an extensive list of various products that are environmentally friendly, including their successful integration of minimalism, aesthetic, and sustainability for the product itself.

Another issue that lies within the problem of manufacturing sustainable packaging is the use of chemicals and harmful man made materials. Adhesives and plastics that are not biodegradable can be overused and ultimately wasted because of their extensive and unnecessary use. Finding alternatives can be difficult, as they may decrease the integrity of the package as a while. However, once a company decides to invest in these other possibilities, they will save money and the environment, whilst improving their brand mentality and appearance within society and to their own consumers.

Switching over to Responsive Web Design

Responsive web design has been slowly getting incorporated in many company sites due to their focus on user interaction. When people are faced with a non-mobile friendly website and are forced to zoom in and squint to find exactly what they are looking for, the likelihood of them leaving that site increases steadily. Companies want to avoid users leaving their website due to lack in adaptability. Responsive sites are more likely to be viewed because of their reaction to the environment (screen) that they are placed in.

Mobilegeddon, Google’s most recent site change, prioritizes sites with mobile friendly interfaces in order to weed out older sites that have not yet been updated to be user-friendly and responsive. This should be a wake up call for those who have not yet adapted to using responsive web design. Ultimately all of the sites and devices we use in the next fifty years will become responsive in some sense, so starting now to change your site to become mobile-friendly is a step in the right direction, especially with Mobilegeddon trailing behind. DesignM.ag just posted a relevant article revolving around responsive web design, but more specifically they focus on free templates that are responsive. With over 20 different options, individuals can take the initiative to transition to make their sites mobile friendly.

Responsive web templates like LifeTrackr allow users to create user and device-friendly sites for personal or public.

With responsive web design, the creator does not have to create twenty different sites that adapt to a number of devices. However, the overall site should be simple enough so that the text and content can be read easily on multiple devices. Sara Soueidan wrote an article on how to make your site even more user-friendly. One of the most important elements out of all of these is responsive text. Only so much can fit on a mobile screen and the text within that needs to be legible to the user; there is not a lot of room for extra design – Souedian points out that responsive typography is essential for a successful website. This way, the website becomes so much easier to navigate on any device. Colors, fonts, sizing, responsive text, media queries, and other elements can all contribute to the success in a responsive site in terms of user interaction.

The switch is essential for all companies who want their content prioritized on Google or other search engines because ultimately the websites that are not have the potential to be ignored by the users of cyberspace or even dissolved. With all of the available templates and free help that the web has to offer, this transition should be a smooth one and will help responsive web design develop further.

The Drawbacks of Freelance Design

While freelance design is appealing to many, there are so many aspects within it that are not necessarily ideal for those who are solely designers. Learning to file certain paperwork properly, manage contract specificities, and control finances are all a part of freelance design that many people do not tend to think about. While I will only cover a few aspects of freelance, Sally Kane explores many more in-depth in her article Top 20 Disadvantages of Freelancing.

Some may not realize how important contracts are in any sort of freelancing situation. There are designers out there who do not use contracts at all, which can result in a potential loss of money, the tribulations of unfair clients who refuse to pay or cooperate, and the chunk of time that can be invested into a project to no avail. Without contracts, designers are used for their creative concepts and can be taken advantage of in many ways without pay.

The initial establishment of freelance work is difficult, unless a designer comes in already as an expert with a master list of clients as well as an impressive portfolio to get his or her personal business on track quickly. Freelance is common and successful for people who have recently come out of working or an already established company for a longer period of time. However, there is no guarantee that success or rewards will come out of it. Deciding to do freelance is a risk that some are willing to take in order to make or break their future career in design. As a young designer, I personally would not feel qualified enough to take on freelance, mainly because of the risk, but also all of the left-brained work that needs to be completed on the side. In addition to spending your time working on a logo that the client keeps changing every single moment, you have to ensure that the contract is still being followed throughout every specification and that the client is on board with all the project entails.

While there are drawbacks, I must acknowledge the many benefits that come from being self-employed, such as choosing your clients, hours, location, and work. But, a disclaimer is in order for those who don’t have a lot of previous experience with paperwork or clients because there is always a potential for someone to lose money or be taken advantage of.

How To Design Using the “Less is More” Ideal

Sometimes people get into the tendency of thinking that having a surplus of fonts, graphics, colors, and images means that the ending product will be that much more interesting than if they only stuck with the first three decisions they made. Most always, less is more. By using only two typefaces and having a few visuals, there is so much more room to be creative with the layout of the work. Giving yourself more leeway when it comes to  design allows for a larger space to expand upon your ideas visually. Here are some ways on how to simplify but enhance your own work.

Use placeholder text if need be, just to get all of the text in one zone, then you can proceed to the design.

1. Start with content. Figure out everything that needs to be placed on the page beforehand, just so you don’t get into a rut when you think you have completed everything but you actually have a whole paragraph to squeeze in somewhere. If the content has not been given or is in its ‘TBD’ stage, put some placeholder text around your work so that you can move on to the other visuals of the piece.

Paletton helps you create color schemes by letting the user choose a hue and providing others that compliment it.

2. The rainbow does not need to be all over the page. Start with black and white, and if the work needs a splash of color to make it more inviting to the viewer, then by all means, add it. Sometimes the work does not benefit from black or white and are strengthened by the intentional mix of various hues and shades of colors. Once you decide on a color scheme, you can always mix and match font and background colors to find the most visually pleasing combination. If you are having trouble finding a color scheme, check out Paletton or the image below to create your own.

Here is an example of how a visual was successfully incorporated into the design because of it’s relevance and aesthetic.

3. Why is there a photo of your family on that milk advertisement? Visuals help guide the viewers eye from place to place and can either add or detract from the overall message. Putting an island landscape onto the back of a cereal is superfluous and confuses the consumer unless it has to do with something about a vacation giveaway ticket located in the box or about the new tropical flavor of the product. Making sure that all visuals increase comprehension of the message or connect the dots in some way within the work is very important.

Example of how simple the typeface can be while still creating a work that conveys the message properly.

4. Make the message apparent. Placing the band name, title, and any important information in three point font at the very  bottom of the page where no one can even see or read it is definitely not something that will catch anyone’s eye, so if you want there to be a catchphrase or name to jump out at viewers, make it big or bold. This is where typefaces come into play. Only use those which make sense with the content and don’t overpower the information that is given.

Overall, these four are only some of the many ways that you can simplify design; however, when I am designing, I find them to be the most useful, especially when I hit some form of writer’s block. Looking around for inspiration also helps get the creative juices flowing, but using these basics as a means for creating work is extremely helpful.

Don’t Design for a Paycheck

After scanning through my Twitter lists the past few weeks (which you can find when you follow @haley8595 on Twitter), I have been aching to write a post about how we need to design typography, graphics, logos, posters, and everything in between NOT because we have to do it for work, charity, or school but rather because we want to invest our time into creating something worthwhile. This said, I stumbled on a quote today that really encompassed all that I want to convey within in this blog post.

“Work for Money, Design for Love”

What many do not understand when entering the design world or even choosing to major in design is that it is not something easy that anyone can create and succeed at. A lot of the people are involved in the creative parts of various companies because they find strengths in design and have a passion for it. Yes, design is an area of study that is becoming more popular, especially the UX/UI realm, but you should not choose design because you will have a paycheck.

Design requires a specific combination of patience, passion, and productivity. Many hope that their first trial of a logo will be the winner, but often times, designers will spend a significant amount of time on choosing a font, figuring out the correct alignment, picking an orientation or graphic style that correlates with other parts of the design, and a laundry list full of other little decisions that make a large difference on the ultimate product. All of these are merely examples of the kinds of choices designers face when dealing with any type of creative content. Design is fun, I admit – it is a place where I can, in a way, unleash my stress, spark creativity, and visually brainstorm any ideas that prompt me to create something.

Both those who have worked in design for a long time and those new to it may experience a form of creative congestion, in which their love or interest in design is clouded by the need to make something absolutely perfect for a project or client to receive an ample reward. When this comes into play, the effort to create and put love within the work dissipates, and the idea of monetary compensation and success tends to guide the design elsewhere. Taking the time to understand how the product concept intertwine and link with the visuals, while also adding in your own style watermark into the work, creates a drastically different and successful end product than if someone was to design with only superficial knowledge of the project.

Essentially, everyone who wants to design should know that there is more to it than the visual aspect. Making a graphic look pretty is only a small percentage of the whole design. The choices that are made can either create a clean, wholesome piece that speaks for itself or form a disorganized, confusing graphic that misleads the viewers. Designers should further integrate their style into the work that is created in order to produce both notable and unique variations in content.

Demand for Originality: The Font Overlap

I shall preface this post by simply declaring my love for all of the different types of fonts there are out there in the realm of typography. However, my question or rather my conundrum, relates to the fact that so many fonts out there that are virtually identical. Peter Bil’ak of Typotheque addresses a similar issue here, in his article We don’t need new fonts, which I shall expand upon.

There are variations upon text that do place an emphasis on certain words, phrases, or ideas that make perfect sense, such as the bold, italic and underline tools. But why is it that applications like Microsoft Word or those in the Adobe Creative Suite have such similar fonts? Let me specify. In the image below, there are three different fonts:

From a regular reading distance, I believe that these fonts are quite similar; aside from subtle variations and curves in particular letters, I would pin these as 90% identical. Alas, they are not. They are three serif fonts that exist independently.

I completely understand the purpose of having multiple fonts, but why must they be this similar? We do not need any more unoriginal fonts. There is absolutely no need to have overlaps because in the grand scheme of things, the public is oblivious to them and would consider them as the exact same type. Many cannot differentiate the similarities between these basic serif fonts because we see them every single day and have begun to ignore any trace of uniqueness. So ultimately, we are continuing to become more drawn to large, abnormal and bold types that stands out from our average mailing letter or newspaper.

It is our job as designers to step outside of the box and move towards more innovative content creation. Of course, we cannot delete fonts forever (even though we wish we could, Comic Sans MS…), but we can venture out to more creative ones. Furthermore, this is not to say that we need to start converting our cover letters, essays and work assignments to showcase seven altering fonts from Bebas Neue to SYNCHRO LET but branch out when it comes to creative work.

If we make our own work more visually interesting and appealing through the usage of differing fonts and typography, this will draw more attention to all that we produce. For now, we can scan through the variety of creative fonts that already exist and try to incorporate them more into our work. Until then, we can set our bitterness aside towards similarities between the Baskerville, Bell MT and Times fonts of the world to focus our energy towards more creativity within typography.

If this was in Bell MT or even Times, it would not be as appealing as it is now, as visual creativity sparks interest.

4 Posts to Enhance Your Designs

From curation to lists to creativity breakthroughs, these four blog posts explore various aspects of design that can inspire the creator to embrace new ways to create content that appeals to both the consumer and producer. By simplifying these specific aspects of designs, both amateur and master designers can use these tools and inspirations for their own work.

1. Line25 has a variety of articles and blog posts, but one of their most recent posts, “Sites of the Week for February 20th 2015,” has a more curative form, in which they provide a variety of links to fantastic website designs of the week. Each linked site has a similar aesthetic in its interactivity and overall web design. Due to its list format, there is not a lot of text that accompanies each site link; however, this is effective as it invites readers to continue looking at the post and link to the various sites.

2. From Up North has a similar style in this sense in their post, “25 Creative Logo Designs,” as the writer provides readers a series of creative logos that all embrace the same sense of minimalism and directness. It also serves as inspiration for other designers trying to achieve similar aesthetics that also provide a direct message about the connected brand.

3. By breaking down an infographic into three simple and straightforward components, Web Designer Depot provides an interesting approach to “Creating a Successful Infographic“ through the usage of data, movement, and overall purpose. The blogger further simplifies the purpose section into FIRED (Fresh, Informative, Relevant, Entertaining, Different). Through these steps, any designer can aim to create both infographics and other types of designs that appeal to consumers. Furthermore, WDD provides a list of links to tools that can help assist in the creation of dynamic graphics.

4. Finally, Web Design Ledger has written a somewhat extensive article called “Ideas for Pushing Beyond your Creative Comfort Zone,” which is on something that many designers experience – writer’s block. While it is called writer’s block, it can apply to almost any type of content creation. Anyone can push beyond this mental congestion by brainstorming, experiencing failure, researching, and improvising. He has given an informative post, which holds Tedx links and a variety of ways on how artists can unlock their inner creativity when the uncomfortable blur settles in at the last hour.

Ultimately these blogs consist of lists, informative articles, and even some instructional tidbits on design for any designer to apply to their own creative work. I found myself in a state of creative congestion and frustration many times when I cannot seem to achieve the type of design that I had previously hoped for, and personally, I have found these so helpful. Design is so vital to society now, and even though it continues to change, I hope that this blog can provide insight to both budding and professional designers to their future design creations.