5 Minute Guide to Infographics for Charities

Why Infographics?

Why use infographics for charities and non-profits?

• They are a visual, striking and concise way of presenting sometimes complex information
• They’re very ‘shareable’ – likely to get more shares and interactions than text-only content

Examples

[Click / tap each image to see a larger version]

 

 

 

See more charity infographics on Pinterest

Infographics from Irish Charities

• Irish Cancer Society – Putting your funds to good use
• Irish Heart Foundation – Your Donations At Work
• Barnardos – Cyberbullying: Advice for Parents
• Concern – Global Hunger Index

A Caveat

Infographics are a half way point between design and data, so their creator needs to have a feel for both.  If the design is not clear and attractive, the infographic won’t be very compelling. If the data is not clear and accurate, the infographic is pointless visual fluff.

These Tumblrs on Terrible Infographics and WTF Visualisations will show you what to avoid.

Tutorials

• Vertical Measures explain in this ‘What Makes an Infographic Bad’ graphic how bad colour schemes, typography and layout can make infographics look rubbish, and how to set up these three elements properly
• The Guardian Global Development Professionals Network have a tutorial on developing a data visualisation, starting from cleaning up and preparing the data – it’s very helpful
• Hubspot and Visage collaborated on this great ‘Data Visualization 101‘ guide, which walks you through the different types of charts and graphs, explaining how to choose the correct ones for the type of information you need to display, and how to ensure you’re designing them effectively.  Free to download, you just need to provide your email address.
• Hubspot have also gathered this collection of infographics that show you how to create infographics with everyday tools like PowerPoint

Free Design Resources

• DataWrapper – free open-source tool for creating charts, which can be embedded
• Infogr.am – create maps, graphs and charts. Allows you to upload your own images so you can brand your graphics.
• Google Charts – create interactive charts for your website
• Venngage – create infographics, including animations.  Free account allows you to embed images on your site, paid account required for printing or exporting.

Paid Services

Visual.ly

Visual.ly is a paid professional service that produces high quality infographics, motion graphics and presentations.  (See some of their work for non-profits).  It’s not cheap, but they offer discounts to charities.

Image Sources

The Noun Project is a brilliant resource for icons. Many are free and public domain, and the paid ones are reasonably priced at $2 each. If you are doing a lot of infographics, you can sign up for a monthly plan.

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The Digital Charity Lab 5 Minute Guides are intended to give you the basics on a particular digital platform or project. They are collaborative documents and we welcome your feedback and further suggestions in the comments.