 What is an infographic? Miriam Webster defines an infographic as a chart, diagram, or illustration that uses graphic elements to present information in a visually striking way. A good infographic can help to simplify complex information in a concise and visually appealing manner. They are an intersection of data, text, and message, combined into one artistic representation, and they are an excellent method of storytelling. In this video, we will learn more about what infographics are and why they are useful for communicating, as well as learn about the power of visual information and how you can use storytelling to engage your audience. How many times have you read and re-read a line in a book or article, only to have no recollection of what you just read? Everyone can relate to the experience of reading a large block of text and coming away not having absorbed any of it. Information presented in this way can be daunting, not to mention difficult to reference. Infographics can help to improve cognition and knowledge retention by utilizing graphics to break complex information into easy-to-understand components and to make even dense data engaging. Studies show that people remember 80% of what they see, but only 20% of what they read and 10% of what they hear, because the human brain processes visual cues better than the written language. By combining facts and figures with interesting illustrations, infographics can be used to draw viewers in and keep them engaged. Not only will the information be received better, but information presented this way will also be received faster. According to research compiled by 3M, visuals are processed 60,000 times faster than text, which means you can paint a picture for your audience much quicker with an actual picture than with text alone. For example, if you see a sign saying caution, wet floor, that is 15 letters or 15 symbols for a brain to process and understand, while just one, depicting a man slipping, can mean the same thing and be understood in a fraction of the time. Infographics are also a great way to tell a story. Long before humans had any other form of communication, storytelling was a way to share information and to connect with others. Therefore, it is still the most effective way to relate to an audience. Hearing a story puts much more of our brain to work than simply reading text, because we automatically attempt to relate to those experiences. Our ancestors listening to stories around the campfire or seeing images on the walls of caves remembered what they heard because they inserted themselves into these memories. And in the same way, when we hear a captivating story, our brains attempt to remember it as our own. Human beings inherently want to share our experiences. And telling a story through your infographics will help your audience to relate to and ultimately remember the contents. When creating an infographic, remember that your information should still be functional, even though it is interesting to look at. You don't want to sacrifice comprehension for the sake of design. The three properties of a good infographic are content, visuals, and knowledge. Your content is what is the most important. This is the information driving the visuals, the text, statistics, timeframes, and references. The inspiration behind the content. You must ascertain what you want the viewers to learn. You could have the most beautiful infographic in the world, but without quality content, it will ultimately fall flat. The visual aspect consists of colors, graphics, and icons. You can use bar graphs, pie charts, icons, and colors to communicate facts and statistics without having to spell everything out in words. It is important that the visuals are used to convey your message without being too distracting. Knowledge is what you want your readers to gain from your infographic, the facts and conclusions to convey the overall message or story. To design an infographic, you will first have to choose a topic. Consider your audience and the goal of the infographic. Next, do the research. Make sure you're sharing factual data in your infographics. Even if you're familiar with the topic you're covering, it's beneficial to fact-check your sources. Once you have accurate information, develop the story. Imagine and plan how you want the infographic to look. Think about the best order to tell a visual story, and which visuals or icons to pair with your data. Choose a design platform. There are plenty of free resources online that have templates or tutorials to help design professional-looking infographics. Finally, create and share your infographic. After you've chosen your design platform, you can begin to build your infographic. Use your research, outline, and any other notes you've made to take the text and data and turn them into visuals. Think about the color choices and fonts for your design, choosing ones that are easy to read and match the aesthetic of your topic. When it's completed, you can share your infographic anywhere, from online platforms to class presentations. Throughout our infographics module, you will learn all this and more. In the tutorial, information will be provided for several popular infographic creation tools, as well as infographic types, planning, design principles, and finding and citing images. With this knowledge, you can go forward and bring your data to life through infographics.