Benefits of Data Visualisation and Infographics For The Web

What are Infographics and what is data visualisation? Infographics is a new buzz word for taking your research data and visualising it for the web. Data visualisation is not a new discovery and it’s about presenting your research findings visually. In today’s world, data visualisation and infographics are the same thing. Both are commonly found on the web but data visualisation and infographics are not specifically created just for the web.

So what are the benefits of creating infographics?

Research indicates that infographics production is on the increase and businesses use infographics to share their knowledge about a topic and some have gone viral on the web.

Information is the new oil in the digital age. Sharing text information is common on the web but by adding visuals, you make it more interesting. It’s common knowledge that infographics stand out more than written words. Using diagrams, graphs, colours and short description in an infograph attracts people to look at the information. It also makes the information easier to understand.

Using infographics help people understand a topic better compared to having to read a lengthy article on the topic. Research shows that 90% of information that comes to the brain is visual. Infographics help to visualise relationships and statistics because people tend to respond better to visual than plain text.

A well designed infographic can go viral, like a well made video. Many businesses have created infographics to educate and inform about products and services. Infographics are also shared on social networks and people can embed an infograph on their website.

The more people share an infograph, the more back links are created to the originator of the infograph. Hence, creating free advertising for the originator through the internet. Research also shows that keyword search of “Infographics” on Google is around 13 million.

Here is a well designed infographic that has gone viral – Life Hacks. The information and ideas presented in the infograph is interesting and unique. I first came across this infographic on StumbledUpon and later shared it on Pinterest and watched the infographic re-pinnned many times.

The popularity of infographics have given graphic designers a new source of income using their talent creating infographics. With so many infographics now available on the web, chances are you would have come across some good designed infographics and some badly designed infographics. The infographic below illustrates the common mistakes made in the creation of infographics that one should be aware of.

“Infographic” by Phil Gyford on Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

If you would like to see more infographics on this website, you can do so by clicking on this link.

Read more at Technology Blog by Ash Chuan