People are visual creatures. We are in an age where if something does not look interesting it is neither read nor understood. This is especially true on the internet. If something does not immediately catch our eye we are not likely to click on it. If a website is not appealing we may leave. And if a post is full of too much black text we may not read it.
We are all familiar with the saying “Never judge a book by the cover”, but on the internet if the graphics on a page are not interesting or are absent it will not strike a chord. It is true now more than ever that every picture is worth a thousand words. PowerPoint presentations in class have moved from being just informational but also entertaining. Work presentations have also changed; even more so for those in marketing or in the business of pitching ideas. Histograms and pie charts were once the go to tool in making interesting documents. The former is mostly not used at all while the latter is mainly used in making jokes, most of which are not even statistically close to the truth. Photoshop on the other hand has to be the most used infographics tool. What with the proliferation of social media sites and all? Since pictorial data is no longer a luxury but an everyday necessity whether one is a student or working, this post looks at several tools that can be used. The good thing is most of them are free. However, some do offer premium options as well.
Below are a few great online tools courtesy of Will Be Coded and a few that I love and use myself:
1. Photo Infographic Generator: Photo Infographic Generator is a free android application that analyzes a user’s photos and comes up with fun facts like where they prefer to take their photos and at what time. This tool allows you to create awesome high-res infographics from your photos. You can then share them online, or send to friends and colleagues.
2. Venngage: Venngage is a free tool that allows users to come up with amazing infographics and share them on social sites. After sign-up this tool offers several options for creating graphs, charts, and other visuals. Sign up is free, but premium options are available.
3. Canva: I have touted the praises of Canva before. I have been using it for a few months to create graphics for my blog and Pinterest. You can easily create photo collages, blog graphics, Facebook cover photos, business cards, and much more. And now Canva has added the ability to create infographics. There are several layouts available, several text options, and several free images. There are also premium layouts and images available for only $1 each. It’s super easy to use and yields great results. Once the graphic is created you can download it to your computer for later use in blog posts, or you can share it.
4. Infogr.am: Infogr.am blends in the old and the new. It allows users access to charts and graphs as well as the ability to upload videos and images from which they draw useful information to make the infographics.
5. Piktochart: Piktochart is another tool that can be used for infographics as well as presentations. The basic version is free but the premium ones with more features are not. The last item on the infographics list is the Google developers.
Infographics are not just a new fad. They help create colorful and personal blog posts by providing a visual representation of the information being shared. The above tools can help you create a masterpiece. 🙂 Give it a try. Here’s to hoping your next project will be more riveting than the last.
Have you created your own custom Infographic? What tool did you use?
thank you for these wonderful tools for blogging.