The Wonders of Infographics

Instead of having text instructions, a lot of products these days come with visual representations of instructions on how to use them. An example of such product is instant noodles. A lot of instant noodle brands these days include illustrated instructions like a drawing of a pot held over fire with the caption “5 minutes.” This can easily be understood that the noodles must be boiled for at least 5 minutes. These illustrated instructions are called infographics.

Infographics are presentations of information that use graphic visual representations. The drawings and illustrations used in infographics are easy to understand even at just one glance. The use of infographics is a content marketing strategy that is able to simplify complicated information or make boring information more interesting, engaging, and appealing.

Infographics can be seen on social media, in magazines, on billboards, in pamphlets, and a lot more. They can be presented in different ways like the use of bar graphs, pie charts, histograms, line charts, and network diagrams. Infographics commonly show guides, maps, weather charts, site plans, summaries, signs, and pointers.

Infographics are believed to be very effective these days because of people’s shorter attention spans. Since infographics mainly use images and illustrations, people who see them can receive and process information faster and retain acquired knowledge better. Studies reveal that people are 30 times more likely to look at high-quality infographics than read texts that contain the same information that infographics aim to communicate. This can be explained by the fact that almost 70 percent of people’s sensory receptors are in their eyes, and almost 50 percent of the human brain is used when processing visual stimuli. For this reason, any information that is presented in a manner that is more pleasing to the eye and easier for the brain to process creates a better impact on people.

Another reason for the success of infographics these days is the information and sensory overload that people get from the increased use of technology, especially the Internet. Recent statistical data collected revealed that an adult normally processes information worth 34 gigabytes or 100,500 words on an average day. The use of infographics is able to significantly decrease the number of words that people need to process by simplifying information through visuals.

The use of infographics has been proven successful in sharing information quickly, engaging audiences, and getting positive feedback. It continues to be one of the top ways to present information these days because of how it is able to simplify information for people, present information in fun ways, and make people interested in the information that these infographics intend to convey.