CREATING A FOUR COLOR INFOGRAPHIC

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CREATING A FOUR COLOR INFOGRAPHIC
When creating an infographic, you should start by
determining what color scheme you would like to
use. A four color setup gives you plenty of
creative freedom to work with. More than that can
look a bit chaotic.
USE CLIP ART, CUSTOM SHAPES, AND FONTS
OVER 400 OPTIONS
Microsoft has a variety of clip art that you can
download from their online database.

Fonts like Wingdings can be used to add custom
icons and images to your text.
Combining custom shapes can give you a variety of
useful images to convey your data.
Change a shapes look by altering the colors of
the Fill and Line of that shape. Double click
your shape to access those options in the tool
bar at the top.
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BREAK UP YOUR SECTIONS WITH A CHANGE IN STYLE
A helpful tip about breaking up your infographic
into distinguishable sections is to simply change
up the style. You can use a different set of
custom shapes or text, or inverse the color
scheme. This can help indicate to viewers that
they are now looking at a section of statistics
or a section of explanatory information.
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ALTERNATING FONT SIZES
CONVEYING STATISTICS
There are times when we have a staggering amount
of information that we cant present with an
image-heavy infographic. These times call for
styles of design that focus more on the fonts and
how they can give your infographic a professional
look without the clutter of too many images.
INFORMATION
USE YOUR COLORS
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SQUIRRELS
ALTERNATE THE COLOR OF YOUR TEXT TO
EMPHASIZE CERTAIN DATA
PREFER
PEANUT BUTTER
OVER JELLY
PEOPLE
MIX AND MATCH SHAPES
9 OUT OF 10
OVER
MARKETERS
100
WILL SHARE THIS
SHAPES
TIME
CAN BE USED TO CREATE GRAPHICS
68
YEARS UNTIL
PUPPIES
TIMELINES
TAKE OVER THE
WORLD
VIDEOS OF CATS
STATEMENTS
2014
2012
2013
2015
INBOUND MARKETERS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR FINDING
LIFE ON MARS
GRAPHS
10
ATTENTION SPAN OF PEOPLE
9
RANDOM THOUGHTS
8
7
6
YOU CANT CATCH APPLES BY THROWING ORANGES
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4
3
2
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2009
2010
2011
2012
400
BILLION STARS IN THE MILKY WAY
Youll notice that this infographic was created
entirely from basic shapes and alternating font
sizes. By focusing your design on two simple
aspects, you can accomplish an intricate outcome.
For an infographic of this style, I would suggest
using no more than three colors and stick to one
font to make things simpler.
DONT LEAVE TOO MUCH WHITE SPACE
An important thing to remember when designing an
infographic is to keep your use of white space to
a minimum. Although white space can be useful,
too much will spread your data too far apart and
break the flow of your infographic. When youve
finished designing your graphic, take a few
minutes to adjust and move your elements around
to find that perfect level of spacing.
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COMPARING TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN
When creating an infographic for comparing data,
one of the easiest design tips is to simply split
your infographic in half. Use two distinct colors
and give each set of data its own side on the
page.
You can do this by choosing one color for each
side, and then use the basic shapes to create two
parts to your infographic. As you can see, were
using blue and red with white as the general font
color.
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2
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DIFFERENT FONTS
FOR HEADERS
FOR TEXT
GROUP YOUR SHAPES
When creating custom graphics from an assortment
of shapes, it can help to group those shapes
when you need to resize or move them around your
infographic.
BAR GRAPHICS CAN BE EASILY MADE
You can do this by right clicking the object
above, navigate to Grouping, and click
Ungroup to break this object into its
individual shapes. To regroup it, just highlight
all the pieces, right click, and choose Group
from the menu.
Learn to use a variety of shapes to create
interesting graphs, charts, and other
visualizations to show off your data points.
Hold the Shift key to select more than one
element at a time.
SHAPES THAT LOOK LIKE GRAPHS
Each of these icons was created from individual
shapes and lines offered by PowerPoint. Using a
combination of basic shapes, rectangles, and
lines, we were able to create some commonly used
icons for infographics.
You should start by choosing a base color. We
used white as the base color of our icons and
blue or red to create the details.
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Dont forget to hold the Shift key when selecting
multiple pieces of one icon. Once youve selected
each element of the icon, you should group it
so that you can more easily move and scale the
object.
The icons seen here are not limited to any
particular color scheme, size, or shape.
Experiment with your own company colors and style
to find what works for you.
As we mentioned before, try sticking to fewer
than 4 main colors for your infographics. This
will give your designs a professional feel that
looks vibrant but not too busy.
The goal of this infographic is to illustrate two
distinctly different sides and compare them
visually for the viewers. Breaking your data into
two sides will do the job well.
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Pinterest Inspired Infographic Tiles!
Get to the Point
Tiles let you organize your information and
graphics.
Large tiles should be used to showcase a main
point or some important data your infographic is
based around. It doesnt hurt to use lovable
icons that your readers can connect to the data.
Dont forget to pay attention to consistent sizes
and spacing.
1 in 3 marketers will
A lot of people use cell phones
Use a variety of tile sizes to fill up your
infographic.
Use the person icon to illustrate statistics
involving people.
Simple icons can be great for representing simple
statistics.
Over 1,000 people get struck by lighting each
year in the U.S.
Explosions Michael Bay Movies
Most of the stars you view from Earth are binary
stars.
The moon is the only natural satellite of the
Earth.
Random Bar Graph Information
Be sure to label your bar graph so your viewers
are aware of what they are looking at.
About 4.1 billion text messages are sent per day
in the U.S.
Half the time, Im right all the time.
Most people dont know that panda bears can move
in four different directions AT ONCE.
The total amount of water on Earth is about 326
million cubic miles.
Follow Me on Twitter _at_DetectiveDDubs
12 Million
laptops go missing at U.S. airports per week!
Webcams have been in existence for fewer than 20
years.
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SAVING YOUR INFOGRAPHIC
Once your infographic is ready, youll need to
save the PowerPoint slide as an image. Simply go
to File ? Save As and select PNG (Portable
Network Graphics). Saving the slide in PNG is an
important aspect of your final product. The PNG
format is the only file type that will give your
infographics the high quality they need for
publishing.
CONCLUSION
HOW THIS WILL HELP YOUR INBOUND MARKETING STRATEGY
The rise of visual content on the internet
creates a demand for high quality, educational,
and entertaining content. One issue with large
amounts of educational information -- like
statistics -- is that these types of information
can be hard to digest if presented incorrectly.
The infographic provides you with a highly visual
and easily sharable platform to display your
content. This will allow you to better
communicate your information to the readers and
offer them an easier way to share your wisdom
with their world of friends, colleagues, and
peers. Now that youve got a set of great
templates and some inspiration, start creating!
Remember to have fun and experiment with your
infographics to find which colors, fonts, and
styles work best for yourself and your company.
WANT TO MEASURE THE SUCCESS OF YOUR INFOGRAPHICS?
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infographics grow in traffic an average of 12
more than those who dont. But how do you
actually measure the business impact of your
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