What type of data display uses symbols or colors to draw peopleâ s attention to performance concerns?

Graphical representation refers to the use of charts and graphs to visually display, analyze, clarify, and interpret numerical data, functions, and other qualitative structures.

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FAQs

What is Graphical Representation?

Graphical representation refers to the use of intuitive charts to clearly visualize and simplify data sets. Data is ingested into graphical representation of data software and then represented by a variety of symbols, such as lines on a line chart, bars on a bar chart, or slices on a pie chart, from which users can gain greater insight than by numerical analysis alone. 

Representational graphics can quickly illustrate general behavior and highlight phenomenons, anomalies, and relationships between data points that may otherwise be overlooked, and may contribute to predictions and better, data-driven decisions. The types of representational graphics used will depend on the type of data being explored.

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Types of Graphical Representation

Data charts are available in a wide variety of maps, diagrams, and graphs that typically include textual titles and legends to denote the purpose, measurement units, and variables of the chart. Choosing the most appropriate chart depends on a variety of different factors -- the nature of the data, the purpose of the chart, and whether a graphical representation of qualitative data or a graphical representation of quantitative data is being depicted. There are dozens of different formats for graphical representation of data. Some of the most popular charts include:

• Bar Graph -- contains a vertical axis and horizontal axis and displays data as rectangular bars with lengths proportional to the values that they represent; a useful visual aid for marketing purposes
• Choropleth -- thematic map in which an aggregate summary of a geographic characteristic within an area is represented by patterns of shading proportionate to a statistical variable
• Flow Chart -- diagram that depicts a workflow graphical representation with the use of arrows and geometric shapes; a useful visual aid for business and finance purposes
• Heatmap -- a colored, two-dimensional matrix of cells in which each cell represents a grouping of data and each cell’s color indicates its relative value
• Histogram – frequency distribution and graphical representation uses adjacent vertical bars erected over discrete intervals to represent the data frequency within a given interval; a useful visual aid for meteorology and environment purposes
• Line Graph – displays continuous data; ideal for predicting future events over time;  a useful visual aid for marketing purposes
• Pie Chart -- shows percentage values as a slice of pie; a useful visual aid for marketing purposes
• Pointmap -- CAD & GIS contract mapping and drafting solution that visualizes the location of data on a map by plotting geographic latitude and longitude data
• Scatter plot -- a diagram that shows the relationship between two sets of data, where each dot represents individual pieces of data and each axis represents a quantitative measure
• Stacked Bar Graph -- a graph in which each bar is segmented into parts, with the entire bar representing the whole, and each segment representing different categories of that whole; a useful visual aid for political science and sociology purposes
• Timeline Chart -- a long bar labelled with dates paralleling it that display a list of events in chronological order, a useful visual aid for history charting purposes
• Tree Diagram -- a hierarchical genealogical tree that illustrates a family structure; a useful visual aid for history charting purposes
• Venn Diagram -- consists of multiple overlapping usually circles, each representing a set; the default inner join graphical representation

Proprietary and open source software for graphical representation of data is available in a wide variety of programming languages. Software packages often provide spreadsheets equipped with built-in charting functions.

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Advantages and Disadvantages of Graphical Representation of Data

Tabular and graphical representation of data are a vital component in analyzing and understanding large quantities of numerical data and the relationship between data points. Data visualization is one of the most fundamental approaches to data analysis, providing an intuitive and universal means to visualize, abstract, and share complex data patterns. The primary advantages of graphical representation of data are:

• Facilitates and improves learning: graphics make data easy to understand and eliminate language and literacy barriers
• Understanding content: visuals are more effective than text in human understanding
• Flexibility of use: graphical representation can be leveraged in nearly every field involving data
• Increases structured thinking: users can make quick, data-driven decisions at a glance with visual aids
• Supports creative, personalized reports for more engaging and stimulating visual  presentations 
• Improves communication: analyzing graphs that highlight relevant themes is significantly faster than reading through a descriptive report line by line
• Shows the whole picture: an instantaneous, full view of all variables, time frames, data behavior and relationships

Disadvantages of graphical representation of data typically concern the cost of human effort and resources, the process of selecting the most appropriate graphical and tabular representation of data, greater design complexity of visualizing data, and the potential for human bias.

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Why Graphical Representation of Data is Important

Graphic visual representation of information is a crucial component in understanding and identifying patterns and trends in the ever increasing flow of data. Graphical representation enables the quick analysis of large amounts of data at one time and can aid in making predictions and informed decisions. Data visualizations also make collaboration significantly more efficient by using familiar visual metaphors to illustrate relationships and highlight meaning, eliminating complex, long-winded explanations of an otherwise chaotic-looking array of figures. 

Data only has value once its significance has been revealed and consumed, and its consumption is best facilitated with graphical representation tools that are designed with human cognition and perception in mind. Human visual processing is very efficient at detecting relationships and changes between sizes, shapes, colors, and quantities. Attempting to gain insight from numerical data alone, especially in big data instances in which there may be billions of rows of data, is exceedingly cumbersome and inefficient.

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Does HEAVY.AI Offer a Graphical Representation Solution?

HEAVY.AI's visual analytics platform is an interactive data visualization client that works seamlessly with server-side technologies HEAVY.AIDB and Render to enable data science analysts to easily visualize and instantly interact with massive datasets. Analysts can interact with conventional charts and data tables, as well as big data graphical representations such as massive-scale scatterplots and geo charts. Data visualization contributes to a broad range of use cases, including performance analysis in business and guiding research in academia.

Since infographics exploded onto the graphic design scene about 15 years ago, they’ve become a staple for communication in classrooms, in the workplace, and across the web.

But if you’re new to the world of design, the term “infographic” might still be foreign to you.

You might wonder: what are infographics?

Today, I’ll give you a crash course on infographics and infographic design to answer all of your questions and more. I’ll also show you easy-to-edit infographic templates you can customize with Venngage’s Infographic Maker.

Click to jump ahead:

What is an infographic? Infographics defined:

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, an infographic (or information graphic) is “a visual representation of information or data”.

But the meaning of an infographic is something much more specific.

An infographic is a collection of imagery, data visualizations like pie charts and bar graphs, and minimal text that gives an easy-to-understand overview of a topic.

As in the example below, infographics use striking, engaging visuals to communicate information quickly and clearly.

Infographics are a valuable tool for visual communication. The most visually unique, creative infographics are often the most effective because they grab our attention and don’t let go.

But it’s crucial to remember that the visuals in an infographic must do more than excite and engage.

They must help us understand and remember the content of the infographic, as seen in this infographic about employee resignation announcements:

Ready to dive right in and create your first infographic? Check out our ultimate infographic design guide for everything you need to get started.

Alternatively, join our webinar for a crash course on how to summarize information for your infographic:

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Why should you use infographics?

Infographics are great for making complex information easy to digest. They can be helpful anytime you want to:

When you need to give someone a really quick rundown on something that can be hard to explain in words alone, an infographic is a good way to go.

This means that infographics can be useful in pretty much any industry. Here are just some of its use cases (click to jump ahead):

Marketing infographics

What are infographics used for in marketing?

Marketers use infographics to build brand awareness and boost engagement about topics important to the company, such as this infographic on diversity and inclusion:

Marketers can use infographics to:

Informational infographic examples, like this one about the effect of excess sodium, are great tools for educating a variety of audiences.

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Consulting and freelancer infographics

Consultants use timeline infographics to visualize project timelines and to simplify new or industry-specific topics to their clients:

Consultants use infographics to:

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Small business and entrepreneurship infographic examples

Small businesses and entrepreneurs use infographics to reach new audiences and increase brand awareness:

This brand style guide cheat sheet is a great infographic example for small businesses. It’s visual and compact, which helps readers absorb the information faster.

Lists are a common type of document that all businesses have. But long lists can get tedious to read. It’s unlikely that readers will even remember the items on the list.

Businesses can use infographics to visualize lists for better learning retention, like this colorful infographic example below.

Or this list infographic which discusses three different change styles:

A business may also want to visualize processes and activities. This infographic example on supply chain analysis could easily have been a boring document. Instead, the topic is covered more thoroughly and succinctly in an infographic:

Small businesses and entrepreneurs can use infographics to:

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Government infographics

What are infographics used for in the governmental sector? Governments use infographics to share statistics and census data, like in this visual from the Government of Canada:

Source

Government can also use infographics to spread useful healthcare information, such as vaccine infographics which promote accurate vaccine information and increase vaccination rates. Here’s an example:

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Nonprofit infographics

Nonprofits use infographics to promote events and raise awareness for their causes or to showcase their successful fundraising efforts:

Nonprofits use infographics to:

• Make data and information about a given cause easy to understand. This can be applied to a newsletter, social media campaign, donation page, poster, and more.
• Plan a campaign strategy
• Show the impact of a fundraiser that can be sent to donors in an email
• Highlight results in an annual report
• Showcase successes in an impact report
• Visualize information in crisis communications

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Education infographics

Educators and trainers use infographics to make content more memorable for students and employees:

Need to explain a complex process? Our process infographics can help communicate cumbersome processes in a visual way.

Infographics can be useful whenever you need to communicate information quickly, or any time you want to make an impact with your data or your message.

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How do I create an infographic?

If I’ve convinced you that infographics are a tool you should be using, you’re probably wondering how you can create your own infographic.

Our step-by-step guide on how to create an infographic is a great resource to design an infographic.

No matter how excited you are to get started making your very first infographic, you shouldn’t jump into the design process without a game plan.

Instead, start by creating an infographic outline.

The process of creating an outline will help you organize your thoughts and ensure that your content will work in an infographic.

Create an infographic outline from existing content using these 4 steps:

• Determine the key takeaways of your content
• Determine the title, headers, subheaders, and facts
• Consider the length of paragraphs and points
• Include notes for the designer

Starting with an outline in this format will ensure that the rest of the design process goes smoothly.

For a more detailed run-down of this process, check out our guide on how to create an infographic outline.

2. Pick an infographic template

Once you’ve got an outline, you’re ready to pick an infographic template.

Pre-made infographic templates (like the one below) can give you the design inspiration you need to get your infographic rolling. Even just using them as a jumping-off point can be helpful.

There’s a lot to consider when picking an infographic template, including the colors, fonts, length, size, and style of each template, and how well each of those factors aligns with your content.

But most importantly, you need to pick the right type of infographic template for your content.

3. Customize your infographic

Once you’ve chosen an infographic template, you can start customizing it to your needs. This infographic can be adapted for other types of lists with the Venngage editor.

Here are a few ways to adapt the infographic examples in this post:

• Change the background and text colors
• Adjust the text to suit your message
• Add or swap out icons that are relevant to your story
• Add your brand logo in the footer
• Increase or decrease the size of the list

Want more information about creating infographics? This video guide will show you how you can make an infographic in just 5 steps:

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What are the different types of infographics?

At Venngage, our library of infographic templates is sorted into 9 different categories:

This video summarizes these 9 types of infographics and when to use them:

Each type of infographic is tailored to visualize a different type of content.

Informational infographics, for example, are typically more text-heavy than the other types of infographics.

Like this example from Course Hero below, they work best as summative, standalone pieces that provide a high-level explanation of a topic.

Source

There are also informational infographics that explain something niche, but very simply. These are handy to have as visual references for topics that are new and unfamiliar.

TalentLyft’s infographic on recruitment metrics is a great example – a short and sweet summary of the six key recruitment metrics hiring managers should understand and track.

Source

Statistical infographics, on the other hand, are more focused on numbers and data visualizations, charts, and data, for example:

They tend to contain much less text than informational infographics and have less of a narrative flow.

Instead, they make a statement with big numbers and standalone facts, like this infographic from the Internet of Things.

Similarly, this sample infographic from Podia on the “State of the Side Hustle” uses numbers and stylization to make its most important points prominent with sparse supporting text.

Choosing the right type of template for your content is one of the keys to a successful infographic.

For a full description of each type of infographic, and when to use them, check out this guide to the 9 types of infographic templates.

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What makes an infographic design effective?

When it comes to designing an effective infographic, it’s important to recognize that our brain seeks patterns in visual information to help us make sense of the world.

We can use this idea to structure our information visually and create patterns that will enhance the message that we’re trying to communicate.

Let’s run through some infographic design best practices to help you create infographics that are as effective as they are beautiful.

Also, check out our post on 7 ways to customize your infographic template for more easy hacks on how to make your design pop.

Use lines, borders, and shapes to group related information

Even something as simple as the position and grouping of elements on a page can influence the way our readers understand our graphics.

If we use basic design elements like borders, lines, circles, and squares to visually organize our content, our readers will find it easier to interpret that content.

For example, we can enclose related elements within an outline or a shape. Most infographics, like the sample below, use this tactic to break up the design into multiple sections, making the graphic easier to scan.

Alternatively, when the structure of the information is the main focus of the infographic (like in an organizational chart or a flow chart) it can be helpful to explicitly connect related elements with lines. Like in this marketing flow chart infographic:

Click the template above to make an organizational chart. Edit the template to your liking — no design experience needed.

Want more tips on organizing your information in an infographic? Check out our step-by-step guide on how to summarize information and present it visually.

Use contrasting colors to guide your readers’ attention

Another major design element to think about is color. We’re naturally inclined to use color to make infographics look pretty, but color can also be used as a powerful communication tool.

Just like lines and borders, colors can be used to indicate information groupings, as seen in the business strategy infographic example below:

But more importantly, we can use color to draw attention to particular pieces of information and push supporting information into the background.

Pick one color that contrasts with all of the other colors in the graphic, and use it to make the most important information stand out.

Take the infographic below, for example. The bright teal icons contrast with the plain white background to make the icons (the most important visual aspect of the graphic) stand out.

This strategy also happens to be highly trendy. Pops of color are one of the biggest graphic design trends of 2022.

Need some infographic color scheme inspiration? Check out our guide on how to pick colors for infographics.

Create a text hierarchy with three different font styles

Fonts are one of the first things people notice when they first look at an infographic. If chosen poorly, fonts can ruin an otherwise great infographic.

Our roundup of popular font types will steer you on the right path.

The key to using fonts correctly in infographics is to create a clear text hierarchy with three different font styles–one for the main heading, one for the section headings, and one for the body text.

The main header font should be the biggest and can be the most stylized. Think of it as the way to set the mood of your infographic.

The font for the section headers should be a bit smaller and less stylized, but it should still stand out on the page.

Finally, the font for the body text should be the smallest, and not stylized at all. It needs to be as easy to read as possible.

Not sure what a readable font looks like? Here’s a quick reference guide to fonts that are great for body text:

For more infographic font tips and best practices, check out our guide all about choosing infographic fonts.

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Use images, icons, and illustrations to make key takeaways memorable

Last but certainly not least, make sure that the focus of your infographic is on visuals like images, symbols, icons, illustrations, and data visualizations like charts and graphs.

Visuals are crucial for making your information engaging and memorable. The best infographics have an equal balance of text and visuals.

The easiest way to make sure you have enough visuals in your graphic is to add an icon to represent each header, as seen in the example below:

Or even better, create visual examples of each main point in the infographic, as seen in this sample infographic from Elle & Company:

It’s important to have fun with your design, too. It doesn’t need to be strictly business-y and serious.

Infographics are supposed to be engaging and memorable, and illustrations are great story-telling devices.

Making a data-heavy infographic and need help visualizing your data? Check out our guides on designing effective charts and choosing the best charts for your infographic.

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FAQs about creating infographics

What does infographic mean?

The word “infographic” is a combination of two words (you guessed it!): “information” and “graphic”.

Simply put, an infographic is a graphic that presents information and/or data — most importantly, in an easy-to-understand way.

What is an infographic example?

An infographic example is a visual representation of information. Infographics examples include a variety of elements, such as images, icons, text, charts, and diagrams to convey messages at a glance.

What are infographics used for?

An infographic has numerous uses in different industries. Infographics can be used to convey complicated data in a simple visual format. They are also visual tools to tell stories.

Visual information graphics help people understand information quickly and more accurately.

Infographics can also be used to show changes or comparisons in data, time, and place, as well as statistics, maps, and hierarchies.

What are the five types of infographics?

We’ve mentioned the nine major infographic categories, among which these are the most common types of infographics are:

• Statistical
• Informational
• Timeline
• Process
• Comparison

Different types of infographics require specific elements. Timeline infographics need to include the date and time stamps. A comparison infographic usually includes columns and rows.

The infographic examples in this post will help you understand what type you need to use for your message so you can make the right choice.

Do you need quantitative data to make an infographic?

Simple answer: No! You don’t need quantitative data (numbers) to create an infographic. Infographics are meant to convey information in an easy-to-understand way, and that applies whether the information you have on hand is purely qualitative:

Or quantitative:

Or a combination of both, like in this infographic example:

Conclusion: Create an infographic to make the most out of your knowledge and data

The best infographics use a combination of text, images, and data to inform and engage.

If you’re ready to create infographics that strike the perfect balance between fun and educational, make sure you follow these infographic design best practices:

• Use lines, borders, and shapes to group related information.
• Use one contrasting color to draw attention to key information.
• Create a text hierarchy with three different font styles.
• Use images, icons, and illustrations to make key takeaways memorable.

For more help getting started on your first infographic, check out this guide: How to make an infographic in 5 steps.

Not a designer? No problem. Create an infographic today using our easy-to-edit templates and simple online editor.