How can you determine the optimal size and resolution for an information graphic?

The most effective solutions understand the audience and purpose and base the creative accordingly. Many times you will come across a compelling image, but the purpose is missing or the type of visual is not in alignment with the intended audience. It doesn't matter how good it looks, if the creative does not align with the intended audience than an impactful interaction is missed. Clever design is cool so long as the purpose is clear to the audience. End game is a successful interaction that leaves the audience wanting to know more, and satisfied with the overall experience.

Understanding the audience and purpose is essential in designing an information graphic. Tailoring the complexity and style to the audience ensures accessibility and engagement. For experts, technical details are appropriate, while a general audience requires simplicity. The purpose, whether to educate, persuade, or sell, influences the graphic's design. Educational graphics emphasize clarity and information, whereas persuasive graphics focus on impactful visuals. Choices in colors, fonts, and data visualization are thus strategically made to align with the audience's preferences and the graphic's intended effect, ensuring effectiveness and appeal.

Understanding the audience and purpose is crucial for determining the optimal size and resolution of an infographic. The size should accommodate the platform where it will be displayed, ensuring readability and engagement for the target audience. Resolution is essential for clarity, especially if the infographic includes detailed information or small text. Adapting these elements to meet the specific needs of your audience and purpose enhances the overall effectiveness of the infographic.

Audience and purpose: trying visitors and or buyers. First: to analyse what kind of public to reach...and depending over the value or price of the original pieces: the selling or only a show (high quality is necessary). Generally pieces of original art or Museum pieces have value and they need attention and high presentation. (this 2 facts are going together): High quality documentations and conform with to the place. Audience? couldbe multiple: national or provincial and so on. After, it is no so complicated to decide over the infography budget: quality is necessary. The rest is easy enough. But never forget the kind of public to reach..! Everything is possible and depending of the budget (2 kind of budget, a lower and higher one).

As a Motion and Graphic designer I always have to ask this question during a briefing. A lot of times clients forget or neglect to mention where they will be using the infographics. It usually starts with "Hi, can you make this with this data" For a designer it is essential to know what platform(Facebook, Youtube, Linkedin, TikTok, IG), if you need different sizes, if things will go into print or not. And better to know them at the start of a project than later because often times many ask for a wide format and want square or vertical format at a later stage. But if those formats aren't planned for, these things will take time to redesign in order to fit the formats.

The choice of platform and format for an infographic is influenced by the distribution channel and the content's nature. Social media platforms may favor square or vertical formats for better visibility in feeds, while websites may accommodate various sizes. Consider the platform's specifications and user behavior to optimize the infographic's impact. Additionally, the format choice, such as static image, interactive graphic, or slideshow, should align with the content and user engagement expectations on the chosen platform.

The sizing of an infographic is not only determined by the audience and purpose but also by the channel in which it's being displayed. For example, I recently had a client who wanted an infographic for a LinkedIn post. We determined that the carousel format would be the way to go and used it to our advantage by having the infographic tell a story with each slide. You're also limited to the number of slides in the carousel to fit everything. Suppose an infographic is being displayed within an email. In that case, it has to be significantly more concise than if it were to be displayed on a website due to the lack of real estate and the limited amount of time people spend reading emails.

The second step to determine the optimal size and resolution for your infographics is to consider the platform and format you will use to distribute them. Where will your infographics be displayed or published? How will your audience access or view them.

As the saying goes, a picture is worth 1000 words is why infographics are so powerful. All Internet browsers have the ability to show you what the screen would look like on numerous devices and is always worth checking out before publishing to make sure that your picture is truly representative to the audience members you’re trying to reach.

Selecting the dimensions and aspect ratio of an infographic depends on the platform's layout and user experience. For example, common dimensions for social media graphics might be 1080x1080 pixels for a square aspect ratio or 1080x1920 pixels for a vertical aspect ratio suitable for stories. Consider the visual balance and how the infographic will appear on different devices. Maintaining a consistent aspect ratio can enhance the infographic's aesthetics across various platforms and ensure a cohesive viewing experience for the audience.

Dimension and aspect is used which best suits the platform or format . Note, the dimensions and aspect choosen should match the space layout of your platform and format as well as the orientation and shape of your visuals.

A long-term infographic should be saved in a lossless file format, such as *.PNG because ideally people will keep and repost the image. Using a format like *.JPG will create pixel artifacts in the image, which will become less clear with each save.

300dpi is for printed material that people will take in their hands. For large format prints like banners 75-100 dpi will be sufficient. 300 dpi will only enlarging the filesize without any improvement. 30-50 dpi is good enough for visuals used on trucks. It's all about the distance and time the viewer is possible to see the graphic.

Compression and file sizes have been a topic for websites and platforms for a while: Whether it's infographics, videos or images, compressing graphics comes at a price of quality. As mentioned on the left with resizing, cropping, compressing, scaling can affect the image and you have to make some compromises between faster loading time for mobile viewing and quality of the graphics/images. So if you end up wondering why an image doesn't look as sharp as you'd like it may have to do with how the image was optimized.

It’s worth knowing what your audience is going to be using when visualizing your infographics most users these days are utilizing a phone versus a laptop or computer, so making sure that you test on phones is your highest priority.

Generally it is best practice to start at high-res and then to make smaller versions for screen so that if you ever need to print infographics you can. It doesn't work the other way around. If as a client you send images to your designer, please send them in a zip file or via sites like Wetransfer. A designers nightmare is if you send images in powerpoint or a word document. While it is meant well, it's likely that they get compressed and may not have the quality needed and it is a time suck to take them out, adjust and check the size and then see if they can still be used.

Consider the format. Is it for print or screen? Also the look at the subject matter and whether that informs if the graphic should be portrait or landscape. Consider the audience and their accessibility needs. You may need larger fonts. Is the graphic standalone or part of wider presentation. Is it in a magazine or PowerPoint and what is the format, also can you put it over 2 spread?

I always create my graphics at high resolution suitable for print. That way you can share the graphic and it will look great on-screen or printed for review. The final graphic is ready for print or can easily be down-sized for e distribution.

The optimal size and resolution for an information graphic depend on its intended use. Consider the platform or medium where it will be displayed—such as web, print, or social media. Tailor the size to fit the available space and ensure the resolution is high enough for clarity. Also, factor in the complexity of the content and the audience's viewing device capabilities.