Infographic Design Tutorial Dos and Don'ts

Has infographic design left you stumped?

This infographic design tutorial will help you stop making those pesky design mistakes that leave your infographics unshared.

Designing an infographic is pretty easy when you have the right tools on hand, such as templates and content blocks. But there are always some design aspects that non-designers might find hard to grasp.

To help you out, we have put together this infographic design tutorial with dos and don’ts so you can avoid making your visual look like an eyesore.

By the end of this article, you’ll be able to create stunning infographics that drive engagement and traffic and improve your overall brand image.

Check out our infographic summary of this post here. Or keep scrolling for a detailed explanation of each step, with examples!

1. Text and Visual Balance

The essence of an infographic lies in its visual quality—it is not meant to be a written essay inside an image.

To get this right, you have to really look at the content and see what can be turned into a visual, and what parts of the text can be taken out while keeping the main message.

Start by creating a visual outline of your content.

Before you start designing, you should have a clear idea of what icons or illustrations you want to use where.

If some parts of text cannot be switched out for an icon, give the actual text a visual component like a bold style or a different color.

2. Fonts and Typography

Fonts and typography are a big part of infographic design. They make up both the textual and visual content.

Using words to add visual richness to an infographic is not that difficult; you just need to follow some basic rules.

Stick to two or three different fonts at most. Your best bet is to use two fonts and play with the bold styling to add an extra visual touch.

Keep the text color in balance with the background and other visual elements, such as the icons and illustrations.

If you want to learn more about font pairing, check out this video:

3. Margins

Margins play a huge role in infographic design. These are the empty areas around the content that give the entire thing an invisible frame.

Margins, together with spacing, affect how content sits on an infographic and how different blocks or sections interact with each other.

Make sure you keep the width and height of opposing margins the same size. For example, the right and left margins should have the same width, and the top and bottom margins should have the same height.

The infographic templates and content blocks in Visme already have set margins, so they make your work a lot easier.

If you’re making an infographic from scratch, read this helpful guide for some visual help with margins and grids.

4. Spacing

Every single element in an infographic is affected by the spacing between itself and the elements around it.

Spacing is also a big factor in the Gestalt Principles, a set of design principles that discuss the different factors affecting visual composition.

In design terms, the spacing is also called the gutter. It’s all the invisible space between blocks of content.

There needs to be a balance in the spacing between similar blocks of content. For example, the spacing between headers and subheaders should be the same size.

The same applies to other types of repeating content; icons, text and other elements should be at the same distance from each other.

5. Color Scheme

A well-balanced color scheme will instantly attract viewers to your infographic. Alternatively, an unattractive color combination will make them scroll right past or even cringe.

Use your brand colors so your infographics get recognized on social media. Or use Visme's one-click preset themes to change the color scheme.

Stay away from experimenting with new colors or creating color combinations that you don’t know much about.

You need to consider that colors have a psychological effect on your viewers. For example, avoid using dark or “sad” colors in an infographic about children’s party inflatables.

Do you research first or stick to proven color combinations. 

6. Visual Hierarchy

Visual hierarchy has a lot of influence on the flow of your infographic content. Some elements or sections of your infographic are more important than others, and this needs to show in your infographic design.

For example, the title of your infographic is the most important part. That’s why it goes at the very top in large font.

If you have a header after the title, give it a medium font size—smaller than the title but larger than the body text.

If you have subheadings and icons, make them larger than the body text, but not so gigantic that they start competing for attention.

7. Infographic Size

An infographic usually has a long vertical shape. These look great inside blog posts and you can easily share them on Pinterest.

But there’s no rule saying that an infographic should be vertical. The shape and size of your infographic entirely depends on the nature of your content and where you plan to share it.

If you want to share your infographic on Instagram or print on postcards, a square or landscape shape might be a better fit.

You can also create several versions of your infographic to optimize it for multiple social platforms.

For example, you can crop out a section of your infographic, such as a single data widget or chart, and share it on Instagram.

8. Element Size

Every single element in an infographic has a purpose, but it also needs to follow a visual hierarchy for the story you are telling.

Each element needs to be sized according to its purpose and importance. Follow the hierarchy of the text and visuals to choose element size.

Keep all repeated types of content the same size, like headers and icons.

The visual elements in Visme’s content blocks and templates are already sized perfectly and match each other seamlessly.

If using customizable content from the suggest content tab, copy the sizing to match your full content blocks.

9. Image Quality

People rarely use photography in infographics.

But photos can sometimes work with your infographic design, such as if you’re showcasing photos of participants or experts in a roundup.

If you’re using images or photos, make sure they’re high quality and don’t look pixelated or blurry.

If you want to use photos in place of icons, use shape cutouts, such as circles, or enclose photos in frames for an added visual effect.

Make sure you only use images that you have rights to. If you’re using Visme, you can access millions of free stock photos right inside the editor.

You can also look for free images online; just make sure they’re royalty-free and don’t require a license. Don’t just download images off Google search.

Additionally, if you’re using someone’s photo or head shot, make sure you have permission to do so.

For background images, use transparency or color overlays to make the elements on top of it look more readable. Add text to a background that doesn’t compete with the color and style of the content in the foreground.

A large element, such as a photo, will also seem less important if you make it a bit transparent.

10. Icons

We have seen a lot of tips on how to use icons in the sections above, but there is one more important aspect to consider.

Icons need to have visual balance in an infographic; they must follow the same style from beginning to end.

Here are a couple of different icon styles in Visme:

• Line icons have a thin, outline style with either no fill
• Flat or solid icons are 2D icons with a simple color fill
• Isometric icons look like 3D objects with colors and angles

Don’t mix two different icon styles in a single graphic. If you’re using line icons, use the same style throughout your infographic.

Make sure you adjust the color of your icons to match the text and other colors. Also, remember to use only free or licensed icons.

11. Interactivity

Interactive infographics are great for embedding on a website or blog. They can increase engagement and time spent on a page!

All you need to do is copy a code widget and add it to your HTML editor or a code block in your website. Make sure you use a responsive code so it looks great on both desktop and mobile.

Interactive infographics can’t be easily shared on most social platforms, but you can download them in JPG format for sharing purposes. Don’t forget to link to the interactive version!

Visme lets you add multiple interactive elements to your infographic design, like hover effects, pop-ups, buttons and external links.

You can also choose for the link to open in another tab so the viewer doesn’t navigate away from your infographic or website.

12. Animation

Adding animation to an infographic helps it stand out. The trick is to not go overboard and keep the animation balanced and consistent.

Time your animations to have around the same delay time one after the other. Stay away from animating too many things at the same time or using all the different animation styles in one design.

To use your animated infographic as part of a website, copy the responsive code and insert it into a full-width section of a page. Insert the snippet into a code block on your page’s builder or into the HTML sheet. 

13. Data Widgets

Most infographics have to show some kind of data, from sales reports to survey results and other research-based infographics.

You can access many types of data widgets in the Visme editor, from charts and graphs to maps and flowcharts. Choosing the right one will make the data in your infographic stand out.

Apply the same rules to your data widgets as you do to the rest of the content. Consider spacing, sizing, colors and hierarchy. The data widget is part of the same infographic, so it should look like it belongs there.

Stay away from using too many different types of data widgets in one infographic, and only use the ones that make sense with your data.

You don’t want to overwhelm people. Just like everything else in an infographic, data widgets need to have good visual balance.

14. Legal Issues

Keeping your infographic legal is all about using content you have the rights or license to use. This applies to images, icons and even data.

If you’re using Visme, you don’t have to worry about legal issues. All the visual content inside the editor is free to use for any of your projects.

If you use content from a third party, however, you have to make sure that you have permission to use it.

Furthermore, if you’re using content from blogs and articles that are not yours, always add the source URL in the footer of your infographic.

Create Your Infographic Design Today

Follow the tips in this infographic design tutorial to create beautiful infographics that not just look good but also get you results.

The key is to make sure your infographic design has good visual balance, follows a hierarchy and is optimized for sharing on different platforms.

Sign up on Visme today to create beautiful infographics in minutes using pre-designed templates and content blocks.

Did you find this article helpful or have any other tips to share? Let us know in the comments section below!

The original version of this post first appeared on Visme’s Visual Learning Center.