Piktochart : Templates for infographics, presentation slides, and printable materials (flyers, posters, etc.). Download infographics as png or pdf; share on social media; or publish on the web.
Canva: Templates for a variety of media, including specially designed templates for social media posts. Can create online teams to collaborate on projects.
Venngage: Recommends templates based on your aesthetic preferences. Organizes infographic templates by information type: real estate, process, fun data, etc.. Can incorporate interactive elements into your visualization.
Animaker: Create video infographics.
The Noun Project: Large bank of downloadable icons.
Microsoft PowerPoint and Adobe Illustrator can be used to create infographics. Campus IT has shared installation instructions online.
While infographics and data visualizations both visually encode information, the terms aren’t necessarily interchangeable:
Infographics |
Data Visualizations |
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For example, we can consider “Women in Tech” an infographic because it introduces a clear viewpoint: although women are gaining ground in tech, they still lack representation. We notice that certain design elements, such as traditionally feminine colors, are hand-picked to enhance the storytelling. Further, the choice and order of charts would not be compatible with any other dataset.
Image credit: https://blog.prototypr.io/getting-it-right-why-infographics-are-not-the-same-as-data-visualizations-a23da7de745e
On the other hand, “The Daily Routines of Famous Creative People” is a data visualization. The graphic is not promoting a specific conclusion; rather, it allows the viewer to assess different lifestyles and draw their own conclusions. One could easily replace the dataset with lifestyle data about other groups of people, and the visualization technique would still hold. In practice, of course, the distinction between infographic and data visualization can be much more subtle.
Image credit: https://blog.prototypr.io/getting-it-right-why-infographics-are-not-the-same-as-data-visualizations-a23da7de745e
Chan, V. (2017, June 6). Getting it right: why infographics are not the same as data visualizations. Retrieved from https://blog.prototypr.io/getting-it-right-why-infographics-are-not-the-same-as-data-visualizations-a23da7de745e
Kosara, R. (2010, August 10). The difference between infographics and visualization. Retrieved from https://eagereyes.org/blog/2010/the-difference-between-infographics-and-visualization
Marr, B. (2017, September 16). Data visualization: The best infographic tools available today. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2017/09/16/data-visualization-the-best-infographic-tools-for-2017/#6d41097d7d24
NCSU Libraries Visualization Services Team. Resources for creating infographics. Retrieved from https://ncsu-libraries.github.io/infographics/
Pritchard, M. (2016, December 1). Data visualization vs. infographics. Retrieved from https://killervisualstrategies.com/blog/data-visualization-versus-infographics.html
Rios, J. (2017, May 9). Visualization tools. Retrieved from https://guides.library.harvard.edu/visualization#s-lg-page-section-2073186
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