Everybody Writes, 2nd Edition



80Writing Infographics

Infographics are shareable and portable. They are your marketing party favors that encourage an audience to repost them liberally—spreading your message for you.

An infographic is what it sounds like—information expressed graphically, via drawings, pictures, maps, diagrams, charts, or similar elements—all held together with a coherent visual theme and typically published as an image file. Infographics are also produced as videos.

Infographics are the ultimate in utility. The best of them express rich, objective data in a way that's more accessible and engaging than a dense spreadsheet or ho-hum pie chart.

They usually take one of four shapes: an illustration of the “state of” some business sector or function; a checklist or resource; a compare-and-contrast study; and the evolution of a movement, demographic, or industry. (Thanks to Joe Chernov for the breakdown.)

Infographics are so ubiquitous that it feels like they've always been there—like heaven.

Like Earth.

Like a Starbucks on every corner.

And in some ways, they have: Charles Joseph Minard in 1869 produced Carte figurative des pertes successives en hommes de l'Armée Française dans la campagne de Russie 1812–1813, a flow map depicting Napoleon's disastrous Russian campaign of 1812.

Later, scientist and inventor Étienne-Jules Marey said Minard's infographic “defies the pen of the historian in its brutal eloquence.” (Thanks to Josh Ritchie, cofounder of data-design company ...