Infographics: The Power of Visual Storytelling

WHAT ARE EDITORIAL INFOGRAPHICS?

An editorial infographic is one that employs a narrative approach. We discussed in the previous section how editorial infographics are designed to have mass appeal, and can position the content producer (in our case, the brand) as a source of information within an industry or on a specific topic. Broadly speaking, editorial infographics have wide distribution potential; people frequently share the best ones online, thereby bringing traffic, links, and brand exposure with them.

While this varies across industry and subject matter, editorial infographic content typically has more mass appeal than brand-centric content. Of course, the more people can relate to the content (e.g., marijuana legislation vs. LARPing), the more mass appeal it will have. According to Fast Company Co.Design editor Cliff Kuang, one common mistake that those who produce bad editorial infographics make is to assume that something interesting to them will be interesting to others. As Kuang explains, “People get wrapped up in the process, but they confuse the depth of detail that they had to go through with the amount of detail other people are willing to go through to get the information.”

The most important rule to remember is that editorial infographics should not reference your company in the content. You can include a company logo at the bottom to let people know the source of the information as it is shared online, but you never want to be hitting people over the head with ...