Creating Infographics: Tips for Librarians

According to Lexico, an infographic (or information graphic) is “a visual representation of information or data”. It is a combination of the terms information and graphic.

Personally, I have found infographics to be a very useful way of communicating information. I have used them to explain a topic such as a systematic review, about new technology resources that are available, and as a step-by-step guide for how to navigate a webpage. There are many different types of infographics and some have more pictures than words while others are more focused on the words. Example infographics can be seen here. This site includes categories such as maps, timelines, flowcharts, comparisons, business, and resume.

If you are interested in creating infographics here are my tips:

• Identify a topic you want library users to know more about
• Determine how that topic can be broken into small chunks of information
• Consider your audience, what do they need to know?
• Use templates

Tools to create infographics:

• Align visuals and content
• Pay attention to color choices and make sure the information is readable
• Do not crowd content, stick to the most important pieces of information

Above I shared a few examples of how I have used infographics and you can see the examples from Adobe, but I also want to share some ideas for library specific infographics:

• Library services: how your support your organization
• Library resources: what resources you have available
• Library annual report or any report data
• New services or resources you want to advertise
• Library instruction offerings
• Researching tips
• How to use a database
• Google tips

You can see specific library infographics on the site Library Design Share.

If you have not explored using infographics, I hope you take time to explore the options and think about using them as a communication tool.