5 reasons to use infographics to improve information retention
Information has always been a powerful way for engaging the human spirit. Facts, figures and expert analysis have a great power for persuasion. Letting your audience know and see what you want them to see, you get an ability to influence their beliefs and decisions.
This week I have invited roK to talk about infographics and its impact on your readers.
The challenge here is to find the most effective way to present information in order to convince your audience.
Because vision is one of our main senses, we try to visualize ideas in order to assimilate them. That's one of the reason why using Infographics allows one to greatly enhance the understanding and retention of information.
It is often easier to illustrate a fact or a trend with a chart and a symbolic effect with an icon.
Over last few years, the Information graphics, better known as 'Infographics' have become a popular manner of visualizing data in conjunction with pictures, images, icons, charts and others visual elements.
Due to a surge in popularity, infographics are becoming more creative and at times more complex. They serve as a platform to deliver useful messages and more clearly display and retain the information.
The amount of information generated and transmitted daily is astounding; and so is the manner in which it is delivered.
As a result, it has changed the way we communicate and receive content. Several factors can influence the perception of this information. Today, the issue is not how to get the information, but how to filter the relevant data and how easily one can retain and absorb it.
1. Infographics make it easy to pick up useful info
Infographics allow the user to understand and retain the information presented more easily. A well thought out combination of text, images and other visual elements helps to focus readers’ attention on important facts. Additionally, your reader can quickly decide to ignore certain piece of information or in the contrary view them in more detail.
2. Infographics present information more efficiently
According to a study made by Jakob Nelson, on average we only see about 20% of words that appear on a Web page during a visit.
Indeed, we tend not to read the content in its entirety but extract maximum amount of useful information in a short period of time. Sharing structured data using interactive graphics is a good way to condense much information and provide a quick overview to your audience. It also allows you to eliminate clutter and concentrate on the most important facts.
It is also an effective way to highlight your skills via an interactive resume, like in the following example:
3. See VS Read
Visual thinking has been described as seeing words like a series of pictures. This phenomenon is common for approximately 60% of the population. Another study made by Paul Martin Lester shows that we remember 80% of what we see, 20% of what we read and only 10% of what we hear. This means that most people learn better through pictures and other visual elements.
4. Because it's viral
An image can easily be shared on Facebook, Twitter and other social networks. It is displayed in its entirety, contrary to a text that is redirected via a link.
5. Adapts to the new communication channels
According to research made by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Insititute, 15% of the global Internet traffic in 2013 came from mobile. It is therefore necessary to create relevant content
that is viewable on any device including mobile and tablets.
How do I create impressive graphics without being a designer?
Whether you are an organization or a small business, a student or a professional in communication, naturally the question which will come up is: “how do I create an awesome infographic quickly and easily?”
You can of course hire a graphic designer or freelancer. But depending on the person you hire, you can pay a lot and not get the desired result or you may have a difficulty translating your ideas into an effective infographic.
If you're more like, "I can do it myself!" And you like to learn and implement new skills without spending hundreds or thousands of dollars, you can use a new generation of cloud based solutions that can allow you to create, design and publish your own infographics. These include EWC Presenter, Prezi or Bunkr.
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