Infographics

I reviewed three webapps in preparation to create my infographic.  I read the materials given by my professor.  Alberto Cairo said the use of red would be great to include but to avoid bubbles and pie charts when creating an infographic. The Ted Talk by David McCandless wonderfully communicated about data in terms a librarian could love.  As I sat to create my infographic in the back of my mind was Randy Krum's article on designing infographics.

I was certain I would not use Infogram because as I signed up for an account, there was not a tutorial that popped up explaining how to use this webapp.  At first glance, Infogram did not have appealing  graphics and seemed a little plain.

I started with Easel.ly because I liked all the different templates, they were beautifully designed with lots of graphics. There was a tutorial explaining how to use the web app.  I thought this would be an easy webapp to use and could plug in my data to create an in depth designed infographic.  My struggle started when I began to try to change the graphics.  On the free plan, the choices for the graphics were limited and rather dated.    When I tried to insert a graphic it laid on top of the template rather than changing out the graphic previously there.  I decided to create a chart remembering not to make a pie chart.  I liked the chart but could not easily figure out how to change at least one of the color to red. The free plan did not have many choices and I wasn't will to Go Pro to have more options. Three templates later, I gave up and tried a different webapp.

Next, I explored  Piktochart, there was not many templates but I felt one had good graphics for charts and I liked the color scheme.  I felt even though there was not many choices, I could make a colorful infographic.   I tried to upload a picture but  instead of inserting and taking the place of the first graphic it laid on top of the template. As I input my data, both categories I created had the same color. As I tried to change the color to red, I was informed there were no color scheme choices on the free plan.  In order, to change the color of my chart, I had to "Level Up" for 39.99.  I decided it was time to give Infogram a try.

Infogram was a bit plain but it was easy to navigate.  I was able to input my data easily and different  colors were already included. I was able to easily add and delete applications, text and pictures.  My final product of infographic had a pie chart with a little red but I was pleased with the process. The infographic was different that I imagined but I feel with time each application could be usable and serves various purposes.

Infogram was the easiest webapp for me and saved changes as I worked on my project. Infogram was effortless to share.  I liked the look of Easel.ly and Piktochart with many templates and backgrounds.  In my experience with these webapps, Easel.ly and Piktochart would be best if you didn't want to change any graphics and only add data. I recommend Infogram for beginners in creating Infographic especially if your desire is to work on a free account.

For a direct link to my Infographic, please go to:  https://infogram.com/social-media-use-1h8n6meolnxm2xo?live

I have also included my infographic below.

References:

Krum, R. (2010, August 17). 10 Tips for Designing Infographics. Retrieved July 1, 2018, from
      https://digitalnewsgathering.wordpress.com/2010/04/24/10-tips-for-designing-infographics/

Malamed, C. (2018, January 23). ELC 010: How to Design Read (Not Fake) Information
       Graphics. Retrieved July 01, 2018, from http://theelearningcoach.com/podcasts/10/

McCandless, D. (2010, July). The beauty of data visualization.[Video file}. Retrieved July 1,
       2018, from https://www.ted.com/talks/david_mccandless_the_beauty_of_data_
       visualization

Social Media Use
Infogram