1. Select a story for your Infographic
This is the hardest part. What should your infographic be about? What is the core message you want to deliver? For us, this is a discovery process. There are two approaches:
Data driven approach – this is where you already have data and you want to tell the story based on your data. Essentially, you use the data to drive the storyline. While it may seem obvious that you should always look at your data to outline your story, we argue that there are many pitfalls to this approach and is often the #1 mistake everyone makes when creating infographics. When is this approach relevant? When you have a unique set of data, or if you’re part of a data science team that has uncovered news worthy insights from your data.
Problem/Question approach – this approach requires you to first think about the problem you’re trying to solve or the questions you’re trying to answer with your story. This usually requires you to put yourself in your readers’ shoes to discover an impactful story angle that has the following properties:
Solves or helps a burning pain. Example – Take back your mornings
Provides useful and practical answers/solutions to everyday questions. Example – What’s the best sleeping position for you?
Reframes conventional questions differently. Example –Why Austin sucks
Challenges popular beliefs or the status quo. Example – Superbowl ads aren’t expensive enough
Provides an unconventional answer to a common question. Example – How colors affect conversions
If you want to dive deeper into how to discover great stories, read 3 Powerful Questions to Discover Your Infographic Story. Regardless of the approach, your story should provide some practical utility, surprise or challenge to the reader.
At the end of this step, you should have a subject of the story and some points or questions your infographic addresses. Something like this: