Infographics are 30 times more likely to be read than a plain text article. Yet most first attempts at designing one start in entirely the wrong place — a template picked for aesthetics, data stuffed in to fill the sections, and a result that looks like an infographic but doesn't really say anything. Learn how to design share-worthy and save-worthy infographics for blogs and social media.
Key Takeaways:
- A great infographic is a thinking problem before it's a design problem — goal, audience, and story structure come first
- Choosing the right infographic type for your data (statistical, process, comparison, timeline, and others) determines whether the design communicates or confuses
- Every section should carry one idea, one chart, and enough white space to breathe — simplicity is what makes infographics shareable
- The same infographic can generate five to six additional content assets across social, decks, and video with minimal extra effort
- If you're commissioning rather than designing, a strong brief with approved copy, data, and visual references eliminates revision rounds before they happen
Most content gets scrolled past in under two seconds. Infographics are one of the few formats that consistently stop that scroll — and the numbers back it up. Infographics are 30 times more likely to be read than a plain text article, and content posts that include them drive a 650% higher engagement rate compared to text-only posts. That's not a marginal difference. That's a format doing something fundamentally different to the reader's brain. Which is why 65% of marketers now use infographics as part of their content strategy. The ones who don't are increasingly aware they're missing something.
I've put together this guide for two kinds of people. First, the early-stage designer who's been handed an infographic project and doesn't know where to begin. Second, the DIY marketer, content creator, or social media manager who either wants to make one themselves, or needs to hand off a solid brief to a designer without it turning into three rounds of revisions.
10 sequential steps, each with a clear outcome. Follow them in order and you'll have either a publish-ready infographic or a bulletproof brief by the end.
But before step one, there's a question worth pausing on.
What Is an Infographic And When Should You Actually Use One?
An infographic is a visual format that combines data, graphics, and minimal text to communicate one clear idea faster than a written article could.
Notice that word — one. The single biggest mistake first-time designers make is trying to say everything.
An infographic that tries to cover everything communicates nothing. It helps to be clear on what an infographic isn't, because the confusion is common:
A chart is a single data point visualised. An infographic builds a narrative around multiple data points.
A report is dense, long-form, and designed to be studied.
An infographic is scannable, built for 10–15 second comprehension. A social post carries one idea with no data structure. An infographic carries a structured story with supporting evidence.
So when does an infographic actually make sense? It consistently outperforms other formats in situations like these: explaining a multi-step process or workflow, summarising research or survey results, comparing options or approaches side by side, and turning a long-form blog post into something shareable and scannable. The underlying reason is simple — 65% of people are visual learners, meaning they process and retain visually structured information faster than prose.
There are also situations where an infographic is the wrong call. If your content requires nuance, caveats, or extended explanation, an infographic will strip out the context that makes it credible. If you have fewer than three or four meaningful data points, you don't have an infographic — you have a pull quote. And if your audience needs to read, file, and reference a document rather than scan and share it, a report serves them better.
A quick decision test: Use an infographic if your audience needs the key point fast, you have data that tells a story, the content has a natural arc with a beginning and an end, and you want it shared on social or embedded in a blog where it can earn links. On that last point — infographics drive 178% more inbound links than standard content. That's an SEO argument as much as a content one.
Look at how Venngage structures their "what is an infographic" explainer — notice how they use a comparison layout to show the same information in chart form vs. infographic form side by side. That visual contrast does more to define the format than any written definition could. That's the move: show the thing you're describing, rather than just describing it.
10 Steps to Design a Compelling Infographic For Your Content
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Step 1: Set a Clear Goal Before You Design Infographics
Most weak infographics fail not because of bad design, but because of unclear intent. The designer opened a tool, picked a template that looked nice, and started filling it in. The result is something that looks like an infographic but doesn't really say anything. A clear goal is what separates a piece of content that gets shared from one that gets filed away and forgotten.
Before you open any design tool, answer three questions:
Who is this for? Not just "marketers" or "our audience." Get specific about role, knowledge level, and context. A content manager scrolling LinkedIn at 8am has different expectations than a founder reviewing a pitch deck in a meeting.
What one thing should change after they see this? A decision made, a belief shifted, an action taken. If you can't answer this in one sentence, the infographic isn't ready to be designed yet.
Where will they see it first? A blog embed, a LinkedIn post, an email, a sales deck? The answer shapes orientation, density of information, and how much text you can realistically include.
Once you have those answers, fill in this simple goal template before moving on: "We want [audience] to understand [insight] so they will [action]."
That sentence becomes the north star for every design decision that follows.
The next piece is defining your single key message, what Smashing Magazine calls "the hook." Every great infographic is anchored to one visualised main point. Everything else supports it. To find yours, write your key message as a 10 to 12 word headline, then distil it further to a single stat or number. That number is your hook, and it earns the most visual weight in the entire design.
Here's a concrete example. Say you're turning a blog post about email marketing into an infographic. Your key message might be: "Email consistently delivers the highest ROI of any marketing channel." Your hook stat: "Email returns $36 for every $1 spent." That number goes big, bold, and central. The rest of the infographic builds the case around it.
Look at how HubSpot handles the hero stat in their annual State of Marketing infographics. The primary finding gets its own visual zone, treated almost like a cover, before the supporting data begins. The reader knows the point before they've read a single line of body copy. That's the effect you're aiming for.
If you're a brief-writer rather than a designer, this goal statement and hook stat become the first two lines of your designer brief. Get them right here and you save hours of revisions later.
Outcome: A one-sentence goal, a defined audience profile, a single key message written as a headline, and one hook stat identified as the primary visual anchor.
With your goal locked in, the next decision shapes the entire structure of your infographic: choosing the right type for your content.
Step 2: Match Your Story to the Right Infographic Design Type
The type of infographic you choose determines layout, reading flow, and how much information the design can carry without collapsing under its own weight. Picking the wrong type early creates structural problems that are genuinely hard to fix once you're deep into the design.
There are seven main types, each suited to a different kind of story:
Statistical infographics
They present research, survey data, or industry figures. Use this when your content is data-heavy and the numbers themselves are the story. A marketing benchmark report or an annual industry survey translates naturally here.
Process or step-by-step infographics
They show how something works in sequence. Use this when the order matters and skipping a step has consequences. Product onboarding flows, how-to guides, and operational workflows are natural fits.
Timeline infographics
They show milestones, history, or the evolution of something over time. Use this when change over time is the insight, not just the current state.
Comparison infographics
They place two or more options side by side. Use this when the reader needs to evaluate and choose. Tool comparisons, before and after results, and strategy trade-offs work well in this format.
List or checklist infographics
They present tips, resources, or recommendations in a scannable format. Use this when the reader needs a reference they'll return to, rather than a story they follow once.
Map or geographic infographics
They visualise location-based data. Use this when where something happens is as important as what happened.
Flowchart or decision tree infographics
They guide the reader through conditional logic. Use this when the answer to a question depends on the reader's specific situation.
One important caution: pick one primary type and stick to it. You can add small supporting elements like a mini chart or an icon set, but blending five styles into one infographic confuses readers about where to focus. The best infographics feel like they were always going to look exactly this way. That clarity comes from committing to one format.
Step 3: Gather and Fact-Check Your Infographic Data
The golden rule of infographic data is quality over quantity. A focused infographic built around five strong, well-sourced stats will outperform a cluttered one stuffed with twenty weak ones every time. More data does not make an infographic more credible. It makes it harder to read and easier to ignore.
Where to find reliable, citable data:
Start with what you already have. Internal data, your own analytics, customer survey results, CRM figures, and product usage stats are often more compelling than anything you'll find externally because no one else has them.
Original data is also a natural link magnet, which matters for SEO.
For external sources, prioritise industry reports from recognised names like HubSpot, Deloitte, Nielsen, and Statista. Government datasets and peer-reviewed research add credibility for more technical topics. One source to actively avoid: other infographics. Numbers passed through infographics are frequently misattributed, taken out of context, or simply wrong.
Always trace a stat back to its original source before using it.
As you gather data, log everything in a simple spreadsheet with five columns: the stat or claim, the original source name, the publication year, the direct URL, and a priority rank (must-use, nice-to-have, or cut if needed). This discipline saves significant time when you move into the design phase and realise you have more data than space.
What to watch for when checking accuracy:
Old stats presented as current are one of the most common credibility killers in infographic design. Always check the publication year of the original research, not just the date of the article citing it. A 2019 study on remote work, for example, tells a very different story than a 2024 one.
Also watch for numbers without sample size or geographic context. "80% of people prefer visual content" is meaningless without knowing who was surveyed, how many, and where. If a stat can't answer those questions, it probably shouldn't be in your infographic.
When this infographic is embedded in a blog post, hyperlink every stat using the stat text itself as the anchor, not "source" or "click here." This is better for both reader trust and SEO, and it is a small signal that search engines and AI-powered answer engines increasingly reward because it demonstrates sourcing transparency.
Outcome: A short, verified list of five to ten data points with sources, ranked by importance, ready to feed into your narrative structure.
You have your data. Now stop thinking like a researcher and start thinking like a storyteller. The next step is turning those numbers into a narrative with a beginning, a middle, and an end.
Step 4: Outline Your Infographic Before You Design Anything
Every hour you spend fixing flow inside a design tool costs ten times what it costs to fix it on paper. The outline stage is where you catch structural problems cheaply, before they become design problems expensively.
Think of your infographic as a three-act story. Act one is the hook: your title and the opening stat or problem statement that earns the reader's attention. Act two is the build: three to five supporting sections that develop the story with data, context, and visuals. Act three is the resolution: a closing insight, key takeaway, or call to action that gives the reader somewhere to go next.
Fill in this outline structure before touching any design tool:
- Title and subtitle
- Opening hook (your single key stat or statement from Step 1)
- Section 1: header, one to two data points, visual type
- Section 2: header, one to two data points, visual type
- Section 3: header, one to two data points, visual type
- Closing insight or CTA
- Sources footer
Once the outline is complete, sketch a rough storyboard. This does not need to be a piece of art. Boxes, arrows, and labels on paper are enough. What you are checking is whether the eye knows where to go next, whether the story builds logically from section to section, and whether the ending lands.
A useful test at this stage: read your storyboard aloud as if narrating it to someone. If you stumble, skip a section, or find yourself adding verbal context that isn't in the outline, your reader will experience the same confusion. Fix it in the outline, not in the design.
Look at how Piktochart structures their process infographic templates. Notice that each section has a clear header, a single visual element, and a concise supporting label. Nothing competes with anything else. That visual clarity starts in the outline, not in the design tool.
Outcome: A rough but complete storyboard mapping sections, data points, reading order, and the location of your primary visual hook.
With your outline confirmed, you can now translate that structure into a concrete layout, deciding orientation, canvas size, and how the reader's eye will travel through the design.
Step 5: Plan Your Layout, Size, and Visual Hierarchy
The layout determines how easily your audience navigates the information. Choose one that fits both your content type and the platform where the infographic will live first.
Canvas size by platform:
Blog or Pinterest: tall vertical, typically 800 by 2000 pixels or longer
LinkedIn feed: 1080 by 1350 pixels
Instagram feed: 1080 by 1080 or 1080 by 1350 pixels
Instagram Stories or Pinterest close-up: 1080 by 1920 pixels
Presentation or sales deck: horizontal at 1920 by 1080 pixels
Design for one primary platform first, then adapt. Trying to design for all platforms simultaneously usually means the design works well for none of them.
Reading path options:
The most common is top-to-bottom, which works for the majority of infographic types. A Z-pattern (left to right, then down) mirrors natural web browsing behaviour and works well for comparison layouts. A guided path using a road, arrow, or numbered nodes suits process and timeline types where sequence is critical.
Use directional elements like numbers and arrows sparingly. They should guide the reader, not decorate the canvas.
Establishing visual hierarchy:
Before you style anything, define three levels of visual importance. Level one is your title and primary stat: these get the most size, colour weight, and white space around them. Level two is your section headers and key callout figures: secondary emphasis, clearly subordinate to level one. Level three is supporting text, source labels, and footnotes: smallest, lowest contrast, never competing for attention.
Apply one focal point per visual zone. If two elements in the same section are fighting for attention, one of them needs to step back. The reader's eye should never have to choose.
Smashing Magazine's advice on layout variety, covering columns, path-based structures, and section backgrounds with alternating contrast, remains one of the clearest practical breakdowns of infographic layout principles available. The tools have changed but the principles behind visual hierarchy have not.
Outcome: A confirmed canvas size, a layout sketch, and a defined three-level visual hierarchy before any styling begins.
Skeleton in place. Now you can start making decisions about the visual building blocks that will carry your data: charts, icons, and imagery.
Step 6: Visualise Your Data With the Right Charts and Graphics
The core rule of infographic data visualisation is this: show the relationship, not just the number. The chart type you choose should make the insight obvious within three seconds. If a reader has to study a chart to understand what it is saying, you have chosen the wrong type.
Chart type quick guide:
Percentages or parts of a whole: donut chart or a single bold callout stat. Avoid pie charts with more than four segments because they become impossible to parse at a glance.
Trends over time: line chart, kept simple with clearly labelled data points.
Comparing categories: horizontal bar chart, which is easier to read than vertical when category labels are long.
Ranking: simple bar chart ordered from largest to smallest.
Before vs after: side-by-side bars or a split visual with clear labels on each side.
What to avoid:
3D charts distort proportions and add no information. Starting axes above zero makes small differences look dramatic and misleads the reader. Labelling data directly on the chart is almost always clearer than relying on a separate legend. And decorative chart embellishments, drop shadows, gradients, illustrative overlays on chart bars, add visual noise without adding data meaning.
Icons and illustrations:
Icons should represent concepts, not just decorate sections. Every icon should have a reason to exist. If you removed it and the reader lost no information, it does not belong there.
Keep icon style consistent throughout the entire infographic. All line icons, or all filled icons. Never both in the same piece. Inconsistent icon styles are one of the fastest ways to make a design look unfinished, even when the data and layout are strong.
Use icons as visual anchors that help readers navigate between sections at a glance. A well-chosen icon at the start of each section tells the reader what that section is about before they read the header. Consistent free icon libraries like The Noun Project or Flaticon offer style-matched sets that make this easier to maintain.
Here is a differentiator worth considering. Most infographic guides tell you to use bar charts for comparisons and leave it there. But if your data tells a proportional story, a pictogram chart (where icons represent quantities) is often more memorable and more shareable than a standard bar. This matters practically given that 55% of marketers create social media infographics more than any other visual format, and social is a format where memorability directly correlates with reach.
Outcome: A section-by-section list of chart types and icons matched to each data point, with a maximum of one chart per section.
Visuals decided. Now comes the step most first-time designers rush through: applying colour, typography, and spacing. Done right, this is what makes a design feel professional. Done wrong, it is the most common reason infographics get ignored despite having strong data.
Step 7: Infographic Design Best Practices for Colour, Type, and Spacing
Colour:
Start with three base colours: one background, two accents. This is Smashing Magazine's most cited design principle for infographics and it holds up because it works. Use tints (lighter versions) and shades (darker versions) of those three colours to create variety without visual chaos.
One of your accent colours should carry significantly more visual weight than the other. That dominant accent appears on your primary stat, your hook, and your most important callout. It draws the eye exactly where you want it to go first.
Contrast is non-negotiable. Text and background combinations should meet WCAG AA standard, which requires a minimum contrast ratio of 4.5 to 1 for normal text. This is not just an accessibility consideration. Low contrast text is the single most common reason infographics fail on mobile, where screens vary widely in brightness and viewing conditions.
Use colour psychology purposefully but subtly. Blue communicates trust and credibility, which is why it dominates financial and healthcare infographics. Green signals growth or health. Orange drives energy and action. But never let a mood override legibility. A beautiful colour that cannot be read at small sizes is not a design choice, it is a mistake.
Typography:
Use a maximum of two font families throughout the entire infographic: one bold or display font for titles and section headers, one clean sans-serif for body labels, captions, and footnotes. More than two font families creates visual noise that readers register as unprofessional, even if they cannot articulate why.
Define hierarchy in three sizes only: title, section headers, and labels or footnotes. Avoid long paragraphs entirely. Infographic copy should be captions, callouts, and short labels, not sentences that run more than two lines. If a section requires three sentences to explain, the data point probably belongs in a blog post, not an infographic.
Spacing:
White space is not wasted space. It is what makes each section breathe and lets the hierarchy land. Using adequate white space can improve comprehension by up to 20%, which means tighter spacing actively works against the reader understanding your content.
Add generous padding inside section borders, around every chart, and at the outer edges of the canvas. Use a grid or alignment guides in your design tool. Misaligned elements are the fastest way to make a design look amateur, even when the colour palette and typography are strong.
If you have brand guidelines, start with them. Plug in brand colours and fonts before making any other decisions. When brand colours do not meet contrast requirements, darken the primary colour for text use. Legibility always wins over brand purity.
Outcome: A fully styled infographic with a consistent colour palette, clear typographic hierarchy, and white space that makes each section feel intentional.
With the visual design in place, the last creative task is the one most often treated as an afterthought: writing copy that works with the visuals rather than fighting them.
Step 8: Write Clear, Visual-First Copy for Your Infographic
The infographic copy test is simple: can someone understand each section in under five seconds? If not, there is too much text.
General copy rules:
Lead with numbers and verbs. "3 ways to reduce churn" or "47% of customers say..." lands faster than "There are several approaches that organisations can consider when addressing customer retention." Every section header should tell the reader what they are about to learn, not just label the topic. "Email drives the highest ROI" beats "Email marketing" as a section header because it gives the reader information, not just a category.
Chart titles should answer "what am I looking at?" rather than simply stating the variable. "Remote work has tripled since 2020" tells a story. "Remote work prevalence" does not.
Source citations go at the bottom of the infographic in small type. In the digital or blog version, every sourced stat should be hyperlinked using the stat as anchor text.
Microcopy to get right:
Section labels should be one to three words maximum. Stat callouts work best when the number is large and prominent and the context sits in smaller type directly below. For example: "650% more engagement" in bold, "posts with infographics vs text-only" in small caps beneath it. CTA copy, if included, should start with an action verb: "Browse infographic designs on Pineable" rather than "You can find more designs on Pineable."
Workflow tip: Draft all copy in a document first, then paste it into your design tool and trim to fit. If a section overflows, the copy needs cutting, not the margin. Designing around too much text produces layouts that look cramped regardless of how good the underlying structure is.
Outcome: All text across every section is concise, formatted for scanning, and consistent in voice throughout.
Copy done. Now it is time to bring everything together in a design tool and choose the right one for your skill level and timeline.
Step 9: Choose the Right Infographic Design Tool or Template
Tool categories and who they are for:
Drag-and-drop infographic makers like Venngage, Visme, Piktochart, and Canva are the right starting point for DIY marketers and first-time designers. Pre-built infographic design templates handle the structural decisions so you can focus on content. These tools also export correctly for web and social without requiring knowledge of file formats and resolution settings.
General design tools like Figma and Adobe Express give designers more layout control while still offering template libraries as structural references. Pro tools like Adobe Illustrator offer full creative control but come with a learning curve that only makes sense if you are producing infographics at volume and frequency.
AI infographic generators, including Venngage AI, Visme AI, and Canva Magic Design, can generate a first draft layout in minutes. They are genuinely useful as a starting point, particularly for getting a rough structure on screen quickly. But they do not know your hook, your brand voice, or the specific story your data is trying to tell. The thinking in steps one through eight is what you bring that AI cannot replace.
If you are using a template, do not underuse it:
The most common mistake with infographic design templates is not editing them enough. Before publishing, work through this checklist:
Replace all placeholder text with your actual, approved copy
Swap all placeholder charts with charts built from your actual data
Update colours and fonts to match your brand
Replace default icons with ones that are genuinely relevant to your content
Adjust the number of sections to match your outline, not the template's original structure
Export at the correct dimensions for your primary platform
Notice how the best infographic examples from brands like HubSpot or Salesforce never look like they came from a template, even when they did. That is because every element has been replaced, resized, and repositioned to serve the specific content rather than the template's original design logic. That level of customisation is what separates a professional result from something that reads as generic.
Outcome: Reader is working in the right tool for their skill level, with a template that has been genuinely customised rather than lightly filled in.
Before you export and share, there is one final stage that separates good infographics from great ones.
Step 10: Review Your Infographic Design Before It Goes Live
The QA checklist:
Run through these checks before exporting:
Accuracy: Every number, label, and source citation is verified against the original research
Clarity: Can a first-time viewer state the main point after five seconds?
Flow: Does the eye travel naturally from section to section without confusion or backtracking?
Mobile: Screenshot the infographic and view it on your phone. Is the text readable? Are charts still legible at half the desktop size?
Accessibility: Text contrast meets WCAG AA standard, alt text is written for the blog-embedded version, and no information is conveyed by colour alone
The 3-person test:
Send your infographic to three people before publishing. One person from your target audience: do they understand the main point without any explanation from you? One colleague who knows the topic well: are there any inaccuracies or missing context? One person who knows nothing about the topic: is the logic still clear without background knowledge?
If any two of the three come back confused about the same thing, fix it. That is not a subjective preference, it is a signal that the design is not communicating what you think it is.
Common problems to fix before publishing:
Sections packed with too much text: cut until each section breathes. Inconsistent icon styles, a mix of line and filled icons in the same piece: standardise to one. Charts that do not match what the adjacent copy says: align them or remove the discrepancy. A title that describes the topic rather than delivering an insight: rewrite it so it gives the reader something before they have read a word of body copy. Missing source citations: check every stat has one.
Outcome: A polished, accurate infographic that a first-time viewer can navigate and understand without any supporting explanation from you.
How to Publish and Repurpose Your Infographic the Smart Way
Publishing is not the finish line. It is the starting point for getting maximum value from the asset you have just spent significant time creating.
Export settings by platform:
Blog embed: full-size PNG at minimum 800 pixels wide, compressed without quality loss using a tool like Squoosh or TinyPNG
LinkedIn feed: 1080 by 1350 pixels JPEG
Instagram feed: 1080 by 1080 or 1080 by 1350 pixels
Instagram Stories or Pinterest: 1080 by 1920 pixels
PDF for email or decks: export as a vector-based PDF to maintain sharpness at any zoom level
SEO and AEO best practices for the blog embed:
Write descriptive alt text that includes your primary topic and one key stat. Something like: "Infographic showing 10 steps to design an infographic, including data on how infographics drive 650% higher engagement than text-only posts." This makes the image accessible to screen readers and gives search engines meaningful content to index.
Always pair the embedded infographic with a text summary of its content directly below or above it. This is critical for two reasons. First, search engines and AI-powered answer engines index text, not images, so the infographic alone contributes nothing to your organic visibility. Second, a text summary makes the content accessible to readers who use assistive technology or cannot load images. Use your infographic's section headers as the structure for that summary, which also reinforces your target keywords naturally throughout the page.
Repurposing: one infographic, many assets:
This is the step most infographic guides skip entirely, and it is where a significant amount of value gets left on the table.
Break individual sections into standalone social tiles for LinkedIn or Instagram. Each section of your infographic becomes one post in a carousel or a standalone graphic in a campaign, giving you five or six pieces of content from one original asset.
Export individual charts for use in sales decks, pitch presentations, or reports. A well-designed bar chart from your infographic often fits directly into a slide without any additional work.
Record a short screen-share or voiceover walking through the infographic. That is an instant video or reel with no additional production required. Extract three to five key stats as pull-quote graphics for LinkedIn or Twitter. Carousel posts on LinkedIn, where each slide corresponds to one infographic section, consistently outperform static single-image posts in reach and saves.
Outcome: The infographic is live, SEO-optimised, and generating value across at least three to four channels from a single asset.
Start Small, Then Level Up
Here is the full journey in one line: validate the format, define your goal, choose a type, gather your data, outline the story, plan the layout, choose your visuals, apply colour and type, write the copy, pick the right tool, QA it thoroughly, publish it smart, and repurpose everything.
That sounds like a lot. It is less than it looks. Once you have run this process once, the second infographic takes a fraction of the time because the thinking becomes instinctive.
The best advice for a first project is to start small and focused rather than ambitious and sprawling. Take your most recent blog post, find its single most interesting stat, and turn it into a 4 to 6 section infographic built entirely around that one idea. That is a realistic first project with a realistic timeline. The 15-section mega-infographic can wait until you have one complete under your belt.
And on the AI question raised at the start: use the generators. They are good and getting better. But use them after you have completed steps one through four. Let the AI accelerate the production, not shortcut the thinking. The thinking is what makes the difference between an infographic that gets filed and one that gets shared.
Looking for real-world examples to reference as you design? Browse the latest infographic designs here on Pineable, curated from across the web so you never have to start from a blank canvas.
