Infographics

Infographics are a way to take numbers and data and present them in an easily understood visual format. They have become increasingly popular, with more websites offering their own tools and templates to help share information. Canva is often considered one of the top sites for this kind of design, in large part due to the wide amount of options and usage allowed even with a free account. We explored three other infographic creation sites to see how they compared: Easel.ly, Piktochart, and Infogram. 

Below is the infographic I created using Infogram over information from Teens and social media: Key findings from Pew Research Center Surveys.

➡️ Click here to see the clear, full-screen infographic! ⬅️

Source: Vogels, E. A., & Gelles-Watnick, R. (2023, April 24). Teens and social media: Key findings from Pew Research Center Surveys. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/04/24/teens-and-social-media-key-findings-from-pew-research-center-surveys/ 

Easel.ly (https://easel.ly/)

“We Make Graphic Design Easy!”

This site has many very colorful, fun looking templates available. While many of the templates are not available to free accounts, Easel.ly is also the most cost-effective option to upgrade your account. It is only $4/month for individuals, or $48/year, and includes 30 free student accounts. This is far less expensive than the other sites. They do not offer a free trial, just a 7-day money back guarantee. I was disappointed that there was no way to filter templates by which were free, as there is with Canva, and the amount of free templates was extremely limited. There are data charts and graphs available, but the selection is small. When trying the program I did have some issues with selecting a template from within a blank document, as parts of the template were loading off to the side rather than on the document where they should be. It also wasn’t particularly easy to zoom in and out. However, this still could be a great option for teachers wanting to provide colorful options to their students for a low price. The biggest reason I chose not to utilize Easel.ly for my own infographic is because the images and font did not appear to be as crisp and clear as they should be. It’s a shame, because there were some templates I thought could be great. For those looking for more information on using Easel.ly, I found the following videos to be quite helpful: Welcome to Easelly: https://youtu.be/O-J7qjsNJ_4 and How to Find Infographic Templates in Easelly: https://youtu.be/LDxowu9_rBU?si=qUWUgqT5ta6RBLcx 

Piktochart (https://piktochart.com/)

“Information design simplified”

One of the things I liked most about this program is when creating your account for Piktochart, some information is asked about your intended use to determine recommended templates. Once choosing education I had the choices: Student - Aged 13-17, Student – College/University, Educator – Teaching students aged 13-17, Educator – Teaching College or University, I’m a Librarian, or Other. I was pleasantly surprised to see the librarian option included. Then the “For You” part of my page included relevant sections: Popular for librarians, librarian infographics, and popular formats for librarians, and also included “librarians also search for” search terms at the bottom. When looking at infographic template formats it gives a variety of options: Comparison, data visualization, Informational, List, Process, Survey Results, Timeline. I was initially impressed by this but was a little disappointed to find that the templates offered were pretty much the same for each option. For charts and graphs there are options to make only four kinds of charts (bar chart, donut chart, pie chart, pictogram), but once you enter the infographic designing stage there are more chart options available. Screen prompts to explain the features come up when bringing up your first project, which is a helpful feature. The templates are very visual in an appealing way, but the visuals are very specific to the particular example (for example, medical themed), making it hard to envision them for your own usage. The conclusion I came to was that the templates would be good for sharing information in a visually appealing format, but not as much for numerical data. The biggest reason I did not use Piktochart is because the free account only allows 2 visual downloads, in png and ppt formats only. The Pro account costs $14/month, or $168/year. I couldn’t help but compare this to Canva, which does not limit downloads on the free account and is only $10/month, or $120/year. With only 2 free downloads, using this program would only be worth it for those seriously considering upgrading to the pro account. For those looking for more information on using Piktochart, I found the following video to be quite helpful: Piktochart Tutorial: A Simple Guide to Piktochart for Beginners: https://youtu.be/y9jwFZ5heok?si=DNgEObilhz9eoKjt 

Infogr.am (https://infogram.com/) 

“Create engaging infographics and reports in minutes”

I found Infogram to be the best of the three options for data visualization, with easily customizable charts and graphs. There were even more options for customizing your charts than on Canva. There is also easy integration of maps and media, which is a unique feature. There are also some great elements options that would help you design what you have in mind, such as galleries with many different arrangements for displaying photos in interesting ways and many different diagram options. One small feature that I found incredibly helpful and not included on any other site was the ability to adjust the length of the infographic. It can be hard to make your data fit exactly on the same length as a template when making it your own, so this is extremely useful. I did eventually run into some stopping points due to having the free account. The Basic account is “free forever” but only includes up to 10 projects. The Pro plan is the most expensive of the four sites I looked at, costing $19/month annually, or $228/year. Even then there is a 100 project limit. I tried using a size comparison chart (something I wanted to use to display my information and could only find on Infogram and Canva) but was unable to choose a third image without upgrading to premium. There is also an infogram logo at the bottom of the infographic that cannot be removed without upgrading. The project is public on the web by default and can only be kept private by upgrading, so there would likely be privacy issues preventing classes from using this program. However, I still found Infogram the best of the three programs and used it to create my infographic on teens social media use. I was disappointed upon the completion of my project to learn that while Infogram advertises 10 free projects, you must upgrade to download your project and can only share your project via a link. I zoomed in as close as possible to take a screenshot of my infographic as well, but it’s not up to the quality that a download would be. This program would probably be best used by businesses that can afford to upgrade to the even more expensive business plan. For those looking for more information on using Infogram, I found the following video to be quite helpful: Getting started with Infogram: https://youtu.be/Wgg0My-rZnc 

Canva (https://www.canva.com/) 

“What will you design today?”

Though not officially part of this evaluation, since I have mentioned comparisons to Canva as I evaluated the other infographic creating sites, it felt only fair to provide a little information on this program as well. The free plan for Canva far surpasses the other free plans in what it allows users to do. There is no limit on projects, just a limit on templates and features. Even so, there is an extensive amount of templates and features that are available for free, especially compared to the others. You can also pay to use individual Pro graphics on free documents, which is more economical for those who use it occasionally rather than paying to upgrade. However at $10/month, or $120/year, the pro plan is a more affordable option than most. It is also free for teachers and K-12 students once verified. Even the free account allows downloads in any format as well as sharing links. The templates look very professional and less specific to a particular use, making it easier to imagine your own repurposing. You can also filter a search be style, theme, feature, price, and even color. After clicking on a design, it shows “More like this” which can be beneficial in finding the best setup for your document. There are many kinds of documents that can be created here as well. Canva has many types of graphs and charts and even has an option to help choose a graph type. It asks what kind of information you want your graph to show, then gives options based off what you want to show, with an explanation of each kind, along with a variety of templates for each. There are also sections of the website specifically laid out for the needs of business and education. If you have not tried Canva yet I would highly recommend it!

Sources:

Canva. Retrieved from https://www.canva.com/

 

Easel.ly. Retrieved from https://easel.ly/

 

Infogr.am. Retrieved from https://infogram.com/

 

Piktochart. Retrieved from https://piktochart.com/

Vogels, E. A., & Gelles-Watnick, R. (2023, April 24). Teens and social media: Key findings from Pew Research Center Surveys. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/04/24/teens-and-social-media-key-findings-from-pew-research-center-surveys/