by Adam Noar

In case you didn’t know, people love infographics!

The data proves it. In the past five years, internet searches for “infographics” have increased 25X!

People also like to share them because they’re interesting to look at. However, most people don’t understand that infographics are not just for the web.

Infographics can be used in your PowerPoint presentations too.

Actually, let me rephrase that. Infographics SHOULD be used in your PowerPoint presentations too!

If you are seeking to master the art of creating visually stunning PowerPoint presentations you NEED to start paying attention to infographics.

What Is An Infographic?

Put simply, an infographic is DATA broken down into CREATIVE VISUALS (as seen in the image below).

Infographics are designed to help your audience process complex or extensive information.

In case you are not aware, 65% of people on this planet are VISUAL learners. It is also said that humans process visual information 60,000 faster than that of text.

That’s why most audiences HATE when presenters include lots of text or long bullet lists on slides. It simply puts too much effort on behalf of the audience to have to read and then break down your message.

On the other hand, infographic type designs remove the work load from the audience because they are easy to digest.

Not convinced yet?

In this post I’m going to share 6 reasons why you need to start designing your PowerPoint presentations to look more like infographics.

Let’s get started.

1) Infographics Are Visual

Infographics are visual presentations of data or information.

You can think of them as the “picture book” of data and information.

They keep people interested because it tells them a story using visual elements.

It also provides them with information that can be absorbed FAST (as seen the example below).

Your audience DOES CARE about numbers and statistics to back the information you are presenting, BUT they want it to be visually appealing and not text based.

2) Short Attention Spans

We are now living in the distraction economy.

This is a time where the average person checks their phone 150 times a day, and can’t read sentences longer than 140 characters.

With our “hustle and bustle” lifestyles, people have developed VERY SHORT attention spans.

This is also clearly seen by the fact that most people will decide to leave a website or continue exploring it in the first 2-4 seconds of seeing the page.

The same thing happens with presentations.

If your presentation design sucks, people will turn their attention to something else (e.g., thinking about what’s for lunch or dinner).

With very little time to convince people to stick around, infographics are a more effective way to capture your audience’s attention and keep them glued to your slides.

Note: The point of an infographic is to take complex information and make it easier to take in through graphical reinforcement. Your goal then is to create something that can be consumed as quickly as possible. Not every little scrap of information needs to be communicated in an instant, but the overall gist of the data should at least be perceivable in under a few seconds. If you don’t keep your eye closely on this goal, you can easily miss the mark

3) Information Overload

Did you know that the worlds information is currently doubling every two years?

At this rate, no wonder people experience information overload.

With smartphones, tablets and the ubiquity of the internet, people are constantly receiving, analyzing, sharing and creating new information.

Due to this overload you need to STAND OUT to get people’s attention with your presentations.

Creating a compelling illustration of data or information can make you really stick out from all the other BORING presentations you have seen a million times before.

Note: Infographic designs can be overwhelming too if they are not created the right way. When incorporating infographics into your presentations it’s important that you break them into digestible chunks. Showing a complex illustration all at once can be overwhelming for your audience.

4) Infographics Are Easy To Understand

As mentioned earlier, people are very visual in nature. Our ability to quickly interpret visual information is far greater than that of written words. By creating visualizations you can make complex information easier to understand.

Check out the slide below. Did you notice how quickly you were able to understand what 3,000 calories looks like?

5) Reading Retention

Did you know that people only remember about 20% of what they read?

When it comes to recalling information, researchers have known for more than 100 years that pictures and text follow very different rules.

Put simply, the more visual the input becomes, the more likely it is to be recognized—and recalled.

Research shows that people could remember more than 2,500 pictures with at least 90% accuracy several days post-exposure (even though subjects only saw each picture for about 10 seconds!).

Using infographic designs (i.e., graphical images) in your presentations will make it easy for people to recall the key points on each slide.

6) More Engaging

With such a large volume of people giving boring presentations, most audiences come into meetings with low expectations. By creating something that is visually compelling, people are more likely to be engaged.

When I first started out with designing presentations I quickly realized a golden rule with design: “Your first design idea is probably you’re most generic.”

This is especially true when you’re new to designing slides.

If you’re untrained at presentation design, and you’re trying to present data, often the first thing that pops into your head is that tired old bar graph or pie chart you presented a million times before. Sure, both of those charts can be a useful tools that improves data visualization, but they’re also a bit generic and boring from a design perspective.

By studying infographic designs you can learn how to put your own unique spin presenting data which your audience will greatly appreciate.

Where To Learn More About Infographics

Are you excited about infographics and need some good sources to learn more about them?

Check out the links below for more awesome design examples.

Visual.ly
Cool Infographics
Daily Infographic – (My personal favorite. You can sign up for their newsletter and get a fresh infographic delivered to your inbox every single day.)

Conclusion

When your presentation stands out, you become memorable.

In order to make your presentation stand out you need to practice the art of infographics due to the reasons mentioned in this post.

Infographics are easy to digest, engaging, and allow you to get your point across quickly. So next time your dealing with a text or bullet filled presentation, focus on making it look more like an infographic.

It will take a bit of practice, but your audience will thank you for it.

Here’s my question for you …

After reading this article, do you think you will try incorporating more infographic type designs into your PowerPoint presentations? Let me know what you think below and please try to be specific as possible.

Also, do you have a friend that could benefit from learning about these presentation tips? If so, email them the link to this post now.

Thanks for sharing and be sure to post this article on Twitter of Facebook as well (using the sharing buttons to the left).