How To Create An Infographic In PowerPoint [+Free Templates]

As a former digital journalist and present content material creator for HubSpot, I have been designing graphics for years, together with breaking information graphics, humorous memes, and, most significantly — infographics.

Although I desire to design graphics in Canva, I’ll present you how one can create an infographic in PowerPoint since it is a presentation program that almost all entrepreneurs are conversant in. 

Even higher, I will throw in some useful suggestions and offer you examples of various varieties you may work with utilizing our 15 fabulous infographic templates without spending a dime inside PowerPoint.

Use Circumstances for PowerPoint Infographics

PowerPoint infographics are a robust instrument to current data-heavy info in an accessible, digestible format — irrespective of in the event you plan to disseminate the infographic digitally or in particular person.

It’s also possible to merely use PowerPoint as an infographic maker if it’s your most popular design software program.

Listed here are a few of the methods I like to make use of PowerPoint infographics:

1. Presenting a Case Examine

I briefly needed to write case research at earlier jobs, and let me inform you — they’re the bane of my existence.

Writing an attractive, readable case examine is much from straightforward, so I counsel making a PowerPoint infographic showcasing the key facts of your case study.

You possibly can embrace essential info similar to the issue your buyer skilled, the answer you served, and the end result.

You possibly can embrace aesthetically pleasing graphics and dynamic typography — one thing you might not be capable of embrace in a standard, one-page case examine.

2. Presenting Analysis

Since I write for HubSpot’s Advertising Weblog, I oftne current knowledge, traits, and analysis in my content material.

In case you’re in the identical boat, you may be comfortable to know you need to use all the information visualization choices PowerPoint presents to current your knowledge in a digestible means.

For the reason that infographic will probably be bigger than a typical slide, you could be as descriptive as you need. Nonetheless, in the event you’d wish to reuse the identical info, you solely want to repeat it into a brand new presentation.

3. Presenting a Pitch

You need to use PowerPoint infographics to current a pitch to stakeholders or potential consumers.

On this case, your infographics can embrace knowledge factors, testimonials, anticipated outcomes, and even descriptions of the prospect’s downside to emphasise the significance of buying your answer.

Photos and graphics could be more practical than simply phrases, and because you’re in PowerPoint, you may create an infographic of any dimension, together with the horizontal 16:9 dimensions.

4. Presenting a Multi-Step Course of

Whether or not you’re onboarding a brand new staff or informing stakeholders on a brand new course of, a PowerPoint infographic is an efficient medium to speak your message.

PowerPoint comes full of loads of “course of” graphics, similar to text-filled arrows, cascading charts, and grids.

5. Presenting an Announcement

An advanced firm announcement — with many shifting components or elements — deserves an infographic to make it simpler for stakeholders to learn and perceive.

You possibly can create one proper in your PowerPoint presentation and embrace all pertinent info in a single handy slide.

Alternatively, you need to use PowerPoint as a design instrument and easily obtain your infographic for simple saving and sharing.

Okay, now you already know the completely different makes use of for PowerPoint infographics — time for me to point out you what you are right here for.

For higher comprehension, I’ll stroll you thru how one can make a easy timeline infographic in PowerPoint.

1. Within the Design tab, alter the Slide Measurement to greatest suit your infographic.

To start making an infographic from scratch, you need to readjust the dimensions of the PowerPoint Slide to offer you extra space to work with.

Start by opening a brand new PowerPoint. Within the high navigation bar, click on on Design and choose Slide Measurement.

Then within the drop-down menu, choose both one of many predetermined sizes or click on Web page Setup.

Enter your most popular width and top dimensions and click on OK.

2. Choose SmartArt from the PowerPoint navigation bar.

To make a timeline graphic in PowerPoint, appropriate for any infographic, open PowerPoint and click on Insert from the highest navigation bar.

Then, choose the SmartArt icon beneath the navigation bar, the place you may discover a number of classes of graphics to select from.

3. Discover a graphic that matches your knowledge from the Course of or Image menu.

There are two classes of graphics that make efficient timelines. The primary is the Course of class. Click on this feature to broaden the graphics menu proven under.

Creating Graphics for Timelines

In case you’re working to create a timeline infographic, we have highlighted in crimson a number of of essentially the most becoming timeline-related graphics.

Other than the Course of menu of graphics, you may additionally discover a viable timeline graphic within the Image class.

Choose this class, and you will find the Alternating Image Circles possibility close to the middle of the graphics menu. We have highlighted it in crimson under.

4. Add or take away knowledge factors, time stamps, or different key info.

For the sake of those directions, we’ll use the Alternating Image Circles graphic from the Image menu.

As soon as you’ve got inserted this graphic into your first PowerPoint slide, you may add or take away round icons to match the sorts of knowledge and inputs you’re presenting.

5. Insert your knowledge into the graphic.

At this level, the dimensions of your timeline graphic ought to match the quantity of knowledge you’ve.

Start to fill your timeline with the knowledge you propose to report on utilizing this timeline and discover PowerPoint’s wonderful drag-and-drop options to assist organize graphics as vital.

6. Edit the textual content and imagery of your SmartArt graphic.

As with the opposite graphics accessible in PowerPoint’s SmartArt, you may edit the textual content and the pictures related together with your timeline to your liking.

As you may see under, we have edited the years and the pictures to higher characterize what occurred at every cut-off date.

To insert photographs into your timeline graphic, right-click the sq. panorama icon, choose a graphic From File, and add a picture out of your pc onto your PowerPoint slide.

To inform your story, you may replace the time intervals within the middle circles, exchange the placeholder textual content, and alter the visuals and colours to your liking.

For these latter changes, you may select Insert > Form in PowerPoint so as to add completely different visuals and use the paint bucket (a.ok.a. Colour Fill) icon to vary the colours of various components.

You possibly can select to create the infographic of your liking, including background colours, extra imagery, or different visible components as you please, however for the sake of guiding you thru the fundamental method to create your individual infographic, the instance stops right here.

However in the event you’re in search of one thing extra handy, you may obtain a few of our infographic templates that open immediately in PowerPoint so you may get to creating sooner.

PowerPoint Infographic Ideas

1. Preserve your infographics easy.

I am a really wordy particular person generally. I are likely to overexplain in common dialog, and generally I’ve to remind myself to not use so many pointless phrases to clarify easy ideas in my writing.  

So, naturally, my infographics had been muddled with an excessive amount of info, images, and lengthy sentences after I first began making them early into my profession. Ultimately, I discovered the worth of Okay.I.S.S. (Preserve It Easy Sweetheart).

When designing your infographics, maintain sentences brief and solely embrace essentially the most essential info. Imagery is useful, however do not go overboard. Ask your self does this picture or icon assist illustrate your level, or is it simply distracting?

2. Use complementary colours.

Use a shade scheme that includes greater than 3-4 colours that complement one another. Even higher, persist with your model’s colours so your infographic suits together with your group’s aesthetic. 

Keep away from too many colours or ones that conflict. In any other case, your infographic will look too busy and can distract away from the knowledge you are making an attempt to convey. 

3. Jazz it up with icons, borders, and fonts. 

I do know I mentioned to maintain it easy, and it is best to, however that does not imply you may’t have somewhat enjoyable with icons, borders, and fonts.

You continue to need your picture to face out, so take into account incorporating these components (sparingly) to go away a long-lasting impression in your viewers. 

4. Emphasize numbers. 

In case you’re presenting quantitative knowledge, use your shade scheme to emphasise essential numbers. Use the boldest and/or brightest colours to attract viewers’ eyes to the numbers.

You might also need to use shapes like circles or squares to additional spotlight the knowledge.

PowerPoint Infographic Examples

1. Information-Centric Infographic Instance

We have loaded this template with quite a lot of completely different charts and graphs, which you’ll be able to simply replace with your individual knowledge. (Excellent-click on a graph, select Edit Information, and you’ll customise the values in an Excel spreadsheet.)

What to Add to a Information-Centric Infographic

• Column chart: Use for evaluating completely different classes or for exhibiting adjustments over time (from left to proper).
• Pie chart: Use for making part-to-whole comparisons. (Observe: They work greatest with small knowledge units.)
• Line graph: Use for exhibiting knowledge that adjustments constantly over time. Superb for displaying volatility, traits, acceleration, or deceleration.
• Doughnut chart: Use a pie chart. This stylistic variation lets you put a quantity, graphic, or different visible within the middle of the chart.
• Bar chart: Use a column chart. (The horizontal bars make it simpler to show lengthy class names.)

What I Like: I like this infographic as a result of whereas it is highlighting quite a lot of qualitative knowledge, every little thing ties completely collectively due to its shade scheme. Each graph makes use of the identical colours, maintaining the infographic from showing clunky or busy.

When to Use: I strongly counsel utilizing an infographic just like the one above when you could current a hefty quantity of essential knowledge as a part of a cohesive, visible narrative. 

2. Timeline Infographic

Telling the historical past of a specific business, product, model, development, or tactic could be a nice subject for an infographic.

And whereas there are a number of various methods that you could visualize time — together with in a circle, which is what we did with our Google algorithm updates infographic — the timeline is by far the commonest and best design methodology to make use of.

Timeline Infographic Finest Practices

• Analysis. Analysis. Analysis: One of the best timeline infographics aren’t simply superbly designed — in addition they inform an incredible story based mostly on intensive analysis. So earlier than you begin the design section of your infographic, put within the time to floor the perfect info doable.
• Slim the scope: Timelines that cowl a whole bunch or hundreds of years can definitely be attention-grabbing, however they’ll additionally require weeks or months of analysis. To maintain your sanity, stick to shorter time intervals.
• Preserve your copy concise: Infographics are speculated to be visible. If you end up writing 100+ phrases for every date in your timeline, a weblog submit often is the higher content material format.

When to Use: In case you’re trying to clarify the historical past of a subject or predictions for the long run, a timeline infographic could be a nice illustrative instrument 

3. Fashionable Design Infographic

For this infographic template, we needed to do one thing that mirrored trendy design traits. When it comes to content material, we supplied loads of house for each stats and replica. There’s additionally room for a column chart.

However bear in mind, you may all the time add completely different charts and graphs to the template wherever you see match. Simply choose Insert > Chart, and you will have a number of choices to select from.

Fashionable Design Infographic Finest Practices

Experiment with new shade palettes. There are tons of free shade palettes on-line. Do not imagine me? Do a Google picture seek for “Colour Palette.” If you discover a palette you want, drag the picture immediately into your PowerPoint presentation.

Subsequent, choose the Colour Fill bucket, select Extra Colours, and click on on the eyedropper icon. With the eyedropper instrument, you may choose colours out of your palette and use them for components in your infographic.

Take the time to govern shapes. PowerPoint has an in depth library of shapes — together with banners, ribbons, and arrows — that you need to use in your infographic design.

By clicking and dragging on the little yellow diamonds that seem on these shapes, you may customise them. For instance, you can also make the sharp ends of a ribbon longer or shorter, or make the physique of an arrow thinner or thicker.

What I like: This contemporary design is modern, straightforward to observe, and leads your eyes completely alongside the picture to digest the knowledge. 

When to Use: In case your infographic is an equal mixture of quantitative knowledge and textual content, this contemporary design may also help you show each sorts of info seamlessly. 

4. Flowchart Infographic

On the floor, a flowchart infographic might seem easy and enjoyable. However I guarantee you, quite a lot of thought and planning wants to enter guaranteeing the completely different sections logically move into one another.

In our flowchart PowerPoint template, we created a primary flowchart construction, with constructive responses guiding viewers to a conclusion on the backside left of the infographic. 

There are additionally unfavorable responses guiding viewers to a separate conclusion on the backside proper of the infographic.

Flowchart Infographic Finest Practices

• Draw out the branches beforehand. Earlier than you dive into PowerPoint, get out a pen and paper and do a tough define of your flowchart. Check for weaknesses in your logic by answering questions in each doable mixture and seeing the place you find yourself.

For greatest outcomes, have a pal or coworker run via the flowchart, too.

• The smaller the scope, the better the execution. The extra questions or phases you add to your flowchart, the tougher it will likely be to create (and the tougher it’s going to possible be for viewers to know). So attempt to slender the main target of your flowchart.

What I Like: Colours and shapes are strategically used to distinguish between constructive and unfavorable conclusions of the move chart. Discover the inexperienced circles used for “Sure,” crimson circles used for “No,” and crimson bins for “Please attempt tougher.”

When to Use: I counsel utilizing flowcharts to map out completely different outcomes and conclusions to your viewers to assist them observe/perceive processes and workflows.

5. Facet-By-Facet Comparability Infographic

We all know generally you want an infographic to exhibit a comparability. That’s why we created the side-by-side comparability infographic template to make it straightforward so that you can evaluate and distinction two various things.

Facet-By-Facet Comparability Infographic Finest Practices

• Use applicable knowledge. It is best to make use of knowledge that may simply be described in a chart. Use pie charts, graphs, or different knowledge factors to obviously and pretty evaluate and distinction.
• Use borders. Including borders to your photographs will assist make them really feel like their a part of a cohesive design. In PowerPoint, you may management the dimensions, model, and shade of borders beneath the Format Image tab.
• Save your infographic as a PNG file. It is a greatest follow for all infographics however is especially related when publishing an infographic that incorporates pictures. The PNG extension presents higher high quality than different choices. To save lots of your completed infographic as a PNG file, you merely want to decide on File > Save As … and choose PNG from the dropdown.

Able to create your individual side-by-side comparability infographic? Obtain 15 free infographic PowerPoint templates to get began.

What I Like: Each side of the infographic use complementing colours and make it much more interesting by inverting the colour scheme in each sections.

When to Use: This infographic template is nice for evaluating completely different classes, concepts, or outcomes, and because you don‘t must create or customise quite a lot of shapes, it’s so much much less work.

Make an Eye-Catching Infographic As we speak

The probabilities are infinite if you uncover how one can begin creating infographics. You’ll be capable of broaden your expertise as a marketer and create extra elaborate content material that your viewers will probably be intrigued by and interact with.

We hope you discovered this text helpful and that you simply’ll take the initiative to construct your individual infographics in PowerPoint.

Editor’s be aware: This text was initially printed in October 2020 and has been up to date for comprehensiveness.