Infographics and Virality

I’ve written a lot about infographics, virality and how the two are entwined.  I thought I would share some of that here.

Back in July I gave a talk on how to make your infographics viral.  It mainly focused on some broad but essential practices but I also dived into the criticism of infographics and how to talk about them to critics.  I made a few attempts a humor as well.

The slides from the talk are here, but they surely won’t make sense without the video.

And if you are up for some reading I wrote a three parter on the key aspects of successful infographic.

The Story

What’s the angle, is there an angle, and how to find it if you don’t have one.  There is always an angle to find if you are willing to take some risks.

The Data

What is data, where to find it, and what to do with it.  Many infographics are chastised for the lack of data, which is fine in a certain context.  But an article can be data, stories are data, not just numbers.  Focus less on the raw data and more on what you can communicate with it.

The Design

The most immediate and visceral element of infographics.  Mind your audience and design just for them.  If the data are your words, the design is how you say it, and anyone whose communicated on the net knows how easy it is to lose the tone with just words.  Design is tone.

Finally, if you send outbound email to publishers and bloggers with infographics, you need to read this one as well.