After reading Sneh Roy’s article, “The Anatomy Of An Infographic: 5 Steps To Create A Powerful Visual,” (by the way, notice how the title has All caps)…..I was inspired to create something grand. I’ve tried before, believe me! However, I feel like I lack the creativity needed to get my points across the best way. I have created “samples” for my students to work from and I always mention how their final products will be MUCH better than mine. 95% of the time, they absolutely are.
I liked what was presented in the Thing 18 and I am going to borrow it for my lessons, ok?
Creating an infographic pulls together many skills:
- Defining an issue & deciding what questions to ask.
- Finding reliable information and data.
- Analyzing data to test arguments.
- Creating a story line for presenting the information.
- Considering the audience and what they need/want to know.
- Making choices about colors, design, and layout.
Anyway, using the 5 steps:
- Skeleton and Flowcharts: start with lots and narrow it down
- Devising a Color Scheme: colors should go with the topic
- Graphics: for each item, a visual should be presented
- Research and Data: getting the facts straight
- Knowledge: I would add any actions in here that can be taken
I put together the following infographic as a sample for students doing a disease project for 7th grade health. We have always had the students do posters using Lucidpress. This time we decided to include the 5 steps above specifically while teaching what the infographic could look like and discussed/reviewed/created each step daily using a variety of examples.
I decided to use Canva because I logged in easily using Google. However, I am not a huge fan of Canva. I find it difficult to navigate at times. I also didn’t find many images within Canva that I could use for my infographic. I found myself going to Google and using the Tools:Usage Rights: Labeled for Reuse and then still not finding quite what I was looking for. It was extremely time consuming. I ended up using only one image. I also didn’t like that I couldn’t share the link the way I would have like……
The following were some of the apps/tools I perused in deciding which was best:
Skitch, Piktochart, Easel.ly, Infogr.am, Venngage, Canva, Visme, Google Chart Tools,
I think I really like Piktochart and Easel.ly best. I will explore them further.
The following was a fantastic site and I put it here so it is easily accessible. From the http://sdst.libguides.com/newtools/infographicslesson
Tips for infographic creation:
Find a topic rich for investigation.
Research! Read background information. Locate and analyze relevant data.
Search to see how others have represented similar data.
Plan the most important elements/assets. Sketch out your “story.”
Decide how best to visualize the meaning of those elements.
Develop a thesis/argument.
Keep it simple! Keep it clear!
Carefully select a color scheme.
Carefully select your font.
Make sure your conclusion is evident.
Reference your sources.
Post your image and list the URL so others may find and use it.
Cool Tools - Van Wyck JHS Library 
Borrow anything from Cool Tools that you like! All is CC licensed. I may borrow your 5 steps. 🙂 Looks like you’re ready to roll with getting your student projects.
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