What are infographics?

Jaxi and Jeff are right on. Totally a buzz word for a consolidated, data-driven, aesthetically exciting (and hopefully interesting!) piece of content. Check out Focus' infographics here:

http://www.focus.com/fyi/

...and stay tuned for more to come!

Don't feel threatened. When I first heard this word I felt like I had missed a week of business online. But after my breif looking into - I realized it's just a power buzz word some like to throw around to make themselves feel important.

An infographic is just a graph/chart that represents information. Surprise - the same thing a graph or chart has done since the creation of graphs and charts! :) See it's just a new 'business word' that really has no new meaning.

It's catchier and sexier than saying: can someone please create a chart on powerpoint or excel. More people are using them now to show trends in their ambitions missions - including projections vs a chart showing just current statistics though - so perhaps some are using them for more reasons than one. (awareness campaigns like Let's Move! have used them)

This is what I have concluded it to be after spending about 45 minutes looking into this word. So there could be more that I didn't spend the time to go in depth on though. But for now, until maybe others inform differnently on here, I wouldn't give this word a second thought.

After providing that answer to you, I figured I'd try to give you a more concrete one before everyone naysays my previous post :) After googling this:

"Information graphics or infographics are graphic visual representations of information, data or knowledge. These graphics present complex information ..."
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_graphics -

So they are probably more supportive of very complex info than just a simple chart or graph would normally be. Also, they inspire creative/visual thinking and data visualization: coolinfographics.com

But really, in essence it is a lot of the same of what I previously posted. It is still a graph that provides info. :) Just as the world is moving into/utilizing "back of the napkin" drawings for presentations and explainations to make large volumes of and complex information more retainable and fun to learn, infographics are part of the expansion of getting that information across.

That's the best I can do to help you as a quick insight so you at least know more for tomorrow with some references to learn more about them :)

Infographics is a visually appealing means to represent several sets of data in a new and useful way. Typically they include graphic art, digital layers, images, charts and/or graphs to depict an otherwise heuristic topic into actionable intelligence. In essence if a graphic designer and a data analyst gave birth to a one page illustration it would capture the best of their elemental design and computational linguistics.

While it may be "buzz-worthy" this is an evolution and not a re-branding of a report with pretty pictures. It is a divergence from a standard size, shape and neutral voice which typically represents digital media in that this is a non-traditional form of marketing where others could look to this graphical-aesthetic-approach as a powerful and useful means to generate content by fusing a business message tightly wrapped with statistical and graphical extensions to provide impeccable context.

To me, that is what it is about - putting context into content through novel design which incorporates multiple strong data points.

Hope it is ok to share my favorite, this is not on Focus.com however:

http://static.colourlovers.com.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/images/top-web-brand-...

Brent, I saw that one the other day. And it is one of my favorites as well.

Me too Brent/Brian :) I passed it onto my web/logo designers too. Brian, your list was great - thanks for providing so many!

An infographic is a highly simplified depiction of a complex subject using graphics.

Marketo has great list of Infographics in B2B http://blog.marketo.com/blog/2010/06/5-b2b-marketing-infographics-you-cant-go...

Jeff Ogden, the Fearless Competitor
Find New Customers "Lead Generation Made Simple"
http://www.findnewcustomers.com

"What is" an infographic has been answered very well by Jaxi et al, so I won't weigh in there. What I will touch on is why infographics are so popular right now. My sense is that infographics are popular for many of the same reasons that Twitter is such a popular community and "lists" are the most popular class of blog posts. That is: We are all so overwhelmed with landslide of information we need to process that we gravitate toward content that can be consumed in a blink. That's why people love infographics -- the good ones explain something very complex in a single visual. Here's one I created with a remarkable design company, JESS3, on behalf of Eloqua: http://www.slideshare.net/Eloqua/the-content-grid-4476668

Joe Chernov
Director of Content
Eloqua
@jchernov