newsonaut

Turning inner space into outer space

October 27, 2012

Easy infographics for time-strapped newsrooms

Looking at some of the infographics being published these days, I can’t help but wonder where they find the time and talent to create them.

First, they contain a lot of information. That all has to be gathered and sorted. Someone has to pick what is used and write it up in a way suitable for a graphic presentation. Second, they contain a lot of art. Someone has to have the creativity to present the information visually.

When you work for a small publication, it all seems like an impossible task. Unless you use infogr.am.

I’ve checked out a lot of the web-based programs available for creating infographics, but I keep coming back to infogr.am because of its ease of use and great graphics.

Census data came out recently on languages spoken in Canada. The numbers were available for both here in Kamloops and for all of the country. I was easily able to pick out a nice template, plug in the figures and have a beautiful interactive chart comparing languages spoken here and in the nation as a whole. I estimate it took between 30 and 45 minutes.

Like anything else, you’ll have to spend time getting used to how infragr.am works, but it’s well worth the effort. Best of all, a bunch of new templates have been added recently, so you don’t have to worry about boring your readers with the same old graphics every time.