As a former digital journalist and now a content material creator at HubSpot, I’ve designed all the pieces from breaking information graphics to viral memes — however infographics are the place actual affect occurs.
Whether or not it is a advertising and marketing funnel breakdown or a buyer journey map, an important infographic makes complicated concepts easy and shareable.
Truthfully, I want Canva for fast design, however on this information, I’ll stroll you thru create an infographic in PowerPoint. I’ve been utilizing it since my faculty days and know all these little hacks to make it look good, move easily, and, after all — stick in folks’s minds.
Even higher, I am going to throw in some useful suggestions and offer you examples of various sorts you’ll be able to work with utilizing our 15 fabulous infographic templates free of charge inside PowerPoint.
Desk of Contents
Advertising Use Circumstances for PowerPoint Infographics
PowerPoint infographics are a strong instrument to current data-heavy data in an accessible, digestible format — regardless of for those who plan to disseminate the infographic digitally or in particular person.
You may as well merely use PowerPoint as an infographic maker if it’s your preferred design software.
Here are some of the ways I like to use PowerPoint infographics:
1. Presenting a Case Study
I briefly had to write case studies at previous jobs, and let me tell you — they are the bane of my existence.
Writing a beautiful, readable case study is far from easy, so I suggest creating a PowerPoint infographic showcasing the key facts of your case study.
You can include crucial information such as the problem your customer experienced, the solution you served, and the outcome.
You can include aesthetically pleasing graphics and dynamic typography — something you may not be able to include in a traditional, one-page case study.
2. Presenting Research
Since I write for HubSpot’s Marketing Blog, I often present data, trends, and research in my content.
If you‘re in the same boat, you’ll be happy to know you can use all the data visualization options PowerPoint offers to present your data in a digestible way.
Since the infographic will be larger than a typical slide, you can be as descriptive as you want. However, if you’d like to reuse the same information, you only need to copy it into a new presentation.
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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 information factors, testimonials, anticipated outcomes, and even descriptions of the prospect’s drawback to emphasise the significance of buying your answer.
Photographs and graphics will be more practical than simply phrases, and because you’re in PowerPoint, you’ll be able to create an infographic of any dimension, together with the horizontal 16:9 dimensions.
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4. Presenting a Multi-Step Course of
Whether or not you’re onboarding a brand new workforce or informing stakeholders on a brand new course of, a PowerPoint infographic is an efficient medium to speak your message.
PowerPoint comes filled with loads of “course of” graphics, similar to text-filled arrows, cascading charts, and grids.
5. Presenting an Announcement
An advanced firm announcement — with many transferring elements 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 data in a single handy slide.
Alternatively, you should utilize PowerPoint as a design instrument and easily obtain your infographic for straightforward saving and sharing.
Do you know you’ll be able to add your PowerPoint shows to HubSpot?
Simply head to Library > Recordsdata, click on Add recordsdata, and choose your PowerPoint out of your laptop – or just drag and drop it in. As soon as uploaded, you can add it as a downloadable link in emails, touchdown pages, or weblog posts.
Understand that recordsdata are public by default, so if wanted, you’ll be able to regulate the visibility settings in HubSpot.
Tips on how to Create an Infographic in PowerPoint
- Within the Design Tab, regulate the Slide Measurement to greatest suit your infographic.
- Choose SmartArt from the PowerPoint navigation bar.
- Discover a graphic that matches your information from the Course of menu.
- Add or take away information factors, time stamps, or different key data.
- Insert your information into the graphic.
- Edit the textual content and imagery of your SmartArt graphic.
- Regulate the colour scheme to match your story.
- Use numbering to enhance visible move.
- Add ending touches and polish the structure.
Okay, now you realize the totally 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 make a easy timeline infographic in PowerPoint.
1. Within the Design tab, regulate the Slide Measurement to greatest suit your infographic.
To start making an infographic from scratch, you must readjust the scale of the PowerPoint Slide to offer you extra space to work with.
Start by opening a brand new PowerPoint. Within the prime 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 peak 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 information.
When you click on on SmartArt, you may discover the choices from lists to footage. I picked the Matrix one for my wants:
4. Add or take away information factors, time stamps, or different key data.
As soon as you’ve got inserted this graphic into your first PowerPoint slide, you’ll be able to add or take away icons to match the kinds of information and inputs you’re presenting.
5. Insert your information into the graphic.
At this level, the scale of your graphic ought to match the quantity of knowledge you have got.
Start to fill your graph with the data you propose to report and discover PowerPoint’s wonderful drag-and-drop options to assist organize graphics as needed.
6. Edit the textual content and imagery of your SmartArt graphic.
As with the opposite graphics out there in PowerPoint’s SmartArt, you’ll be able to edit the textual content and the pictures related together with your timeline to your liking.
I’ve added 4 phrases to signify every a part of the SWOT evaluation.
To insert photographs into my Matrix graphic, I right-clicked the sq. panorama icon and chosen “Format Form.”
Then I selected “Format Image” → “Image or texture fill” and uploaded one picture to every of the rounded squares.
Right here’s the way it seemed as soon as I uploaded all of them and highlighted the textual content.
To point out you what you are able to do additional, I made a decision to create one other slide. I made up a model referred to as Inexperienced Fairy for this objective, pretending I wished to focus on its strengths for SWOT evaluation.
HubSpot’s SWOT Analysis Template helps you assess strengths, weaknesses, alternatives, and threats — plus, it features a step-by-step information, a real-world instance, and a customizable worksheet to show insights into motion.
Get it now to avoid wasting time on designing.
7. Regulate the colour scheme to match your story.
I went to SmartArt once more, however this time, I selected the Vertical Curved Checklist.
For the reason that unique had solely three fields, and I wanted two extra, I added them by right-clicking → Add Form → Add Form After.
Then I added textual content to every field, so it initially seemed like this:
Truthfully, I didn’t prefer it. One thing felt off. So, I right-clicked, went to Format Form → Fill, and switched it to inexperienced.
8. Use numbering to enhance visible move.
At this level, I wished so as to add numbers to the circles, so I went to Insert → WordArt and picked a method I preferred.
Now, it was trying higher, however I didn’t just like the blue colour of the curved strains and circles, so I made a decision to vary them to match the remainder. I chosen the thing, right-clicked → Format Form → Line, and picked a brand new colour.
9. Add ending touches and polish the structure.
It was nearly excellent, however I nonetheless wished to fine-tune it as a result of the left aspect felt empty and disconnected. I examined how it might look with some textual content there.
I went with WordArt once more, picked a font I preferred, and added the phrase “Strengths” on the left to tie all the pieces collectively.
Mainly, you’ll be able to design your infographic nonetheless you need – including background colours, extra visuals, or different parts to make it stand out. This was only a primary instance, however there are lots of methods to refine it and make it look even higher, extra interactive, and extra catchy.
If these “design” issues aren’t your cup of tea, you’ll be able to download our infographic templates that open straight in PowerPoint so you can begin creating quicker and simpler.
PowerPoint Infographic Ideas
1. Hold your infographics easy.
I am a really wordy particular person typically. I are inclined to overexplain in common dialog, and typically, I’ve to remind myself to not use so many pointless phrases to clarify easy ideas in my writing.
So, naturally, my infographics have been muddled with an excessive amount of data, images, and lengthy sentences after I first began making them early into my profession. Ultimately, I realized the worth of Ok.I.S.S. (Hold It Easy Sweetheart).
When designing your infographics, maintain sentences quick and solely embrace probably the most essential data. Imagery is useful, however do not go overboard. Ask your self if this picture or icon helps illustrate your level or whether it is simply distracting.
2. Use complementary colours.
Use a colour scheme that includes greater than 3-4 colours that complement one another. Even higher, stick with your model‘s colours so your infographic matches 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 data you are making an attempt to convey.
3. Jazz it up with icons, borders, and fonts.
I do know I stated to maintain it easy, and it is best to, however that doesn‘t imply you’ll be able to’t have slightly enjoyable with icons, borders, and fonts.
You continue to need your picture to face out, so contemplate incorporating these parts (sparingly) to depart an enduring impression in your viewers.
See how efficient these strains are on the class slide in District #1’s presentation.
4. Emphasize numbers.
In the event you‘re presenting quantitative information, use your colour scheme to emphasise essential numbers. Use the boldest and/or brightest colours to attract viewers’ eyes to the numbers.
You may additionally need to use shapes like circles or squares to additional spotlight the data.
Are PowerPoint infographics helpful for entrepreneurs?
Completely. A well-designed infographic in PowerPoint could make an enormous distinction in how advertising and marketing information is acquired.
From expertise, visuals assist loads with these three issues:
1. Presenting Outcomes & Pitching
A transparent, data-driven infographic makes funds requests less complicated to grasp – and extra prone to get authorised.
Really, individuals are 30 times more likely to initiate payment when prompted by visuals.
Additionally, when pitching shoppers and sending proposals, a compelling visible story typically wins over lengthy blocks of textual content. DemandSage analysis reveals that people remember 65% of info when paired with a related infographic.
2. Aligning Groups on Technique
Infographics maintain advertising and marketing plans from getting misplaced in translation throughout departments. Talking from expertise – laying out a method with out visuals or a stable presentation is a waste of breath. Folks hear it, nod, and overlook 5 minutes later.
And if we have in mind that our brains course of photographs as much as 60,000 times faster than text, it’s simple to see why infographics are such a strong instrument for communication and higher understanding.
Plus, when the workforce hits a roadblock or blanks on one thing, they will all the time re-open this presentation and shortly discover what they want with out back-and-forth.
3. Inside Coaching & Onboarding
A fast visible information will be more practical than a prolonged doc when coaching new workforce members.
Dr. John Medina says we forget 90% of what we hear after three days. However throw in an image, and all of the sudden, we bear in mind 65%.
Wish to generate much more leads with visuals and different advertising and marketing instruments? Check out HubSpot Marketing Hub — a number one AI-powered advertising and marketing software program and drive income with memorable campaigns.
PowerPoint Infographic Examples
1. Information-Centric Infographic Instance
What to Add to a Data-Centric Infographic
- Column chart: Use for comparing different categories or for showing changes over time (from left to right).
- Pie chart: Use for making part-to-whole comparisons. (Note: They work best with small data sets.)
- Line graph: Use this visualization to show data that changes continuously over time. Ideal for displaying volatility, trends, acceleration, or deceleration.
- Doughnut chart: Use a pie chart. This stylistic variation allows you to put a number, graphic, or other visual in the center of the chart.
- Bar chart: Use a column chart. (The horizontal bars make it easier to display long category names.)
What I like: I love this infographic because while it highlights a lot of qualitative data, everything ties perfectly together thanks to its color scheme. It sticks to just three colors, keeping the infographic clean and uncluttered.
When to use: I strongly suggest using an infographic like the one above when you need to present a hefty amount of crucial data as part of a cohesive, visual narrative.
2. Timeline Infographic
Telling the history of a particular industry, product, brand, trend, or tactic can be a great topic for an infographic.
While there are a variety of different ways that you can visualize time — including in a circle, which is what we did with our Google algorithm updates infographic — the timeline is by far the most common and easiest design method to use.
Timeline Infographic Best Practices
- Research. Research. Research: The best timeline infographics aren’t just beautifully designed — they also tell a great story based on extensive research. So, before you start the design phase of your infographic, put in the time to surface the best information possible.
- Narrow the scope: Timelines that cover hundreds or thousands of years can certainly be interesting, but they can also require weeks or months of research. To keep your sanity, stick with shorter time periods.
- Keep your copy concise: Infographics are supposed to be visual. If you find yourself writing 100+ words for each date on your timeline, a blog post may be the better content format.
Why I like it: Clearly marked spots for text and images make it easy to customize the infographic. Clean lines, a consistent color scheme, and a balanced layout give it a polished, professional look.
When to use: If you’re looking to explain the history of a topic or predictions for the future, a timeline infographic can be a great illustrative tool
3. Modern Design Infographic
Here, we focused more on making the design feel dynamic instead of sticking to strict straight lines.
We didn’t add any charts except for three circles in each section, but there’s plenty of space if you want to add your own. Just go to Insert > Chart and pick the style you like.
Modern Design Infographic Best Practices
- Experiment with new color palettes. There are tons of free color palettes online. Do a Google image search for “Color Palette.” When you find a palette you like, drag the image directly into your PowerPoint presentation.
- Next, select the Color Fill bucket, choose More Colors, and click on the eyedropper icon. With the eyedropper tool, you can select colors from your palette and use them for elements in your infographic.
- Take the time to manipulate shapes. PowerPoint has an extensive library of shapes — including banners, ribbons, and arrows — that you can use in your infographic design.
By clicking and dragging on the little yellow diamonds that appear on these shapes, you can customize them. For example, you can make the pointy ends of a ribbon longer or shorter. You can also make the body of an arrow thinner or thicker.
What I like: This modern design is sleek, easy to follow, and leads your eyes perfectly through the infographic to digest the information. Plus, there’s more room for creativity here.
When to use: If your infographic is an equal mix of quantitative data and text, this modern design can help you display both types of information seamlessly.
4. Flowchart Infographic
On the surface, a flowchart infographic may appear simple and fun. But I assure you, a lot of thought and planning needs to go into ensuring the different sections logically flow into each other.
In our flowchart PowerPoint template, we created a basic flowchart structure, with positive responses guiding viewers to a conclusion at the bottom left of the infographic.
There are also negative responses guiding viewers to a separate conclusion at the bottom right of the infographic.
Flowchart Infographic Best Practices
- Draw out the branches beforehand. Before you dive into PowerPoint, get out a pen and paper and do a rough outline of your flowchart. Test for weaknesses in your logic by answering questions in every possible combination and seeing where you end up.
For best results, have a friend or coworker run through the flowchart, too.
- The smaller the scope, the easier the execution. The more questions or stages you add to your flowchart, the more difficult it will be to create (and the harder it will likely be for viewers to understand). So, try to narrow the focus of your flowchart.
What I like: Colors and shapes are strategically used to differentiate between positive and negative conclusions of the flow chart. Notice the green circles used for “Yes” and red circles used for “No”.
When to use: I suggest using flowcharts to map out different outcomes and conclusions to your audience to help them follow/understand processes and workflows.
5. Side-By-Side Comparison Infographic
We know sometimes you need an infographic to demonstrate a comparison. That’s why we created the side-by-side comparison infographic template to make it easy for you to compare and contrast two different things.
Side-By-Side Comparison Infographic Best Practices
- Use appropriate data. It’s best to use data that can easily be described in a chart. Use pie charts, graphs, or other data points to clearly and fairly compare and contrast.
- Use borders. Adding borders to your images will help make them feel like their part of a cohesive design. In PowerPoint, you can control the size, style, and color of borders under the Format Picture tab.
- Save your infographic as a PNG file. This is a best practice for all infographics but is particularly relevant when publishing an infographic that contains photographs. The PNG extension offers better quality than other options. To save your finished infographic as a PNG file, you simply need to choose File > Save As … and select PNG from the dropdown.
Ready to create your own side-by-side comparison infographic? Download 15 free infographic PowerPoint templates to get began.
What I like: Each side of the infographic use complementary colours, which makes it much more interesting by inverting the colour scheme in each sections.
When to make use of: This infographic template is nice for evaluating totally different classes, concepts, or outcomes, and because you don‘t have to create or customise loads of shapes, it’s loads much less work.
Make your slides communicate louder than phrases.
PowerPoint is filled with so many options that allow you to current concepts in one of the simplest ways potential. My recommendation? All the time select the fitting template. It’ll prevent effort and time because you gained’t should construct all the pieces from scratch.
However for those who want to begin from zero, at the least attempt to visualize your idea in your head or, even higher, sketch it out on paper. This manner, you gained’t find yourself with cluttered slides that say loads but talk nothing.
Keep in mind: No person needs to sit down by way of a presentation that appears like a foul Wikipedia web page. PowerPoint infographics exist for a cause — to maintain issues easy, snappy, and truly memorable.
So, for those who’ve been pitching concepts or explaining methods with simply phrases and boring docs, it’s time for a change. Make it visible, make it participating, and for the love of all issues good — make it make sense.
Editor’s word: This text was initially revealed in March 2013 and has been up to date for comprehensiveness.
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