How To Create An Infographic In PowerPoint [+Free Templates]

To create professional-looking infographics and captivate your viewers, you may profit from studying learn how to create your personal infographics in PowerPoint.

PowerPoint is usually a marketer’s finest good friend on the subject of visible content material creation, together with infographic design. 

However it may be intimidating to create your personal infographic once you don’t have a design background. You would all the time fee an company or rent a designer, however that may get expensive quick.

So you might be considering, the place do I begin? We’ll information you thru learn how to create your personal infographics and even provide you with examples of various varieties you may work with utilizing our 15 fabulous infographic templates free of charge inside PowerPoint.

Use Circumstances for PowerPoint Infographics

PowerPoint infographics are a strong device to current data-heavy info in an accessible, digestible format — regardless of should you plan to disseminate the infographic digitally or in particular person. You may also merely use PowerPoint as an infographic maker if it’s your most well-liked design software program.

Listed below are among the methods you need to use PPT infographics:

1. Presenting a Case Research

Designing a lovely, readable case research isn’t any simple activity. You possibly can create a PowerPoint infographic that showcases the key facts of your case study, similar to the issue your buyer skilled, the answer you served, and the result. You possibly can embrace stunning graphics, in addition to dynamic typography — one thing you might not have the ability to embrace in a standard, one-page case research.

2. Presenting Analysis

PowerPoint infographics are a wonderful medium to current information, traits, and analysis. You should use all the info visualization choices PowerPoint affords to current your information in a digestible manner.

For the reason that infographic might be bigger than a typical slide, you will be as descriptive as you’d like. However should you’d wish to reuse the identical info, you solely want to repeat it into a brand new PPT presentation.

3. Presenting a Pitch

You possibly can PowerPoint infographics to current a pitch to stakeholders or potential consumers. You possibly can embrace information factors, testimonials, anticipated outcomes, and even descriptions of the prospect’s downside to emphasise the significance of buying your resolution.

Photographs and graphics will be more practical than simply phrases, and because you’re in PowerPoint, you may create an infographic of any measurement, together with the horizontal 16:9 dimensions.

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 components or parts — 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 info in a single handy slide.

Alternatively, you need to use PPT as a design device and easily obtain your infographic for straightforward saving and sharing.

Infographics are an oft-used kind of content material advertising. And it’s plain to see why. Entrepreneurs who align the subject, content material, and elegance of their infographics with the wants and preferences of their goal audiences discover success amongst their viewers.

Now, let’s stroll by means of learn how to make a easy timeline infographic in PowerPoint so you may reap these advantages.

1. Obtain HubSpot’s free infographic templates.

Download This Free Template (and 10+ More) Here

In case you’d wish to skip among the steps under, obtain a equipment of free, premade infographic templates you may edit proper in PowerPoint. Select from information infographics to image-heavy templates to timelines, then customise the colours and fonts to replicate your model.

Plus, the equipment consists of Adobe Illustrator variations in case you favor modifying your infographic in Illustrator as a substitute.

2. Establish the aim of your PowerPoint infographic.

Previous to sitting down and designing the infographic, take into consideration what your viewers ought to take away from it first. Do you purpose to share analysis, ship a pitch, or clarify an idea? Will or not it’s included in a presentation, or will you need customers to obtain it?

Relying in your objectives, you’ll select completely different designs and typographic components that can finest convey your message. For example, should you plan to current the infographic in particular person, it’s best to purpose to make use of a bigger font for straightforward studying. In case you purpose to incorporate information, it’s best to first collect all of the numbers and create the charts in a more sophisticated tool such as Excel.

Now, let’s get into the tutorial.

3. Create a brand new PowerPoint file.

First, open up PowerPoint, faucet Clean Presentation within the House or +New display, and click on Create.

If PowerPoint is already open, faucet File within the prime menu bar, then click on New Presentation.

4. Change the Slide measurement to your most well-liked dimensions.

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 Dimension.

Then within the drop-down menu, choose both one of many predetermined sizes or click on Web page Setup.

Enter your most well-liked width and peak dimensions and click on OK.

5. Browse SmartArt choices from PowerPoint’s library.

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.

6. Select the suitable SmartArt graphic that matches your information or message.

There are two classes of graphics that make efficient timelines. The primary is the Course of class. Click on this feature to broaden the graphics menu proven under.

Creating Graphics for Timelines

In case you’re working to create a timeline infographic, we have highlighted in pink just a few of probably the most becoming timeline-related graphics.

Apart from the Course of menu of graphics, you may additionally discover a viable timeline graphic within the Image class. Choose this class and you will find the Alternating Image Circles possibility close to the middle of the graphics menu. We have highlighted it in pink, under.

7. Add or take away components from the SmartArt graphic.

We’ll use the Alternating Image Circles graphic from the Image menu. As soon as you have inserted this graphic into your first PowerPoint slide, you may add or take away round icons to match the sorts of information and inputs you’re presenting.

8. Insert your information factors and edit the textual content.

At this level, the scale of your timeline graphic ought to match the quantity of information you’ve gotten. Start to fill your timeline with the data you intend to report on utilizing this timeline and discover PowerPoint’s glorious drag and drop options to assist organize graphics as crucial.

As with the opposite graphics out there in PowerPoint’s SmartArt, you may edit the textual content and the pictures related along with your timeline to your liking. As you may see under, we have edited the years and the pictures to raised characterize what occurred at every time limit.

To insert pictures into your timeline graphic, right-click the sq. panorama icon, choose a graphic From File and add a picture out of your pc onto your PowerPoint slide.

To inform your story, you may replace the time durations within the heart circles, exchange the placeholder textual content, and modify the visuals and colours to your liking. For these latter changes, you may select Insert > Form in PowerPoint so as to add in numerous visuals and use the paint bucket (a.okay.a. Colour Fill) icon to alter the colours of various components.

9. Add your brand, desired pictures, and background colours.

You now have the proper bare-bones infographic, however to actually make it pop, you’ll want so as to add extra imagery and background colours. Doing this from scratch can appear daunting, however even altering the slide coloration from white to a lightweight yellow can instantly make your design look extra polished and cohesive.

Previous to taking this step, overview color theory to decide on the suitable palette. You must also add your brand, in order that if individuals obtain the infographic alone, they’ll know the place it comes from. (In case you’re presenting it in particular person, it’s best to nonetheless do that in case your viewers takes footage.)

10. Obtain your infographic or create a slide-friendly model.

Now that you’ve your infographic readily available, it’s time to reserve it to your laptop computer. To take action, faucet File within the prime menu, then click on Save As. Make sure you save solely the infographic slide, and never the complete presentation.

Alternatively, on this step, you might select to create a 16:9 model of your infographic which you could simply combine into any presentation. It’s possible you’ll even divide the completely different components of the infographic into a number of slides. This might be helpful if you wish to “zoom in” to completely different sections as you current.

In case you’re on the lookout for one thing extra handy, you may obtain our infographic templates that open instantly in PowerPoint so you may get to creating quicker.

PowerPoint Infographic Examples

1. Information-Centric Infographic Instance

Infographics and information visualization are the peanut butter and jelly of the visible content material world.

When you’ve gotten new information to divulge to the world, you need to use an infographic to show that information as a part of a cohesive, visible narrative. And that is precisely what the Information Geek template is for.

We have loaded this template with a wide range of completely different charts and graphs, which you’ll be able to simply replace with your personal information. (Excellent-click on a graph, select Edit Information, and you can customise the values in an Excel spreadsheet.)

What to Add to a Information-Centric Infographic

• Column chart: Use for evaluating completely different classes or for exhibiting modifications over time (from left to proper).

• Pie chart: Use for making part-to-whole comparisons. (Notice: They work finest with small information units.)

• Line graph: Use for exhibiting information that modifications repeatedly over time. Supreme for displaying volatility, traits, acceleration, or deceleration.

• Doughnut chart: Use a pie chart. This stylistic variation means that you can put a quantity, graphic, or different visible within the heart of the chart.

• Bar chart: Use a column chart. (The horizontal bars make it simpler to show lengthy class names.)

2. Timeline Infographic

Telling the historical past of a specific trade, product, model, development, or tactic is usually a nice matter for an infographic. And whereas there are a number of various methods which you could visualize time — together with in a circle, which is what we did with our Google algorithm updates infographic — the timeline is by far the most typical and best design methodology to make use of.

Timeline Infographic Finest Practices

• Analysis. Analysis. Analysis. The very best timeline infographics aren’t simply fantastically designed — additionally they inform an excellent story primarily based on intensive analysis. So earlier than you begin the design part of your infographic, put within the time to floor the most effective info attainable.

• Slender the scope: Timelines that cowl tons of or 1000’s of years can actually be fascinating, however they’ll additionally require weeks or months of analysis. To maintain your sanity, follow shorter time durations.

• Maintain your copy concise: Infographics are alleged to be visible. If you end up writing 100+ phrases for every date in your timeline, a weblog publish could be the higher content material format.

3. Fashionable Design Infographic

For this infographic template, we wished to do one thing that mirrored fashionable design traits, together with utilizing banners and arrows.

By way of content material, we offered loads of area for each stats and replica. There’s additionally a column chart on the backside. However keep in mind, you may all the time add completely different charts and graphs to the template wherever you see match. Simply choose Insert > Chart … and you will have a number of choices to select from.

Fashionable Design Infographic Finest Practices

• Experiment with new coloration palettes. There are tons of free coloration palettes on-line. Do not consider me? Do a Google picture search of “Colour Palette”. Once you discover a palette you want, drag the picture instantly into your PowerPoint presentation. Subsequent, choose the Colour Fill bucket, select Extra Colours … and click on on the eyedropper icon. With the eyedropper device, you may choose colours out of your palette and use them for components in your infographic.

• Take the time to control shapes. PowerPoint has an intensive library of shapes — together with banners, ribbons, and arrows — that you need to use in your infographic design. By clicking and dragging on the little yellow diamonds that seem on these shapes, you may customise them. For instance, you can also make the sharp ends of a ribbon longer or shorter, or make the physique of an arrow thinner or thicker.

• 4. Flowchart Infographic

Whereas on the floor a flowchart infographic could seem easy and enjoyable, a whole lot of thought and planning wants to enter ensuring the completely different sections logically movement into one another.

In our flowchart PowerPoint template, we created a fundamental flowchart construction, with constructive responses guiding viewers to a conclusion on the backside left of the infographic and detrimental responses guiding viewers to a separate conclusion on the backside proper of the infographic.

Flowchart Infographic Finest Practices

• Draw out the branches beforehand. Earlier than you dive into PowerPoint, get out a pen and paper and do a tough define of your flowchart. Take a look at for weaknesses in your logic by answering questions in each attainable mixture and seeing the place you find yourself. For finest outcomes, have a good friend or coworker run by means of the flowchart, too.

• The smaller the scope, the better the execution. The extra questions or levels you add to your flowchart, the harder will probably be to create (and the more durable it would doubtless be for viewers to grasp). So attempt to slim the main target of your flowchart.

5. Picture-Heavy Infographic

Thus far, the infographic templates we have checked out have relied totally on illustrations which you could create inside PowerPoint. However in fact, there is no purpose why you may’t deliver exterior photographs and different pictures into your infographic design.

We have created this image-heavy infographic template for that actual goal. It is nice for evaluating completely different classes, concepts, or outcomes, and because you needn’t create or customise a whole lot of shapes, it is loads much less work.

Picture-Heavy Infographic Finest Practices

• Use high-quality pictures. It is higher to scale down an enormous picture (e.g. 2,000 pixels by 2,000 pixels) than to scale up a small picture (e.g. 20 pixels by 20 pixels) to suit a specific area. The latter strategy will lead to pictures showing pixelated and grainy.

• Use borders. Including borders to your pictures will assist make them really feel like their a part of a cohesive design. In PowerPoint, you may management the scale, fashion, and coloration of borders beneath the Format Image tab.

• Save your infographic as a PNG file. This can be a finest apply for all infographics however is especially related when publishing an infographic that accommodates images. The PNG extension affords higher high quality than different choices. To avoid wasting your completed infographic as a PNG file, you merely want to decide on File > Save As … and choose PNG from the dropdown.

Make an Eye-Catching Infographic At this time

The chances are limitless once you uncover learn how to begin creating infographics. You’ll have the ability to broaden your abilities as a marketer and create extra elaborate content material that your viewers might be intrigued by and interact with. We hope you discovered this text helpful and that you just’ll take the initiative to construct your personal infographics in PowerPoint.

Editor’s notice: This text was initially printed in October 2020 and has been up to date for comprehensiveness.