Module 7: Infographics (LSSL 5391)

Infographics: Which one is the best for you? 

Where can I create an infographic?

Easel.ly

 https://www.easel.ly/

 

5/5 stars for ease of use

4/5 stars for allowance of one’s creativity

4/5 free vs. premium

5/5 overall

                After you create a new template, you are brought to a page that has a bar of items to choose from: templates, objects, media, lines, text, charts, etc. Once you choose a template, you drag and drop it to the blank area and begin your work. The template is pre-populated with information, but it is very easy to click a text box and change the items within it. Ease of use is not lacking here, with easy to push buttons and drag and drop methods, it is almost impossible to mess it up.

The backgrounds are pre-made and do not allow for much change within them. There is one background, “Twitter”, which is very obviously set for a specific type of infographic. Here is where the creativity lacks if you do not have the pro version because you are stuck with specific graphics and backgrounds.

                You have the option of “going pro” and receiving more backgrounds, text types, etc. but the basics are more than enough for a newbie. The pro version is $4/month, and you can make over 320 templates, while the free version only allows your 10 templates. You have the choice to sign up as a business/nonprofit, teacher, student (where you get 50% off), or an enterprise. On any of the levels, you can choose to make your infographic public or private. 

Piktochart

https://piktochart.com/

 

5/5 stars for ease of use

5/5 stars for allowance of one’s creativity

 

2/5 free vs. premium

4/5 overall

                When you first sign up, it sends you an email to confirm, then sends you to a page where you are introduced to statistics and numbers. Used by Forbes, theguardian, TechCrunch, Booking.cm, Typeform, and MOZ, it seemed much more professional than the other two. It has over 16 million users and over 800 templates to choose from. 

                Much like Easelly, you choose your own template, blank or pre-populated with information that allows you to edit. I chose a blank template to see what I was available to add/edit on it. Because it was my first project, a video tutorial and step-by-step informational guide pulled up to help me along the way. For anyone new to infographics or the website, this made a world of a difference!

                You have the ability to choose backgrounds (one color or a pattern), add in text, change color schemes, add in graphics, and upload your own items. The set up was similar to Easelly, but Piktochart had the bar on the left hand side as opposed to Easelly’s bar on the top.

                I chose the basic package, but you have the chance to level up and choose between nonprofit, education, or looking at pricing plans. Pro goes for about $24/month while Pro Team goes for about $82/month. This infographic creating website is far more expensive than the others. With the basic package, you can create up to five visuals and with pro you can create as many as you want. The pro version has quite a few extra perks to it, but the free account fit my needs just fine.

Infogr.am

https://infogram.com/

2/5 stars for ease of use

4/5 stars for allowance of one’s creativity

3/5 free vs. premium

3/5 overall

               With the choice between free or premium plans, Infogram gives you choices of free templates when you first login. You can choose anything between reports, slides, Facebook posts, single charts, dashboards, or infographics. All of the choices have blank templates or pre-populated options to choose from. The pro version is $19/month, but you also have the choice of a business ($67/month) or team membership ($149/month). 

                Once inside, you have the choice of changing the layout, text, and specifics much like the other two in a drag and drop manner. The bar is on the left side along with a private or public feature. Sadly, you have to upgrade to have the private feature. 

   At first, I was very impressed with the site, but it soon let me down. Once I began working on an infographic on Infogram (I liked this one the best, at first), I found out very quickly that it was not as user friendly as it came off to be in the beginning. Any time I added a new text box, I would click backspace to get rid of the words within it. When I did that, it would take be back a page, not erasing the text at all, making me start all over again. I tried as hard as I could, knowing my initial play around with the program went just fine. I moved on from that very quickly.

Commonalities: 

(1) All three made it very easy to create an account. You had the choice of using an email and password, linking to a Google account, or even linking to your Facebook. When a website gives you an array of choices to login, I prefer that over it being mandatory to use an email. (2) You can create infographics, presentations, and print material, such as flyers and reports. While creating you can add team members, much like a Google doc, to corroborate together. (3) Both Easelly and Piktochart had blogs and inspiration pages to help get your started. Easelly, in particular, had over six million visuals created for you to peruse for inspiration!

Overall Choice:

Next up, after a sad encounter with my first infographic on with Infogram, I moved on to Easelly to see if that was anymore user friendly. I was able to choose a template that I thought would work best for my article and got to work. Immediately I saw a difference, starting with the ability to use the backspace key. There were numerous objects for me to add into my infographic that came with the free version, and I also had the ability to add in my own media files.

The only strange thing I noticed was a box was put in place of a “&” sign and even when I made a contraction. I had to go in and change aren’t to are not because of the box. For all of my percentages, I had to write the word out rather than use the symbol. It was odd to me, but it worked out in the end, and I was pleased with the final product.

 My Infographic:

Lenhart, A., Jones, S., & Macgill, A. (2008). Adults and Video Games. Retrieved from
        https://www.pewinternet.org/2008/12/07/adults-and-video-games/