Visuals have a huge impact in marketing. Not only do they make content more sharable,but they help us retain information. When details are paired with an image, we remember 55% more of it. That can be pulled off with infographics -- the nifty images that visually break down complex statistics. They're customizable, sharable, and they're easier to create than you might think. Sure, you could hire a professional to create the infographics for you. But if you're restricted by budgets or time, there are some great DIY resources out there for making compelling visuals. To help visual marketers, we scouted the web for some of best sites and tools for building infographics. Check them out below. Cost: Free with limited features, $9.95/month for Pro, or $30/month for Enterprise. Oh, how we love the ease and intuitiveness of Canva. From the very beginning, it asks you a series of simple, colorfully-illustrated questions about what’s brought you to their site. (Today, it’s infographics, but there’s a ton of other stuff you can create there, too.) Once you’ve let Canva know what you want to do, the site generates several templates you can use as a foundation for your infographic. Plus, it’s got a library of roughly 1,000,000 images that you can add to your project. From there, you can edit the text, background image, shapes and other aspects of the infographic to make it your own. And it’s so easy -- here’s a goofy one that I put together on how my dog spends his day:
Helpful Resources for Creating Infographics
1. Canva
2. Piktochart
Cost: Free, with paid packages available starting at $24/month
Similar to Canva, Piktochart can be used to design more than just infographics -- it can also build reports, presentations, and posters.
But the templates available for infographics are numerous, and there’s an upgrade available. “Pro” memberships -- which run between $24 to $80, depending on the features you want -- allow access to even more templates, as well as removed watermarks and hi-res downloads.
When it comes to creating the infographic itself, the features are fairly similar to Canva’s -- the background, text, and images can all be changed, or users can upload their own files for greater personalization.
3. Venngage
Cost: Free, with paid packages available starting at $19/month
Like its predecessors above, Venngage has quite a few design features, includingan infographic maker andits great social media templates, which users can download to create their own personalized Instagram posts, blog headers, and more.
For infographics, there's a decent range of templates, each categorized by type -- statistical, process, and timeline, to name a few.
Some of the templates are limited to premium members, reflecting Venngage's four-tiered approach to pricing -- free, premium, education, and non-profit. Plus, there are templates available for those latter two categories. Here's one that helps non-profits visually communicate highlights from an annual report:
4. Easel.ly
Cost: Starts at $4/month with special discounts for students and educators.
Upon visiting Easel.ly's website, you're immediately presented with a plethora of infographic templates, most of which can be immediately clicked and customized without having to create an account. If you want to save and share your work, though, you will have to join -- for free.
Unlike its predecessors listed here, Easel.ly seems to be a no-frills platform that's comprised of infographics. You can choose which category you'd like, but it's not quite as organized as some other sites -- the drop-down menu is a bit hidden to the left of the templates. Still, most of templates appear to be available for free (more become available with a Pro membership), and they're fairly easy to edit.
5. Freepik
Cost: Free, with paid packages available starting at $7.50/month
As its name suggests, Freepik is a resource for, well, free pictures. Infographics are just one type, but after performing a search for them, there are plenty of options -- most of which are complimentary.
The only drawback? Freepik doesn't quite allow the same levelof customization that some others in this list do. You can download the images for free, but you’ll need a vector graphics editor in order to customize them -- Brittany Leaning and Megan Conley of HubSpot's content marketing team both suggest using Adobe Illustrator.
6. Infogram
Cost: A limited number of options available for free, with paid packages available starting at $19/month
Like many of its visual peers, Infogram is a resource that helps users create both picturesque charts and infographics. It's definitely one of the more "grown-up" sites available for building these images, which might explain why very few of their tools a re free -- including restricting your work from public consumption.
However, Infogram also has the option of enlisting professional help with infographic design. So if you're short on time and have a bit of room in your budget, this route might be the best one for you.
7. Google Charts
Cost: Free
Okay, maybe a chart isn’t exactly the same as an infographic. But, given the interesting selection templates made available by Google, we would be remiss to exclude it.
There are a few items of value in Google charts. First, we love the selection of charts available. From animated bubble graphs -- like the one above -- to clever word trees, the features allow users to bring information to life. (I mean, admit it -- adding animation to data always makes it a little less boring.)
Plus, these charts can be created to be interactive. One of our favorites, GeoCharts, allows data to be assigned to different regions of a map that appear when hovered over. Check it out:
We'll admit that some features of Google Charts might be a bit more advanced than the other resources we’ve listed. But, if you’re ready to step up your visuals game, give it a try.
8. Visme
Cost: Free with limited features, $12.25/yearly for Pro, or $24.75/month for Enterprise.
Visme is a content creation tool with a lot to design features and tools, one of which is its infographic maker, as well as hundreds of professionally designed infographics that users can instantly with little to no design skills.
Unlike most design tools, Visme has a low learning curve, so you can create your infographics from scratch or get inspired by a template focused on specific subjects, industries, or niches.
Select the infographic you’d like to customize and use an Ai-power Brand Wizard that creates a brand kit for you in your editor so you can access your brand colors and logo. Once you’re done, you can share your project directly with anyone on your team for real-time edits or comments. Access multiple download options for your Visme infographic, such as PNG, or PDF, share as a link, embed on your blog or publish it as a website.
Start Creating Infographics
There's no shortage of resources when it comes to creating your own visuals -- charts, reports, and infographics. And, depending on your budget and needs, there's a veritable plethora of options available, all of which have their pros, with very few cons.
Want to learn more about designing brilliant infographics? Check out these helpful tips.
Editor's Note: This post was originally published in October 2016, but was updated in August 2020 for freshness and comprehensiveness.
Topics: Infographics
