Infographics

 Infographics are a great tool to use when sharing data or information. They can show valuable ideas in a more appealing way. Infographics grab peoples' attention, awakens their interests and curiosity, and makes the data/information easier to understand. I always see infographics but have never created one on my own. I tried out three different web apps to find the one that was the most user-friendly. Here are my thoughts about each.

Easel.ly     www.easel.ly

When you log into easel.ly you are met with easy-to-use templates. I played around with the site and watched how-to videos, but was not able to create what I wanted. The images were not as expansive as I had hoped and required that you upgrade for more. This site was not user-friendly for a first-timer like myself. I had a difficult time creating what I wanted and after becoming frustrated, I moved on to another site. I am sure with more experience and an upgrade, you could create amazing infographics here, but it was not a good fit for me. 

Infogram    https://infogram.com

Infogram also has an extensive template library. I also like the different types of projects they provide templates for. Some of the projects to choose from are:

• reports
• dashboards
• posters
• social media posts
• YouTube thumbnails and more!

This site was user-friendly for a first-timer and can be used to create amazing visuals. I was impressed with the images and templates available without an upgrade. I did not choose to use Infogram simply because I did not see a template that I wanted to use for sharing my particular data. This is a site that I would recommend to others for its ease of use.

Piktochart    http://piktochart.com

I chose Piktochart to create my infographic about social media use in 2021. The many templates provided include:

• infographics
• presentations
• posters
• reports
• flyers and
• social media

There is also a link titled "Inspire Me" that takes you to a gallery of examples made by other Piktocharters. It was easy to take a template and make it your own. Being new to infographics, this site made it simple to remove and add the images/graphics I wanted into my infographic. Inputting data to create charts and graphs was also easy to do. There is an option to upgrade, but I feel like I had plenty to work with using the free version. I recommend Piktograph as a good place to start creating infographics. You can see my creation below.