Writing Infographics: Tips for Copywriters

If you’ve spent any time writing infographics, you’ve probably experienced the pain of seeing a good idea turn into a bad design. This often happens because the content wasn’t written in a way that makes visual sense.

After designing infographics for a few years, I’ve learnt 2 key things:

1. I love making them.
2. There’s a particular art to writing content for them (i.e. infographic writing requires a completely different approach compared to blog articles).

Ultimately, we want users to enjoy (and share!) every infographic we create. And we generally do this by bringing data to life and visualising key points about a subject.

But doing this isn’t as easy as it sounds… and it doesn’t sound all that easy to begin with.

To help you adopt this unique art form, I’ve put together 6 of my key tips for infographic writing.

How to Write an Infographic That Actually Works

1. Have a Core Idea

An infographic wants to demonstrate a focused point. That’s all it wants.

Keep a central idea at the core of your infographic writing by:

• Ensuring your message is always clear and on point
• Linking every section back to the central idea
• Cutting off any tangents before they derail the infographic.

Top tip: A fun fact here and there is nice, but too many extra details can diffuse the meaning and reduce the impact of your content. Writing infographics is all about finding that balance between fun and focus.

Your central idea could be a key message you want to convey (e.g. there are some weird things on eBay) or a set of data points you want to explain. But if you don’t know what your central idea is yet, you’re not ready to start writing the infographic.

2. Know Your Audience

Visualise your target audience and keep them in mind throughout the infographic writing process.

If a segment or point isn’t relevant or useful to the people you’re trying to reach, it should be cut.

Example: If you’re writing infographics for senior travellers, an idea like ‘The 5 Best Airlines for Flying with Kids’ probably won’t take off.

3. Keep the Copy Brief

If you’ve got as much content as War and Peace, an infographic isn’t the right format for the job.

Less is more when it comes to writing infographics. After all, it’s the design that should be doing the talking.

Top tip: Keep your points simple and concise, using bullet points where possible.

4. Draw a Quick Sketch

Designers are clever and creative, sure, but we’re not mind readers.

While you’re writing an infographic, you’ll most likely have some ideas for how it could be presented. So jot down some sketches as you go.

No excuses: This applies even if you’re not as artistically gifted as this amazing dog. Just some stick figures or simple blocks indicating a layout will help your designer understand your vision.

The designer might not stick to your sketch, but it’s still a useful exercise in structuring how the content will flow. And going through this process should help you realise what will and won’t work visually with your idea.

5. Use the 4 x A4 Rule When Writing Infographics

If your sketch fills mores than 4 sides of A4 paper, it’s probably too long.

Following the 4 x A4 rule for your final layout will ensure there isn’t too much content and save users from scrolling for eternity.

Bonus: This will also keep your file size manageable for uploading, although cutting your infographic into sectional files can help with this too. Here’s an example of a perfectly sized infographic.

6. Have Fun!

Writing infographics isn’t exactly the worst task in the world now, is it? Enjoy it. If you create something that you personally find funny and engaging, your audience will most likely enjoy it too.

Infographics can also provide a great opportunity to go slightly off brand and try something wacky. I mean, have you ever seen a boring infographic go viral?

Still struggling? Want some more tips on how to write an infographic? There’s only one thing to do: reach out to our content team and let us do the infographic writing for you. And in case you didn’t realise, we can handle the design too!