What Makes an Infographic Massively Popular?

Infographics are much more likely to be shared on social media than any other form of content. Infographics can help easily spread the word about sports, entertainment, health, news, and an endless number of other topics. While infographics accompany many new stories, and inform audiences on their own, what makes one infographic more popular than another?

Content, format and design elements are key in the popularity of certain infographics. When looking to create a successful and widely shared infographic, be sure to keep these best practices in mind.

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1. Some topics are more popular than others.

The most popular infographics from all time seem to be centered on the same content: health and entertainment. These topics may be more widely relevant and interesting to Internet users. Health and entertainment seem to also be the most popularly shared infographic topics on Facebook, which remains the most widely used network.

2. Choose the right type of infographic.

In addition to choosing a great topic, form is another key factor in an infographic’s popularity. The most popular infographics are those that are generally informational, rather than “how-to” infographics, mixed charts, or visualized numbers.

3. The design and color of the infographic is incredibly important.

Since infographics are meant to convey information in a visually-appealing manner, it’s no surprise that the color and design elements play a key role in an infographic’s popularity. When looking at the most popular infographics, there are reigning design trends among them. Blue is the mostly commonly used color in many of the most popular infographics — a large portion of the most popular infographics used blue. This blue trend is also seen in many entertainment-centric infographics and health-centric infographics. Perhaps the color was chosen due to its known calming and soothing nature.

In addition to the color used in these infographics, the color scheme is equally important in determining its popularity. The most popular infographics tend to use a triadic color scheme, which includes colors that are equally apart from one another on the color wheel. The second most popular trend for color schemes is monochromatic. Monochromatic color schemes, however, focus on different shades of one color.

4. Keep the text short and sweet.

Infographics are built to visualize information rather than focus on text. Therefore, word count is another important aspect to consider when looking at the most popular infographics. These infographics keep text minimal to truly emphasize the visual aspects of the piece.