Easel.ly create Inforgraphics...Or maybe Piktochart some info...Or Infogram some data: Infographic Creators

As for any products, there are many applications to get you to your final product. Today, I'm going to go over 3 web-based applications that can be used to create Infographics.

Infographics are ways to turn mass amounts of complicated data and information into a beautiful, flowing picture of information. The graphics create flow and add to the understandability and retention of the information in the infographic. in layman's terms: Pictures and words come together to help people gain knowledge.

As librarians and teachers, we know the power of using images to teach information. Students associate the pictures with the information and their ability to retain information goes through the roof. But let's look at infographics from the other side. If students created infographics, what would be the benefit? Students would be forced to summarize, evaluate, and create a visually stimulating piece of information from pages and pages of research. That takes real skill, skills that students need to practice often to master.

So to begin, you have to figure out which web-based application you will use to create infographics. There are many available, both free and paid. I'm going to review 3 options for you and your students.

1. Infogram

Infogram is for the expert infographic creator. It allows the user to modify all areas of the infographic, making it customizable to any project or assignment requirements.
Downsides: Because of its incredible customization abilities, it is difficult to use as a novice. There aren't templates like the other infographic creators, but instead, there are basic themes (color schemes) and blank pages for you to add individual pieces of information, text, and graphics.

There, Infogram would be a great resource for a class that could allow for the time needed to teach and entire unit on infographic creation. Students could get extremely creative using this app.

2. Next up: Piktochart

Piktochart was the first infographic maker I ever used. I was teaching an Advanced World Geography class for the first time and decided to make a very visual, map looking syllabus for this class. The result was really eye-catching and the students appreciated the change of pace from the usual "ton of words, too much information" syllabi given to them on the first day of school. Here are a few screenshots of that syllabus. 

                                   

I really enjoyed making this infographic because the free template was perfect, the customization tools were easy to use, and the interface as a whole was clean and uncomplicated. 

Downside: I really think the only downside to this site is that they have less free templates to choose from. 

3. Finally, we have Easel.ly

Easel.ly is also an easily customizable and clean infographic maker. It reminded me of Piktochart, but had a few a more templates to choose from. Again, the templates provide ready-made text boxes and images, allowing you to modify a lot or a little, depending on the purpose of the infographic. 

Verdict: I believe that Piktochart and Easel.ly would be perfect to use in any content classroom or library because they are easy to navigate and include templates to make the work easier and more simple for novice users. 

Taking all of this information into consideration, I used information from the Pew Research Center (see citation in the infographic) to create the following infographic using Piktochart. Piktochart had the perfect template, the best social media icons, and the easiest platform.

Here is a direct link to the presentation mode for this infographic as well.

Social Media Use Over Time

I hope all of this information will help transform your classrooms and libraries through the use of infographics! Please comment on your successes and failures when using infographics in the classroom and the library. We can always use more educated opinions to improve our students' success.