Learning how to make an infographic is one of the highest-leverage skills in visual communication. Research shows people retain 65% of information when it is paired with a relevant image, compared to 10% from text alone. For marketers, educators, consultants, and communicators of every stripe, a well-designed infographic turns dense data into something your audience actually reads.
This guide walks you through seven practical steps to create an infographic from scratch, whether you are working from a spreadsheet, a long-form report, or a blank canvas. Each step covers a specific decision point, from choosing your topic and organizing your data through to wireframing, styling, and final review. By the end, you will have a repeatable process you can apply to any project inside Piktochart or any other tool you prefer.
No design degree required. Pick an infographic template, follow the steps below, and publish something worth sharing.
Define Your Infographic Goals Before You Start Designing
Every strong infographic begins with a single question: what should the reader do, think, or understand after seeing this? Answering this before you open any design tool saves hours of rework and keeps every element on the page working toward the same outcome.
Why Goal-Setting Comes First
Skipping this step is the most common reason infographics underperform. Without a defined purpose, designers pile on data points, competing messages, and decorative elements until the visual loses focus. A clear goal acts as a filter: it tells you what data to include, which layout to choose, and how much text is appropriate.
Common Infographic Goals
Most infographic projects fall into one of four categories:
Educate. You need your audience to understand a new concept or process. Think onboarding guides, safety protocols, or classroom explainers. The design should prioritize readability and logical flow over visual flair.
Persuade. You are building a case for a decision, a budget request, or a policy change. Data accuracy and source credibility matter here more than anywhere else. Charts and statistics should anchor the argument.
Summarize. You are condensing a long report, survey, or research paper into a scannable format. The goal is compression without distortion; every data point you include should earn its space.
Compare. You are placing two or more options side by side so the audience can make an informed choice. Comparison infographics rely on consistent formatting, parallel structure, and clear labels.
Match Your Goal to a Format
Once you identify your goal, you can select the right infographic type. An educational goal pairs well with a process or flowchart layout. A persuasion goal works best with a statistical infographic loaded with charts. A summary goal fits a list or timeline format. And a comparison goal maps naturally to a side-by-side or matrix layout.
If you are building a presentation rather than a standalone graphic, the same goal-setting exercise applies. Piktochart Visual lets you switch between formats without starting over, so locking in your goal first means less friction later.
Step 1: Pick your topic
Start by selecting the subject or content you want to design your infographic around. You might have the next viral idea in mind for your infographic, but it’s a good idea to keep your audience in mind. There are evident benefits when you listen to your audience, so try to cater your content towards them. Address their pain points and challenges, find out about their interests and possible questions they have about the particular industry. Alternatively, take a look at what’s trending now in your industry or location via Google Trends or Buzzsumo to find your topic.
Step 2: Organize your data
The second step is organizing your content and picking the most relevant points for your audience. If it’s a blog post, then you should dissect the basic structure of the content, and pick those 4 or 5 key elements. If it’s a set of data, you should identify the top 8-10 impactful numbers that speak louder than words. Then create graphs and charts to visualize your data.
For our infographic, we picked 8 different sections outlined in the post:
- Going remote.
- No meetings.
- Cutting emails.
- Get off work at 5 30pm.
- Wake up early.
- Focus, do not multitask.
- Do fewer things.
- Use the right software.
Step 3: Design the basic structure
Start by grabbing a piece of paper and a pen. Then, start designing the basic structure of your infographic. Don’t be afraid to make a mistake, you can always redo it as the cost of starting over is close to zero. Sometimes it takes a few takes to get it right. But it’s always best to try out your infographic structure on paper first as changing it once you start with the design process can be counterproductive and frustrating.
Step 4: Digitalize your wireframes
Use Piktochart’s editor to translate your wireframes into a basic structure. It’s really easy to learn, making it a great graphics tool for first-time designers. If it’s your first time with Piktochart though, we recommend you to choose one of our visuals templates rather than starting with a blank canvas. This approach allows you to get the base with the lowest effort possible. Now, all you need to do is start filling the blanks with the important points you’ve previously picked.
Pro tip: Our own Piktochart designers suggest you try several layouts before you settle for the right one.
Step 5: Fill in the blanks
Now that your basic structure is taken care of, you should start filling the empty space with remarkable content your readers will love. Start by describing or giving a more thorough explanation of the points or data you selected in Step 2. As you can appreciate in our infographic, the bulk of the design is about those 8 points.
An extra step we recommend is to pick an image or graph that supports the information. As an infographic is a visual element, you should always aim to use imagery to strengthen your points. Below, you’ll be able to observe how the small laptop icon plays a key support role for the information block beneath.
Pro tip: Piktochart has thousands of free, beautiful icons and graphics you could use. It’s a simple as dragging and dropping so it’s perfect for beginners. You can start by reading this article.
Step 6: Give your infographic a lift with a coat of paint
Now that your structure, your content and your supporting imagery is in place, you can start having fun.
First pick a consistent style and a color scheme. If you need inspiration, check out our featured infographics gallery.
Then, choose the right typeface. This is extremely important, as it will dictate the personality and readability of your infographic and determine how attractive your design is. These two resources should be extremely helpful:
Typography I: How 4 Typeface Personalities Set The Tone of Your Infographics
Typography II: 4 Things You Need To Know To Pair Fonts Well
Now, once you’ve picked the right typeface, it’s time to select the right color scheme. For our infographic, we went for soft tones of blue, brown and red, because we wanted the information to be the main element of the design. If we were to give you one tip today, it would be to pick only 2 or 3 colors and use different shade variations of them, but if you want to dig further into color picking, this article should come in handy:
4 Easy Steps to Pick Great Color Schemes For Your Infographics
Step 7: Proofread
This is the final step of the process. Simply go back and give an additional thorough look at your design and content. A simple spelling mistake is all it takes to ruin an otherwise perfect and spotless infographic!
Extra. Transform data into beautiful graphics
If you are looking to go that extra mile, using Piktochart’s built-in graphics and charts to illustrate complex data is the way to go. As a matter of fact, this is one of our preferred techniques to turn information into a clear and concise infographic. Our designers shared a few secrets of how to go creative with charts in this article. Learn how to dress up your statistics, decorate your graphs and “picturize” your pie charts!
Do you have your own process for creating an infographic? Share your tactics with us, we are curious to hear about your strategy!
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