Create Infographics for Free

Infographics (information graphics) have become an incredibly popular way to convey statistics and information. They are literally popping up everywhere. While you might successfully argue that they are being used too much, they really are a great way to display statistics in a visually appealing way.

But, creating an infographic can at first appear daunting. If you’ve wanted to use infographics in your marketing and communication, but never wanted to bother to make one entirely from scratch, easel.ly is a new web-based tool that allows you to create an infographic quickly and easily.

To get started creating your infographics you simply choose from one of the provided themes that your infographic will follow. From there you can move, change, and add objects as well as text. Within a matter of a few minutes or so, you’ll have a workable infographic to use for all sorts of purposes.

Easel.ly is still in beta mode, so there’s a lot of things missing, such as more options for themes and objects, as well as being able to change the color palette. Working with charts is not very reliable at this time. There’s not a way to make custom charts inside the tool; there’s only static chart images that you can drop in. Then again, once the development team works out all of the kinks and adds some more features, easel.ly might possibly turn into one of the best infographic creation tools.

Visual.ly is another web-based tool that helps you create infographics quickly and easily. Visual.ly has been around for a little while longer, but it requires you to sign up first using your Twitter or Facebook account before creating infographics. With easel.ly, no sign-up is required.

Even though you are now able to create infographics in mere minutes, should you? There is a big difference between a true infographic and just arranging facts and words into a semi-pleasing image. True infographics contain worthwhile information that is put into context. So, while anyone can create infographics, it still takes a smart and creative mind to truly create something that is both informative and appealing to the eyes.

Are you using infographics in your marketing and communications? If so, how? If not, why not? Let me know.