Zikea McCurdie (00:03):

All right. Hello everyone and welcome to today's webinar, Best Practices in Infographics for Public Health presented by NPIN. My name is Zikea McCurdie. I am a senior health communication specialist on the NPIN team, and I will be taking you through today's training. So this webinar is for any public health professionals who wanna learn more about the value of infographics and how they present data in a visually pleasing format. So this webinar is the first of a two-part series on infographics in public health. Part two will go more into the details of actually designing the infographic, and we will be posting a link to register for part two in the chat so you all can get signed up to join us again next week.

Zikea McCurdie (00:59):

So after this training, you'll be able to identify key components of infographics, identify the target audience and the platform for your infographics, and create key messages and find reliable data sources. All right, so let's just jump into it. We're gonna start with the importance of infographics in public health communications. So what are infographics? They are visual representations of information, data or knowledge that's designed to present complex concepts in a clear and engaging manner. It's important to public health because it can simplify public health data and messages, making them easy to understand and easy to share as well. Well-designed infographics tend to provide valuable insights and guide public understanding and actions.

Zikea McCurdie (01:59):

So here are a few characteristics of infographics. They usually have an appropriate and engaging heading. They have a visual representation of the data in the form of charts or graphs. And the reason why we are doing data representation in like charts or graphs is to draw attention to the statistics and make them easier for individuals to understand and remember. Usually they also have some type of illustrations or imagery that represent the subject of the infographic. And then they also have brief interpretations that might highlight the main message. They also have key messages or a call to action. And finally, they typically include the source of the data.

Zikea McCurdie (02:46):

So now what are the benefits of an infographic? They are increased engagement, better comprehension of complex concepts. They help to support decision making and preventive action. They can facilitate rapid messaging and quick dissemination of information. They can potentially motivate health promoting behaviors and they help to bridge the gap between research and clinical application. So now we'll go through a process of how you can take your infographics from what we see on the left, which looks a little bit confusing to what we see on the right, which is a clear linear storyline in an infographic. Now let's jump into the details. So the first thing you want to do is get to know your audience.

Zikea McCurdie (03:40):

And to do that, you want to create an audience persona. So you start by identifying who it is that you wanna speak to with your infographic. Once you've determined who it is, then you wanna think more about the demographics and the psychographic profiles of the individuals that you're seeking to reach. And you also wanna consider their engagement level. So when you create this persona, this will then help to support all of your design and content decisions moving forward. And for help creating the personas, you want to research your audience using surveys, interviews, and/or focus groups. Now on the right you see a few elements that should be included in an audience demographic guide. You wanna consider the audience's skills. So numeracy, how comfortable is your target audience with numbers and how familiar is your audience with health terminology. This will determine what content you include.

Zikea McCurdie (04:41):

Next, you wanna think about their life variables. What are the life experiences and behaviors of the target audience? Also, what are the health experiences of the target audience? These are important to keep in mind once again, when you're thinking about the content. Finally, you wanna, well, also you wanna think about the pace of life. So you wanna think about how much time the target audience has to actually digest the information. And you finally want to think about the places of life. So where is your target audience going? What type of media do they look at? What are the places that they are visiting? All of these will play a huge role in your overall design of the infographic.

Zikea McCurdie (05:29):

So the next step is to create key messages and gather data. So when you're creating your message and your tone, you wanna follow this three step, these three steps to plan the messages you want your infographic to convey. You wanna think about what you want the audience to understand, how you want them to feel, and then what it is that you want them to do. So an example of this would be maybe you want your audience to understand the risks of developing diabetes or any other diseases. Then you might want them to feel motivated to then change their behaviors afterwards. And what this does is it determines exactly how you will then convey the message.

Zikea McCurdie (06:17):

Also, you wanna choose key messages that are relevant and impactful to your target audience, which is why it's super important to do those audience personas before so you know what it is that those individuals are interested in. And you wanna avoid using familiar facts. You wanna focus on new information. Once you determine what it is that you wanna share, it's time to gather data for your infographic. When you're gathering data, you wanna make sure you're using reliable sources. So you wanna research credible sources for accurate information. And some of those sources may be government databases, research studies, surveys and polls, organizational reports, and expert interviews.

Zikea McCurdie (07:06):

Once you've found the data, you wanna make sure that you cite the data sources on your infographic. You wanna choose a recognized citation style like A-M-A A-P-A MLA or Chicago. And you wanna make sure you're sticking to those guidelines when citing those data sources. You also wanna make sure that you clearly attribute the data to the original source, and if possible, you wanna provide a direct link to the original data in the infograph, for online infographics. So as we've seen the example to the right at the bottom, it's kind of small, but it has the source written right there. So if any individual wants more information on the topic, they can always visit it.

Zikea McCurdie (07:49):

So on this slide we have an example of taking information and turning it into an infographic. On the left, we have a report that is about dental care and dental supplies. And then while the lay person may not be able to understand this from that report directly, this is why we create infographics so it's easier to absorb that information in a quick manner. And then I do wanna take a moment to highlight how the infographic that was on the right is effectively designed. So as I mentioned, it has a title that contrasts from the rest of the graphic. It also has elements that highlight key data points. And then aside from having the key data points, there's also messages written out in text that support the images. Then it has a simple bar graph that's labeled and has color to increase appeal. So it's showing the differences. And finally the citation source is included at the bottom.

Zikea McCurdie (09:02):

So now we'll go into how to choose the right infographic type. So you wanna consider channels for sharing infographics. Going back to our audience personas, remember one of the things we thought about were places of life, which is considering what avenues your target audience consumes media through. So infographics can be shared in a variety of ways through social media, email, websites, and even physical locations. And once you've identified your key messages and audience, you wanna determine what's the best way to reach them with the information. So now we'll go into two different examples of infographics and the channels that they'll be shared on.

Zikea McCurdie (09:49):

So the first are attention seeking infographics. These are typically super simple and it focuses more on visual elements. As we can see in our example to the right. And they're typically focused on one data point. Attention seeking infographics tend to do best on platforms such as TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn or X. So all social media because as you're scrolling through social media, you wanna create something that's eye-catching to capture people's attention. And then finally, you might use one of these on a website or a newspaper for individuals who may be specifically looking for the information. And once again, you wanna use something that's eye-catching on a website or newspaper so people will stop in order to take in the information.

Zikea McCurdie (10:40):

Then there are also detailed infographics. So as the name says <laugh>, these infographics are more detailed on the subject and they typically have more text. These typically have between like three to five data points. And this is what makes it different from the attention seeking infographics. So as we can see on the example to the right, there's more text, there's a few different graphs as well as pictograms. So these more detailed infographics tend to be more useful for policy makers, stakeholders, healthcare providers, advocacy groups, individuals who are more inclined to want to know the details behind the information that you're sharing. These can be shared on platforms like newspapers, PowerPoints, reports, different leaflets. It may be shared through email as well.

Zikea McCurdie (11:36):

And now we'll jump into some of the key elements of graphic design. Well, first you wanna create your heading. You wanna make sure your heading is large and that it contrasts the rest of the infographic. And you can use one of the approaches to the right to create your your heading. So you can use the subject approach where you literally just use what it is that you're speaking about as the heading. You may also take the message approach where you are sharing what message you're trying to convey in the infographic in your title. You may also use the question approach where you're posing a question that's based on the message shared in your infographic, the hopeful approach, which is where you try to take a more optimistic viewpoint on the messages that you're sharing. And then the call approach, which is one that your title provides a call to action for the target audience. When you're creating your heading, you also wanna make sure you include a hook once again to capture people's attention. And then you want to test your headline with your target audience to determine if it's creating the desired effect. So if you are hoping that your headline is hopeful and optimistic, you wanna make sure you get it in front of your target audience to make sure that that is being conveyed.

Zikea McCurdie (13:04):

Next, you wanna make sure you're creating a visual story. You wanna arrange the information in your infographic in a logical flow. This makes sure that it goes from one point to the next. And then you wanna use visual elements like size, color, and placement to establish a hierarchy and to emphasize important information. So taking a look at the example to the right, we can see by number one we have this introduction to what hepatitis C is. Then it moves down into getting the facts about what hepatitis C is. The next phase is knowing the risks, so helping individuals who may look at this understand their risks. And then the final phase is leading them to how to get tested. So it takes them through that process and creates an aligned, a logical sequence and flow.

Zikea McCurdie (14:01):

Next you wanna emphasize important messages. You wanna create a focal point around elements that support key messages. As we can see on the right, you can see that the statistic is bolded and in a different color as well as the effects. They're also bolded and in a different color so that they stand out. You wanna make sure that you also explain key messages with words to ensure understanding, but then use images to support quick comprehension. Most people when they look at an infographic, they're scanning it first. So you wanna make sure those images are standing out so that individuals can quickly get that information and if they need any more background to it, they can then read any of the text that you've included. And then finally, you wanna make sure you have key statistics in a large font to emphasize meaningful content.

Zikea McCurdie (15:00):

So our next phase is to review, test, and export. So once you are done creating your infographic, you wanna proofread text for grammar and spelling errors. You wanna make sure that all information is accurate and ensure that the images and charts accurately depict the key messages. We want to double check color, color contrast and typography as well. So we go into more details on how to do these in our next training. So make sure you guys register for that one. And finally, when conducting a review, you wanna share the drafts of the infographic with peers and colleagues to make sure that there's alignment with infographic goals and key messages.

Zikea McCurdie (15:49):

Then you wanna test the design appeal. So after you've conducted an internal review of your infographic, you might wanna place it in front of a target audience focus group. With this, you'll gather a small group of target audience members and test the infographics, readability and comprehension. You wanna refer back to your key messages to be your guide for testing comprehension and making sure that the target audience is leaving with that. Wanna incorporate feedback from audience testing to design updates and before you export the final designs. And once again, you wanna review your infographic to ensure 508 compliance.

Zikea McCurdie (16:35):

And then when you're exporting your design, you wanna make sure you're exporting it in the correct format for the intended location. So if you are trying to share your infographic on social media, you wanna make sure you're exporting it as a JPEG or a PNG file as those are image files. And then if you are exporting your infographic to be added to websites, emails news papers, PowerPoints or printed, you may want to use a PDF format. And now we'll jump into a interactive activity where we're gonna look at a few examples of infographics and determine what we would change about them. If anything. Oh, actually we're gonna discuss different types of infographics I got ahead of myself. So first we have comparison infographics. These are infographics that serve as a tool to highlight contrast and make data-driven insights more accessible and impactful. They provide clear representation of all choices available in their respective outcomes and then it compares it to other key metrics, interventions, or lifestyle choices. So as we can see on the example on the right we're comparing symptoms of COVID-19 to the flu, the common cold, malaria and allergies.

Zikea McCurdie (18:05):

Our next is information infographic. Here is where infographics are just pretty simple and they're used to explain complex health concepts or procedures in order to improve health literacy. So as you can see on the right, this is a infographic just sharing more information about what TB is. Then we have process infographics. So these are visual tools that guide audiences through a step-by-step sequence of procedures, interventions or strategies. These infographics tend to break down complex processes into something that's easily understandable and that visually engaging, which then as I mentioned before, helps with better comprehension with the target audience.

Zikea McCurdie (19:00):

And then we have timeline infographics. So these provide a chronological snapshot of events, milestones and developments in the context of health related narratives. And these pretty much cap can capture evolution of public health initiatives, medical breakthroughs, or the progression of disease outbreaks. And now we are moving to our activity. So I'll be providing a few examples of infographics and we'll be applying best practices to these infographics. So I pose this question to you all, what would you improve in this infographic? Please feel free to drop your answers in the chat. Yes, so I see larger texts, definitely you can't read the text. Pie chart. Definitely a pie chart definitely makes it a lot easier to understand different types of information. A lot of things for the font. Making the title stand out more. Another really good one. Having a logical flow. That's a good one. There really isn't much of a flow to this one. Increasing a bar graph. Less text. The legend is cluttered. It is hard to figure out what's happening. Let's see. A lot of changing the color and the font. Higher contrast of colors. Fonts being too small. Oh, I also see not much of a story or narrative. Yes, we wanna make sure that we're including text in our infographics. 508 compliance.

Zikea McCurdie (20:47):

That's a good call out. Not understanding the why based on the info and the infographic. Yep, all totally on point. Separating the legend. Okay. Changing the chart type. These are all really good ones. Needs plain language. Yes, it needs text in general. Having a side by side. Adding context. Great, thank you. Such great responses. So once again, we have some of that here. The key in the legend is not clear. There are no labels on the chart, so we don't really know what it is that we're looking at. The title. Once again, not super eye catching. And then there's no text to describe what's being presented. So there's no context to what is happening in this infographic. So now I have another example. So what would you do to improve this infographic?

Zikea McCurdie (22:01):

Add more colors. Yeah, no proper heading. Clearer title. Better contrast. Font size and color choices are conflicting. Make the title more eye catching. Provide more of a narrative. Better organization. Adding chart labels, that's a good one too. Adding a call to action. Yes. Thanks for putting that one out there. Not understanding the story exactly. Context means a lot. <Laugh> Making the pie charts actually reflect the data. That's another good one. Remember, that's something you wanna make sure you're checking for. All right, so there's a lot saying like is there a source? There's no source listed here. What's the objective? The context. Needs a takeaway. Improving symbols.

Zikea McCurdie (23:07):

Oh, this is perfect. All right, so let us look at what we highlighted. Pretty much aligned with what everyone has been saying in the chat. There's a vague title. There are no labels. No citation. Also no context. So now we'll highlight a few key takeaways from today's training, you wanna make sure that when you're creating your infographic, you're defining your core message and audience before you even get started with designing. Most of us like to jump into the design process because it's a little funner when you're able to be creative, but you wanna make sure you know your why. Before you get into that part. You wanna make sure you're using quality data that supports your core messages and that will resonate with your audience. Once again, you wanna make sure that you're not sharing something that your audience already knows because if they already know that, they'll just skip over your infographic. And then you wanna make sure you're aiming for no more than three to five key data points. You don't wanna provide too much data because then that can be overwhelming to the target audience. And remember, we're creating an infographic to make information simple and easy to comprehend.

Zikea McCurdie (24:31):

And with that once again, make sure you join us for part two of designing infographics. In the next training we'll be talking about how to use design elements to create your infographic. We'll also talk about ensuring 5 0 8 accessibility and how to test and distribute your infographic. So Jeanette just dropped the link for the registration for that in the chat so make sure you register. And time for the question answer part. So I'll jump into the q and a first. I did see a question in the chat that says what program is used for design? Come back next week and we will share that <laugh>. Okay, so I have one question here that says, in terms of proportion, is there a best practice in terms of how big the title should be and how big the graphics and text in the body should be? Yes, there are. With using layout and design principles, this is something that we will be going over in next week's training. So make sure to sign up to receive the definitive answer to that. But yes, there is a best practice on that.

Zikea McCurdie (25:42):

Let's see. What are some compelling examples of infographics tailored for congressional staff? These ideal infographics should be concise, visually appealing and persuasive catering to a younger audience often found among these staff members. So what structure do you suggest? I would suggest a detailed infographic for congressional staff, something that can share more information about the topic, but also provides like an overview for easy absorption of the information. Would it be possible to get the slides? Yes, we will have the slides and this recording up on the NPIN website for you all to watch again at your leisure. Let's see how best to do user testing of headline products, et cetera. The best way to do that is to get a small focus group, a small user group and people who are a part of your target audience and literally just putting it in front of them and gaining their feedback on it. Also, you might do a test by posting something on social media, seeing the response you get to that and moving forward from there. Another one about the slides. We will be sharing them. What programs do you use to create infographics? We will be going into detail on that in our next training on designing infographics.

Zikea McCurdie (27:11):

I'm gonna jump into the chat really quickly. Let's see. Will the program that's used be available or allowed for use on government computers? Yes, they will. We're to discuss using PowerPoint as well. An example of user testing. So I personally use user testing by creating something and then I typically kind of just put it out in the open and just see the reception from it and look at the numbers that from engagement to people who may have signed up for something and use that as my gauge on how impactful it was. We have another question on discussing colors to avoid. We'll be covering colors in the next training, next week. Where on the site should we be looking for the recording? It will be under the trainings on the NPIN website.

Zikea McCurdie (28:13):

Is Pulse check an appropriate resource for message testing in visual elements? Yes. What does it mean for an infographic to be 5 0 8 compliant? What that means is that 5 0 8 compliance is the, I'm trying to think of the best way to say this. It's about having accessibility. So that means that individuals who may have visual or hearing impairments are able to still engage with the product that you're producing. So if an infographic is 508 compliant, that may mean that there are alternative texts for any images for people who may be using a screen reader. That means that the colors have enough contrast that individuals who may have visual impairments can still see and read everything. This may also mean that the text is large enough in using a font that is easily read.

Zikea McCurdie (29:13):

Let's see, the recorded webinar will be on YouTube and then posted on the NPIN site. Are QR codes helpful? QR codes are always helpful, but typically a QR code, if it's being included on an infographic, would be to support a call to action. So next week's training won't be hands-on, but I will be taking you through the process of how you will design one. What are some options to ensure effectiveness if you cannot get feedback from your audience? Something. So that's also why we recommend doing an internal review with your team too, just to make sure that the key messages are being conveyed.

Zikea McCurdie (30:04):

In my opinion, what's the most common infographic design error? I will say either providing too much or too little text. Some people may put too much, too many details on the infographic, which takes away from the easily it being easily digestible and easy to comprehend. Others might not put enough text because they're so focused on trying to make it easy to comprehend that it doesn't give enough context. Can you show the slide with part two content again? Of course I can. All right, just went back to that one. Next question. We don't typically have the ability to share draft infographics with focus groups. Do you have any guidance for programs who can't afford to do this best practice? Okay, that is, that's once again why we suggest doing like internal reviews as well. And just kind of like putting it out there to test it. Sometimes testing it isn't, it might not happen before you actually export it. Sometimes you might just have to export it as an experiment and just see the reception you've gotten once you've exported it. And then from there moving forward you can then apply better practices.

Zikea McCurdie (31:34):

Have infographics been shown to provide more accurate understanding of lay communities? So infographics are typically used in order to increase understanding for layperson communities. Can you elaborate more about 508? So we actually go into more details about 508 review and next week's training. How do you ensure CDC branding and guidelines for designing or style are met when SMEs are non-designers create infographics? So we actually talk about branding and colors and all of that wonderful stuff in our next training as well. So make sure you are registered for that. So then we also have how much time do you generally allow for the persona and testing exercises? So your user persona honestly that's something you might wanna spend a bit more time on because you wanna make sure you're getting that concrete. So I would spend maybe a few weeks just doing some research if you're not too familiar. If you are already familiar with your target audience

Zikea McCurdie (32:48):

that kind of streamlines the process a lot. And let's see. Do you have any good examples of a time you did a persona exercise? So I do have a few examples about a persona exercise. So for example, if we are speaking of, if you're trying to speak to, let's see, I'll say like teenagers about drinking water or something <laugh> like that what you would do is you wanna determine all of those details as to where they're getting their information, what it is that they currently do, you wanna understand their mindsets. It's really getting into details on that end. And that's honestly a training in and of itself on how to create audience personas. If that's something you all are interested in, please let us know too.

Zikea McCurdie (33:43):

Also, what's the difference between an infographic, a one pager and a dashboard? So an infographic is more visual heavy. A one pager is typically text heavy. A dashboard can be the mix of both. Oh, awesome. Thank you to whoever just shared this great persona template. So I'm gonna drop this in the chat to share with everyone too. Awesome, Becky, I'll put that on our list. All right, another one, is it best practice to have only one page rather than multiple pages in the content being communicated? Yes, it is definitely best practice to have one page. Remember we're trying to make with an infographic, we wanna get that information to our target audience as quick as possible, and we want them to be able to comprehend it easily. When there's too many pages, sometimes that takes away from that experience. What is the difference between a flyer and an infographic? Flyers can be infographics, actually <laugh>. So a flyer can just, sometimes there's different types of flyers, but infographics can be flyers. If you're like printing it out as well.

Zikea McCurdie (35:16):

All right, so I'm seeing a lot about these audience and persona webinars, so thank you. We'll definitely take that into account for our next training. And yes, we can definitely talk about like the differences between an infographic, one pager and a dashboard. So I will give just a few more minutes to see if there are any other questions. So it's possible for an infographic to serve multiple audiences. So with that, you want to definitely take into consideration, you wanna be really specific about your messaging with that element because you wanna make sure it resonates with each individual, well, each of your audiences, which is why it's super important to understand each of the audience's demographics because sometimes there may be overlap. That can typically happen if we're talking about a call to action to like prevent or to change behaviors and things of that sort.

Zikea McCurdie (36:22):

Typically infographics can have multiple audiences. But you just wanna be specific. So you might not use the same language to speak to an individual who is in their early twenties as you would use to speak to an individual who may be in their sixties or seventies. So that is where you might want to kind of twist some of the language on the infographic to kind of shape it for different audiences, but it can technically be the same element. It's just the key messages and how you word it will be different based on the audience.

Zikea McCurdie (37:00):

I know we have a hand up. Could you please put your question in the chat? Will you provide icon and graphic resources on February 15th? Yes, we will. We will be going into more details on imagery next week. <Laugh>. Yay. I know, right, <laugh>, it's my pleasure. I'm getting a lot of thank yous. All right, so we do have a few resources as well. This, once again, this PowerPoint will be shared on the NPIN training. So there is, oh, I'm sorry, <laugh>. This, this information will be shared on the NPIN training website, so you all will have access to these resources. I just had another question come in. Becky, if you don't mind reaching out to me via email, I can definitely follow up on more of your questions and go more into detail with you on this topic. All right. And with that, I will say thank you for coming to today's webinar. I hope to see you all again next week and I hope you have a wonderful day. Bye.