Infographics

Horrigan, J. (2016). Digital Readiness Gaps. The New York Times. Retrieved from: http://www.pewinternet.org/2016/09/20/digital-readiness-gaps/


 www.infogr.am 

This web app does not exclusively create infographics. It provides options to create reports, slides, Facebook posts, individual charts and maps amongst others. I did not choose this app to create my infographic because the free templates seemed wordier than in the other apps. Colors also are more subdued as well. There’s a way to select your template by color, however. But the ones that appealed to me due to their vibrant colors required an upgrade and fee. The app is user friendly and allows you to add images, maps, charts, shapes. I found it impressive how it also allows users to embed “integrations” like YouTube videos, Vimeo, Slideshare Presentations, url links and Giphys. This app also lets users share their presentation, download it, preview it and share with others for collaborations and/or editing. This web app lends itself more to sharing it digitally on different platforms.

 www.piktochart.com 

Piktochart is focuses more on pictographs. It offers the ability to present information as an infographic, a presentation and a printable. This is ideal for younger students that may need to share information and want to start with basic options. It was simple to create an infographic from scratch if you have basic design skills. The app allows you to choose details like the background, font size and color as well as graphics that will make your infographic more appealing. It also includes features that let you embed videos charts and maps onto the graphic. The chart component has plenty of charts to match user needs and it’s easy to use because it will allow you to import your data from Google Spreadsheets and other programs. Once the infographic is shared, however, it will not let users make changes to the presentation and it does not allow users to collaborate with others on a presentation.

 www.easel.ly 

I chose easel.ly because it appeared to focus more on infographics. I found their template colors visually appealing and easy to use. It has diverse features that allow you to maximize and tailor how information can be presented such as specific pictograms and charts. It also allows you to embed media files, objects, graphics and text. This web app allows users to present their infographic in low/high quality resolution and PDF format which may be printed if needed. It lets users invite others to edit their presentation and it can be embedded on different social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. While others had to be resized in pixels, Easel.ly provides sizing options in page sizes format and custom size. Overall, I found that easel.ly was best for my needs to represent the data from Pew Research Center. It is user-friendly and includes the best features as well as visually appealing and maximizes its ability to be shared.