Creative Brief: Formats and Styles

Format
This depends on where you plan to distribute your infographic.

  • Vertical tall and Vertical are the most common types for distribution on blogs and social media sites.
  • Horizontal and Horizontal wide are appropriate for presentations or for print.

If you want additional formats such as a poster please contact Visually for pricing before the project starts.

 

Aesthetic Style

  • Realism includes photos or product images. Often you will find textures (paper/wood) or patterns that would mimic a tangible surface.
  • Iconographic uses icons, often repeated, to represent various elements. These icons are generally not very detailed, otherwise they would be illustrations.
  • Illustrative includes drawn characters or other illustrations. These are usually custom drawn by the designer.

 

Stylistic Form

  • Minimal makes use of white space and often a reduced color palette. A minimal design places heavy emphasis on the artistic appearance.
  • Corporate/Clear is a middle ground between Minimal and Trendy. This style often uses a set color palette and typography for consistency with other corporate materials. Multiple call outs and icons are used for visual emphasis. If you don't require adherence to corporate guidelines, but aren't seeking trendy, this is the form for you. Further direction can be provided in the Creative Brief text or the Project Center.
  • Trendy includes non-standard fonts and is often adorned with superfluous but appealing design elements. 

 

Layout
The layout you choose is largely dependent on the data in your infographic.  There are a few common types that should accommodate your data.

  • Large charts are best used when the data set is larger or has several elements that need to work together. They are often exploratory in nature. They work best with non-standard chart types.
  • Compartments are appropriate when there are multiple charts or multiple elements of the data to highlight. Often the compartments are uniform in design to allow the data to be the focus.
  • Narrative is best when the data requires an editorial thread to connect various elements. They are often light on actual data, though they may have factoids and tend to have strong conclusions.

 

If you don't have style preferences, we'll do our best to find a designer who can work in multiple styles. We encourage you to trust this designer's instincts, and it will be helpful if you can provide some examples of infographics you like.