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Infographics use images to tell a story.
So before you begin to create
an infographic design,
think about the story that you want to tell.
For this infographic assignment,
you will need:
a central theme or research question,
three scholarly peer-reviewed articles,
and a quotation or supporting material.
This tutorial will explain how to use
the tool Piktochart to create your infographic.
I will cover creating an account,
selecting a design theme,
adding text,
adding new blocks,
adding charts,
adding visuals,
and publishing your infographic.
So gather your statistics,
quotes, tables, and citations,
and let�s get started.
Step 1: Create an account
First, go to piktochart.com.
It�s best to use Mozilla Firefox
or Chrome if possible;
avoid Internet Explorer.
Next, click on �Create For Free.�
Just fill in a username,
e-mail address,
and password.
Then click �Create my account.�
Step 2: Select your theme.
Now that you have an account,
you can select from six free themes.
You can preview each one
by click on the image.
Let�s go with Flow 2 for this example.
You can make some quick changes
to the look of the theme
by choosing �Style�
and then editing the colors.
Start by getting rid of elements
that won�t work for your design.
If you see images,
text,
or whole blocks
that will not work for your graphic,
just highlight it
and click delete
or the trash can on the toolbar.
If anything is highlighted in red
and you can not manipulate it,
it is locked.
You can unlock it by
clicking on this lock on the toolbar.
Now you can delete it.
Step 3: Adding Text
For some boxes,
you may simply want to
highlight the section
and type in new content,
such as for the title of the infographic.
Other times you may want to create
a new text box by selecting
�Add�,
�Text.�
Choose the desired text size
and drag it to your canvas.
For example,
Header 1 would be probably be best
for adding a title to the whole graphic.
Header 3 may be better
for a title of a section.
Finally,
text would probably
work best for inside a section.
I�m going to drop in
this text box for a quote.
At the end of my quote,
I will add parentheses
and then number the sources
as they appear from top
to bottom of the page.
Let�s say that the colors
are not working for you.
No problem.
Simply highlight the section of text
and then click on the color chart
and then click on your new color.
I can also use the toolbar to
alter the font, size, or alignment.
Step 4: Adding new blocks
I want to add a chart to this
but there doesn�t seem to be any room.
Let�s try adding a new block.
If I select this block
and then click on the plus sign,
I can see that a new block has been added
but it doesn�t seem to be big enough.
If you hover over
the bottom border of the block,
you can resize the height.
Step 5: Adding charts
Now, to add my chart,
go to �Tools�
and then drag this chart icon onto the canvas.
This is where you can insert
the information you gathered
from your scholarly sources.
Simply type directly into the graph.
Add chart titles
and axis names
by typing directly in these fields.
When everything is ready to go,
click �Insert Chart.�
You can move,
resize,
and decorate your chart within its block.
Remember, it is very important
that your data representation is accurate.
Check your visualizations carefully.
Step 6: Adding visuals
Now that I have added the basic content,
it is time to find some relevant graphics
to help tell the story.
To locate the graphics,
click on
�Add,�
�Graphics,�
and then �Icons.�
You can scroll through different categories
to find images that best work for your graphic.
Then, simply drag the icon onto the canvas
and you can resize,
change the color,
or
copy ones you have made
and paste to a new location.
Your final step is publication.
Once you have added all of your information,
it�s time to publish your project.
Click on �Publish�
and then select either �JPEG� or �PNG.�
Either one is fine.
Then,
click �Save Image As,�
rename it,
and save directly to your desktop.
If you have any questions about your project,
contact your instructor for help.