Sometimes, a creative infographic idea can explain your product, process, or motivation better than the crispest ad copy or the most heartfelt newsletter. On an episode of the Shopify Masters podcast, Sana Javeri Kadri, founder of spice company Diaspora Co., explains the value of using visual tools to convey complex information. “Even before I had an operations manager, we worked with a freelance graphic designer and illustrator, because I knew that the easiest way to make things digestible is to draw them.”
Sana goes on to describe how her company uses infographics to illustrate the difference between the traditional supply chain versus diaspora’s simple farm to company to consumer model: “If you draw how a spice goes from a farm to a bunch of different importers and exporters to a manufacturer then to three different grocery stores and then finally to somebody seven years later, you understand inherently that that’s a complicated, dry supply chain that’s not giving you a good product, and is not paying the farmer well. And then if you can just illustrate that beautiful farm, spice company, consumer’s kitchen, you immediately see the difference.”
Because understanding complex ideas like supply chains can be challenging, presenting them visually through infographics can make abstract ideas more digestible. Read on to learn how to use infographics as part of your content marketing strategy, with examples from Shopify merchants to inspire you.
What is an infographic?
Infographics are visual representations of information. Some use pie charts or bar graphs to illustrate statistical, categorical, or value-driven data. Others use flow charts and illustrations to guide viewers through different procedures and processes, or illustrate geographical networks. Infographics use visual elements to simplify complex ideas like industry trends or scientific findings, making information more accessible to a diverse range of people.
All of this makes infographics particularly useful for businesses as an engaging way to show customers why they should choose your brand—whether that’s your quality ingredients or your social impact. From illustrating your business’s sourcing process like Diaspora does to providing visual content that enriches your website, blog, newsletter, and social media pages, infographics are a great marketing and educational tool for ecommerce businesses.
How to create a good infographic
A good infographic is visually interesting, easy to understand, and purpose-driven. These tips can help as you begin developing your own infographic ideas for presenting data:
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Understand your audience and purpose. Before you begin, be clear on what you want to communicate and who your target audience is. An infographic explaining your supply chain to shipping partners will be different from one you share with customers.
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Establish a visual hierarchy. Guide viewers through your information or data by providing a path for their eyes to follow. Use larger text and imagery for information that is more important, and align visual elements in a way that follows a logical progression. For example, most viewers will begin at the top of the page or graphic, scanning from left to right and top to bottom.
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Embrace negative space. Intentional use of negative space keeps viewers focused and prevents distractions. Use blank space so you can highlight what’s most important and prevent visual overload.
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Incorporate your branding. Use your brand’s fonts, icons, and color scheme in your infographics to maintain visual consistency across your website, emails, and social media.
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Be precise. Instead of vague claims like “most customers love our powdered lemonade,” use precise data, such as: “87% of people say our mix tastes better than the leading brand (which has three times the sugar).” Using graphs and charts can help with visualizing statistics and drive your message home.
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Design for multiple platforms. Develop infographics that can be shared on various platforms, including your website, marketing emails, blog posts, and social media. To do this, you may need to adjust image sizes or break large infographics down into a few separate images.
9 infographic examples to inspire ideas
Infographics are not limited to pie charts and bar graphs. They can take myriad forms and sizes to convey different types and quantities of information. Here are some examples of infographics used by ecommerce businesses to highlight concepts critical to their brand:
Diaspora
In this infographic example, Diaspora Co. contrasts its supply chain with the “traditional commodity model.” By introducing its sourcing and distribution model first, Diaspora communicates how it believes such systems should run. It then depicts the traditional model, which has many more steps, thus emphasizing the benefit of choosing their business.
In each section, the different steps are represented by animated icons that fit Diaspora’s aesthetic and are connected by purple lines that match its color scheme. With consistent branding, Diaspora shows viewers how its spices move from farmer to consumer in a quicker, more ethical way that makes for better trade practices and a better product.
Masienda
This geographical infographic example from Mexican culinary retailer Masienda’s 2024 Sourcing Report shows the extent of the brand’s network. Each of its products is shown as an animated icon linked to the region from where it is sourced. Masienda is a B Corp, a certification that signifies it meets the highest standards of social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability. The text on the infographic explains how the brand supports responsible, long-term trade partners across Mexico, in keeping with its principles, while the map is an effective way to demonstrate how far its mission has spread.
Bombas
The Bombas Impact Report is an interactive, scroll-cued report on how the sock and apparel brand partners with organizations throughout the US to get clothing items, such as socks, t-shirts, and underwear, to people who need them. Instead of belaboring readers with a lengthy explanation of its philanthropy, Bombas uses multiple infographics to communicate what it does, how it does it, and how many people are positively affected by its work. This creates a compelling case for supporting its business while providing evidence that it follows through on its promise of “one purchased = one donated” in a way that is both visually compelling and engaging.
Helix
Specialty mattress manufacturer Helix uses donut graphs to highlight significant findings from a third-party study on its product’s ability to improve sleep. The first uses a meter to convey an 82% increase in deep sleep cycles among participants, while the other two show an increase in deep sleep and overall sleep per night. These infographics serve as a visual emphasis of the study’s findings, which are printed below the images. Such infographics can be especially helpful for backing up claims related to health topics or other niches where data and statistics make a big impact.
Dieux Skin
This simple infographic idea from Dieux Skin uses a minimalist design and list formatting to show customers how the brand prices its Skin Mercy recovery cream, with line items showing each cost factor as well as the brand’s markup. The social media infographic shows the brand’s commitment to transparency, which helps build trust.
Parks Project
Apparel and lifestyle brand Parks Project aims to raise funding and awareness for national parks. It has even adopted the conservation motto “Leave it better than you found it” into its core values. This two-slide mini report posted to its Instagram highlights the ways the brand has achieved that goal through both money and volunteer work. The first image shows clear dollar amounts of funds raised, while the second illustrates volunteer hours, clean-up kits donated, and waste removed from national parks that year. The infographic provides straightforward evidence that the brand is following through with its mission, simplified for quick consumption.
Hero Packaging
On its product web page as well as on the product itself, Hero Packaging includes an infographic guiding customers on how to recycle and compost its mailers, as part of its aim to significantly reduce waste through its packaging. Hero uses a procedural infographic for its step-by-step tutorial helping customers use its products in the most environmentally efficient way.
The infographic uses visual hierarchy—guiding the viewer’s gaze from left to right and top to bottom, with different font sizes to emphasize the main message versus additional instructions.
Fulton Insoles
In this Instagram post, Fulton Insoles used humor in an infographic to market its hero product. While this is not the most obvious use case for infographics, it speaks to the versatility of their use in marketing and how they can make a memorable point. By using both colors of this donut chart to represent the odds that a customer should be using its insoles, Fulton playfully pitches its product to consumers.
Infographic ideas FAQ
What is a good topic for an infographic?
Supply chains, buyer trends, customer satisfaction rates, price transparency breakdowns, and how-to guides are a few examples of topics that make for interesting infographics.
What are the seven common types of infographics?
Seven common types of infographics are statistical, informational, timeline, process, geographic, comparison, and hierarchical. There are other use cases for infographics, but these seven are frequently used to visually simplify complex topics, provide viewers with step-by-step tutorials, and support claims or statements.
What design elements should be on an infographic?
An infographic should include concise text that supports its intended message and some sort of visual depiction of the points being communicated. Infographics often contain numbers to illustrate impact and symbols such as arrows that direct viewers to understand the sequence or timeline of events.
