Digital Scholarship - Online Tools & Resources

Steps to creating an Infographic on Piktochart:

1. Choose your template: Piktochart offers 4 different templates to ensure you create a chart appropriate for the information you want to send. These include: Infographic charts, Reports, Posters and Presentations. Each of these templates is totally customizable to fit your needs. Instead of sending out an outdated word document containing usage statistics, create a report with fun images and easy to read information that will definitely catch the eye of your reader.  

2. Customize it!: Piktochart allows you to be as creative and unique as you wish, providing you with over 4,000 images, icons, colors, and font designs. You can also upload images and videos, create links, and make your page as interactive as you want. Unlike Word or PowerPoint, you are not limited with Piktochart. There are thousands of ways you can engage your audience with a simple graphic or poster. The possibilities are endless. 

3. Add your information: Like Photoshop, Piktochart makes it easy to customize your chart and add information. After selecting a template, you are directed to the building site, where you can add or remove "blocks" (parts of the page that hold different sets of information), upload images, change font and color and even delete everything and start with a fresh template. Piktochart even suggests color schemes and document layout to ensure your chart is easy to read. Instead of the audience reading a PowerPoint chart like a book, flipping slides back and forth, Piktocharts are read from the top to bottom, like a website. This means the information you upload should have a beginning, middle and end, ensuring that the audience feels like they have been told all the information start to finish. 

4. Saving and sharing: Piktochart gives you 3 ways to share your Infographics. You can share it as a link with a simple HTML code that will redirect users back to the Piktochart site. You can download it directly and share it as an image or PDF, or you can download and print you pages. Depending on the type of chart you have, you may have to acquire special sized paper to fit all your information, though Piktochart does have a guide line for where to stop pasting information if you want to print on a standard 8.5 by 11 sheet of paper. 

Here is a quick example of what an Infographic looks and how you can use it for a variety of different projects: 

Pros and Cons of Piktochart

Pro:

Is a modern way of displaying information. Infographics are the new choice for college students and universities when trying to reach a broader audience. They allow of more engaging content without seeming too text heavy. 

Piktochart is a free application. If you want more image uploading space or specific page resolutions you can upgrade your account for a fixed monthly or annual fee

The pre-uploaded images make it easy to customize your page without having to take images yourself or get permission from other websites. 

Con: 

It can be difficult to navigate at first, you may want to fiddle around with it a couple of times before jumping into a project. The modifications they allow are not limited, but you will have to plan out exactly what you want your graphic to look like before starting

Does not allow for TIFF image uploads and file size cannot exceed 100mb

Text input into your infographic is not readable by a screenreader--therefore this platform offers limited accessibility to the information.