The 60 best infographics

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They say that every picture tells a story, but sometimes it takes a clever combination of words and pictures to tell a story quickly, concisely and in an entertaining fashion.

The best infographics may look like they were simple to create, but designing an effective piece of data visualization is anything but. There are several great tools to create infographics, but these examples of infographics from around the web will show you how you can take things a step further and add a bit of style and personality to your data.

We'll kick off with some awesomely meta infographics about infographics, before moving on to the best infographics for giving instructions, explaining a process and more (use the quick links on the right to jump to the section you want). Take a look at our picks for inspiration for designing great infographics for yourself.

Infographics about infographics

01. Why your brain craves infographics

Click the image to see the full sized infographic

The popularity of infographics is showing no signs of slowing down, but why are they so popular? This infographic by NeoMam Studios explores exactly what it is about infographics that hits the spot. It's also beautifully designed and brilliantly executed. An online experience built with HTML5 and CSS3, you can check it out in all its interactive glory if you click the image above.

"The parallax scrolling effects were probably the most difficult to achieve," says Neo Mam's Danny Ashton. "Our developers looked at the available libraries and described them as a bit 'wonky', so they ended up creating their own instead."

Besides that, says Ashton, the challenge in building the infographic was to keep the CSS as simple as possible. "We wanted a smooth, user-friendly experience," Ashton explains. "That was more important to us that doing loads of 'tricks'."

02. The great big list of infographic ideas

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While on our travels across the world wide web, we landed at InfoBrandz site and found this – yes, it's an infographic that explains how to make the best infographic around. If you're interested in designing an infographic but you're not sure what you'd like it to be about, this will get you started with some ideas for themes. It also explores what topics infographics work well for.

03. The infographic of infographics

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Did the title confuse you? Us too. What this infographic does is to unpick the trend for infographics and explore the stats surrounding the trend. If you're looking to design your own, this will show you what fonts are popular, how many sections are typically included, what themes tend to crop up, and more.  

Explore a world

04.  Doctor Who

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UK-based portrait specialist Sam Gilbey has produced various pop-culture-universe-exploring infographics over the years, including this design dedicated to 50 years of Doctor Who. His other lavishly illustrated creations to-date range from a stat-based comparison of four Avengers characters; to the 85th Academy Awards in numbers – all created for Virgin Movies. All off these three infographics are excellent examples of using illustration to add interest and shareability to a list of facts and figures, rather than analysing the data per se.

05. Hip Hop

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Another prolific infographic creator, UK-based design studio Dorothy has carved something of a niche in creating highly desirable infographic-style posters. Its designs often chart the many complex connections between entertainment genres and sub-genres, and are perfect for any superfan to display on their studio walls.

Stand-out examples include the 'blueprints' series, exploring the history of hip hop, alternative and electronic music over the decades; the 'colour wheel' series, dedicated to the colour palettes of movies, books and music; and 'star charts', which map the relationships between seminal films, actors and directors. They all share a stunning design aesthetic, ultimately driven by data.

06. Oddity Viz

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The winner of an Information is Beautiful award, Valentina D'Efilippo's creative visualisation of the iconic Bowie track Space Oddity contrasts Dorothy's expansive genre-spanning creations by opting to go narrow and deep instead.

D'Efilippo worked with researcher Miriam Quick to gather data about the track, which she then visualised as a series of 10 12-inch discs, each of which deconstructs the track in a different way: according to melodies, harmonies, lyrics, structure, story and more.

07. An analysis of The Beatles?

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Music-loving data nerds will get a kick from this ace interactive infographic analysing the career of the Fab Four, breaking down their career by year and by album and providing plenty of insight into who wrote what, which Beatle had the biggest vocabulary (hint: it wasn't Ringo), what most of their songs were about and much more.

08. SWANH.NET

Click to see the full (123 metre) infographic

If Star Wars: The Last Jedi has put you in the mood to immediately watch the original movie, hold your horses just one second. Rather than sit through Episode IV again, why not enjoy it in infographic form? SWANH.NET is a project buy Swiss illustrator Martin Panchaud, in which he's adapted Star Wars: A New Hope into a 123-metre-long infographic. Created in Illustrator CC, using 157 pictures across 22 separate files, it took him over a year to produce.

09. Grand taxonomy of rap names

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This colourful infographic examines 282 rap names in startling detail. Our favourite section? 'Audacious spelling' – with sub-categories of 'Improper use of K' (hey OutKast) and 'Misspelled adjectives' (that's you, Ludacris). It was brought to you by Pop Chart Lab – a company set up by a book editor and a graphic designer who joined forces with one modest goal in mind: to render all of human experience in chart form.

10. Explore the Twitterverse

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Sometimes, Twitter can feel like another world. Thankfully, this  infographic has been put together to showcase the Twitter universe. It  shows you who does what on every level, from branding to search to geolocation. In short, there's a whole lot of people involved in getting your 280-character insights (ahem) out into the world.

11. The magnificent multitude of beer

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The multitude of varieties, brands and tastes of beer available can sometimes be a little overwhelming. So what better way to showcase the taxonomy of beer than with an infographic?

A favourite here at Creative Bloq, Pop Chart Lab has  built on its original beer infographic from 2010 and created a 60x40in malty monstrosity called The Magnificent Multitude of Beer. It ended up being so big that the team had to enlist the help of another printing firm to handle the job. After all that hard work, let's hope they found time to head to the bar afterwards.

12. Avengers, Assemble!

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This infographic breaks down facts about the superheroes that feature in Marvel's Avengers Assemble. You can find out about each character's strength, skills, brains, gadgets and heart via few handy pie charts. The results are then compiled to show the team's greatest collective strengths. The character designs and clear presentation really help this infographic shine.

13. Inception

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We love this simple but beautiful infographic for Christopher Nolan's 2010 blockbuster movie Inception. Let's face it, given how complex the film is, a little bit of simplicity to explain it goes a long way. The illustration was created by New York-based graphic designer Rick Slusher, his elegant summary of the film depicting each character as a coloured line; the layers of dreams depicted as concentric circles.

Illustrate a list

14. The ABC of design

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An essential career skill for designers of all levels is the ability to explain your work effectively, and articulate your vision to clients. Fortunately the design industry is shaped by a glossary of terms that explain the technical thinking behind creative decisions, as this infographic from DesignMantic reveals.

A neat piece of design work in itself, this beautifully illustrated ABC of design runs through 26 key words every designer needs to know and turns their meaning into stylish graphics.

15. 10 commandments of UI design

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This is one of the best infographics we've seen covering user interface, or UI design. Designmantic has come up with this go-to graphic to help you get your website interface just so. Appropriately, a lot of thought has gone into the design, too – it's broken down into colour-coded themes (create a story, ensure accessibility and so on), with simple icons to convey the key rules within in category. It's well worth a look wether you're after UI design advice or inspiration on how to design an effective infographic.

16. A-Z of typography terms

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Do you know your aperture from your apex? How about the difference between a finial and a flag? If not, then this typography terms infographic acts as a handy cheatsheet that will help you get up to speed. It contains all the usual suspects, plus plenty more – only a true typography pro will know all of these, so take a look to fill in the gaps in your knowledge! 

After more information? Take a look at our roundup of the best typography tutorials.

17. 40 little things to break your creative block

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Creative droughts are the stuff of nightmares for artists, designers photographers, and just about anyone with an imagination. But how do you reignite your creative spark when all you want to do is give up? Designed by the team at Creative Market, this colourful list of 40 inspirational tips contains advice that artistic greats have turned to in times of need. And if these don't work, have a look at our list of 20 ways to overcome creative block.

18. 15 golden principles of visual hierarchy

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Designmantic is the team behind a few of the great designs you'll find in this list. This particular infographic breaks down the key rules you need to know to create all-important visual hierarchy in your data – from using the golden ratio to implementing grid theory to bring balance to your work.

19. 18 rules for using text

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Every designer knows the importance of getting their typography right, but there are also some rules about grammar and punctuation it's worth being aware of. To help, The Visual Communication Guy has created a great infographic that provides designers with 18 rules for using text. This cheatsheet includes some helpful information on the subtleties of working with words. 

20. The 10 commandments of typography

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This infographic from Evan Brown at DesignMantic is a typography nerd's dream. If you've ever found yourself aimlessly scrolling through lists of the best free fonts, this cheatsheet will help you refocus your search by providing you with some key rules. 

"Even though typography is an art and art is supposed to be subjective with minimal parameters, these rules can still be applied in order to save time and too much experimentation," he explains. "It's always good to know the few basic do's and don'ts in order to save yourself the trouble of experimenting too many fonts on your design."

Next page: More of the best infographics around

Give instructions

21. Should I work for free?

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This tongue-in-cheek infographic by illustrator and typographer Jessica Hische may be seven years old now, but it turned into something of a viral sensation and influenced a slew of homages – not to mention the fact it's every bit as relevant today as it was in 2011.

Hische used the classic flowchart method to address all the possible perspectives on this notoriously thorny and divisive issue, and built her infographic using live text in HTML and CSS to enable translation into any language. If you'd prefer it in a more traditional format, however, it's also available as a letterpress print.

22. Desk exercises for designers

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Are you reading this slumped at your desk? You're probably not doing yourself any favours, posture-wise. And let's face it, even if your posture is great, spending 10 hours a day (give or take) sat staring at a screen ain't good for anyone's bod. Sort yourself out and keep yourself in shape with this top visual guide to 10 exercises you can do right at your desk, compiled by us and illustrated by the excellent Simon Middleweek.

23. What font is best for you?

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This brilliantly detailed infographic helps you determine exactly which font is best for you. Produced by Cartridge Discount, the graphic takes you on a history of typefaces and acts as a guide by delving into serif vs sans-serif, web fonts and ones for print, unique fonts and the future of fonts. Take a look and discover which font is best for you.

24. Logo design principles

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This infographic from Online Logo Maker guides designers through the process of creating a logo by breaking down and examining some of the world's biggest brands. The best logos may look simple, but break them down into their composite elements and you'll find everything has been carefully chosen to convey something about the brand – as is explored here. 

If you're interested in finding out more, take a look at our articles on the use of shapes, colours and typography in branding. 

25. The Existential Calculator

Artist Kelli Anderson was asked by Adobe to "make something interesting" for designers attending an AIGA event, and this paper-made infographic, the 'Existential Calculator', was her response. It aims to answer that age-old question: Should I take that job?

Okay, we know that this calculation wheel might not give you all the answers to life's questions but it sure does look nice. Learn more about The Existential Calendar on Anderson's blog.

26. Staying happy and healthy at work

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No matter how much you stretch, take breaks or go for a stroll at lunch, the working life of a designer means spending most of your time at a desk. With this in mind, it's important to remember that you shouldn't just be taking breaks – you should be doing everything you can at your desk to ensure a healthy lifestyle.

This infographic makes some important posture pointers. Whether you favour a sit-down desk or you've moved onto a standing effort, there's some brilliant tips to help your back, neck and shoulders stay in tip-top shape.

Make comparisons

27. Superpowers

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This is the third iteration of Pop Chart Lab's popular superpowers infographic, the material sourced from the past 75 years of comic books and broken down into seven main skill sets: powers of the mind, animal powers, mastery, powers of the body, force control, object manipulation and weapons-based.

This vibrant design is seriously impressive, the sprawling taxonomy of over 200 superpowers and 600 superheroes and villains spreading over six square feet. We're also loving the final rendered vintage-style design, which pays tribute to the great cosmic covers of the Bronze Age of Comics.

28. The Chart of Controllers

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Take a look at the infographic above and tell us you haven't spent hours, even days of your life thumbing several of the controllers you see! The wonderful people at Pop Chart Lab have created this infographic detailing the complete family tree of video game control schemes, including handhelds, joysticks, paddles, gamepads, rifles, steering wheels, and even a guitar.

29. Fonts & Colors

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Internet marketing and design company Tasty Placement has developed this cool infographic that focuses on the use of fonts and colour amongst the world's leading brands. The interesting study shows which colours, typefaces and styles come together to form the logos of the world's 100 most powerful brands.

30. Serif vs Sans: The final battle

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Ever find it hard to choose between serif and sans fonts? If so, this Serif vs Sans: The Final Battle infographic might come in handy. The infographic runs through what type of typography is best suited to different projects. It also features a cracking design with cute serif and sans-serif character ... er... characters battling it out for supremacy. The result? Serif is better for print and Sans is better for web. 

31. The Fries That Bind Us

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We all thought that McDonald's and Starbucks were taking over the world; well, this clever infographic proves it. It looks at the number of stores each establishment has created, as well as their profits and produce. This great infographic was designed back in 2003, so the stats are out of date now, but it's still worth a look. 

32. Big Brothers: Satellites orbiting Earth

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Complex data, like the statistics surrounding the satellites orbiting Earth, requires a clever infographic designer to make sense of. Michæl Paukner has managed it though, with this clear and concise creation. It even includes the dysfunctional satellites, so you won't miss a thing, and it has a pleasing symmetry we can't help but admire.

33. Bill Gates is better than Batman

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Now, we wouldn't like to comment on the truth of the argument this infographic puts forth (are we talking Bale or Affleck? Or LEGO? It's all too vague). Brought to you by Frugal Dad, this is one of the best infographics we've seen for a long time. It presents the stats that define Bill Gates as a modern-day superhero, from the number of lives he's saved to the legacy he's leaving behind. 

34. Caffeinated Beverages

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We're constantly being updated on the health risks of various foods and beverages. Energy drinks are associated with insomnia, tooth decay, stomach damage and plenty of other scary things. If you're a designer that keeps your eyes open with caffeine, check out this infographic and see if you should start cutting back...

Next page: More of the best infographics around

Explain a process

35. Apollo missions

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Winner of a coveted Information is Beautiful award in 2017, Paul Button's stunning visualisation of the Apollo missions charts every manned rocket flight by year, distance and path travelled, as well as which astronauts were on board – thus explaining incredibly complex processes such as calculating different orbits, flight paths and landing zones in a simple, visual way.

Button set out to create a tactile object that was beautiful and collectable in its own right, but ultimately driven by raw data. Accordingly his infographic is available as a stunning white and metallic gold screen-printed poster.

36. Distance to Mars

Click image to go to the site

Ever wondered how far it is to Mars? Yes, we know that Wikipedia can tell you the exact distance, but once numbers become – well, astronomical – it can be difficult to really wrap your head around them. To help you out, David Paliwoda and Jesse Williams' motion infographic, Distance to Mars visualises these massive distances in a way that every digital designer can understand: pixels. This interactive infographic never gets less impressive.

37. How Google works

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This superbly-detailed visual walkthrough explores what happens at Google after you add a new piece of content (like this post) to the web. The designers of this infographic have decided to take a thoroughly digital process and make it analogue (ish), presenting the complex process is like an old school flow diagram, complete with biro arrows and a gridded background.

38. How would you like your graphic design?

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This venn diagram from Colin Harman hits the nail on the head when it comes to the value (and price) of good design. The simple design lays out all the things a client wants, invites the viewer to pick two, and tells them what the outcome will be. How badly do you want to show this to your clients? 

39. How do colours affect purchases?

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Ever gone shopping, arrived back at home with far too many purchases, and wondered where they all came from? Maybe this brilliant infographic from KISSmetrics will shed some light on the situation. It explores which colour illicit which emotional responses, and how different shades can be used to target different types of shoppers.

Report key findings

40. How Americans spend their paycheck

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Where does all the money go each month? Well thanks to CreditLoan's handy series of annual infographics, you can find out how the average American's spending habits shape up. The design covers everything from basic living expenses, to entertainment, to loan repayments.

41. Feltron Annual Report

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Nicholas Feltron is best known for being a member of the product design team at Facebook. But for 10 years (until 2014), he worked on a personal project called the Feltron annual report. Every year, the designer released the daddy of all infographics documenting everything he'd done in the previous 12 months. Awesome.

42. Chinese social media landscape

This is illustrator Jessica Draws' first ever animated infographic. She was commissioned by China Blueprint Online to design an infographic to communicate the benefits of using Chinese social media in Australia.

43. How social media affects travel

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As social media continues to be a part of our everyday lives, it's also becoming an important part of the way we travel. Tripl, a startup that allows users to share travel tips, trip itineraries, and photos from friends, created a cool infographic that shows how social media affects the way we travel.

44. How green is your iPad?

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This startling infographic was created by the team at Sortable and depicts just how bad your favourite gadget is for the environment. As depressing as the statistics shown may be, fear not, for there's light at the end of the recycling tunnel.

45. The Happy Show

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A thought provoking and interactive infographic exhibition by Stefan Sagmeister, The Happy Show offered visitors the experience of walking into the designer's mind as he attempts to increase his happiness via meditation, cognitive therapy, and mood-altering pharmaceuticals.

46. CBRE statistical report

This animated infographic from Mauco Sosa, VeniVideoVici and Pedro Cobo is about as beautiful as they come. "We were commissioned by CBRE to develop an infographic series based on a global real estate statistic report," they explain. "In order to do that, we developed a unique visual system to give the series its own personality, and to be used for the company in all further communications."

Present a timeline

47. The Apple tree

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This infographic is little outdated now – it stops in 2009. But it's still worthy of inclusion for its clear graphic style, research and a smart play on words to boot. It just goes to show that the best infographics aren't necessarily the most complex. 

48. The life and times of Steve Jobs

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There are plenty of Apple infographics dotted around the internet but this one explaining the life and times of Steve Jobs caught our eye. Two threads – one dedicated to his life, and one to his work – interweave, so you can see how one impacts the other. The clever illustration and unique layout is what makes this infographic really stand out.

49. Airbnb then and now

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Airbnb lets you discover and book unique accommodations around the world, and it's incredible popularity is partly due to the company's focus on design. This infographic, by artist and designer Kelli Anderson,  displays Airbnb's company growth using simple typographic treatment paired with fun accommodation illustrations.

50. Instagram Nation

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The stats are out of date on this one, but this infographic from Online Colleges explores the meteoric rise of Instagram from its launch in 2010 through to its Android debut in 2012. A primary colour scheme and (pre-redesign) Instagram-inspired graphics give this infographic impact. 

Next page: More of the best infographics

Simplify complex data

51. 10 Most Dangerous Countries for Journalists

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Often infographics are used for journalistic purposes, to communicate large quantities of data – which may be on a global scale – in as clear and visual a way as possible. This example by Luke Shuman is a journalistic story about journalists themselves, focusing on the alarming statistics of deaths in the line of duty in different countries around the world, as well as related information such as how many go unsolved, and apparently related trends such as volume of online news and associated press freedom.

52. Imaginary Factory

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Illustrator, designer and typographer Jing Zhang has produced a whole load of adorable infographics. In this recent series, she breaks down the ingredients of your favourite cocktails, adding her own design flair with tiny figures and scenes from the drink's city of origin. Zhang also designed infographics exploring the inner workings of iPhones, cameras, clocks and TVs as well as coffees, cakes and teapots.

53. Wind map

Click the image to access the animation

A beautiful and original infographic, this animated wind map shows the delicate tracery of wind flowing over the US. The animation, developed by artists Fernanda Viégas and Martin Wattenberg, creates a series of beautiful patterns depending on which direction the wind is flowing. This project is also interactive, so you can zoom in to see more details in a specific area.

54. The brain of a blogger

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This hilarious infographic shares a peek inside the mind of a blogger. And while much of it is tongue-in-cheek, there's plenty of valuable takeaways for newbie bloggers buried in there too. If you're thinking of starting a blog, this infographic is a pretty good place to begin.

55. Dribbble: A HTML5 interactive infographic

Click the image to go to the interactive infographic

This interactive infographic for Dribbble is lovely and creative. It's the work of Bristol-based designer Jamie Brightmore, who created his own icon illustrations and brought them to life with CSS3 and HTML5. The simple and sleek design makes this infographic stand out.

56. Kobe Bryant

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Even if you're not interested in NBA basketball, you'll probably heard of Kobe Bryant. In 2012 he became the youngest player in NBA history to score over 30,000 career points, and the LA Lakers released this infographic, designed by J Alexander Diaz, that gives you an insight to Kobe Bryant scoring numbers over the course of 17 seasons.

How-to guides

57. How to learn how to draw

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Anna Vital is an information designer and has launched her own infographic making tool, Adioma. Vital specialises in clear, pared back infographics based around simple icons, and this design offering a guide to how to learn to draw, is a great example. It removes the complexity from the process and turns it into a step-by-step guide (granted, it may take a little while to master each step). 

58. How to become a creative genius in 5 days

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There is never a bad time to try something new and to set yourself challenges, but sometimes you need a little push. To get creatives up and running, Zippi has produced this great infographic that shows you how to start making your masterpiece in less than a week.

Stuffed with tips on how to get inspiration, tackle creative blocks and promote yourself, this colourful infographic walks you through each day of the process.

59. 12 dos and don'ts of using Facebook for business

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Tuning a blind eye to the, er, 'functional' design and questionable apostrophe use, this handy infographic from Hubspot outlines the best practises when it comes to promoting yourself and your business online. From focusing your posts on peak times to not posting too much, these 12 tips will certainly get you on the right track if you're just starting out with your business page. It was originally designed in 2015, but was updated in September 2017 to reflect updates to the service.

60. How to design the perfect logo

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Want to design the perfect logo? This logo design infographic shares some advice. And while the list may seem daunting (it's easier said than done to create something timeless, new, unique and enticing), it's a great checklist you can use to see if your designs are on the right track.

61. Accessibility challenges in email

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By now, we all know that making sure our designs are accessible to people with disabilities is a win for everyone, but this infographic showcases exactly what you can do to make sure of it. It covers everything from colour blindness to neurological disorders, as well as including some eye-opening stats to show the proportion of the population you'll be excluding if you don't pay heed to these rules.

62. How to be a superhero

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Want to be a superhero? This infographic shows you how you can acquire a back story, a secret identity and even an arch-nemesis – you'll be the next Superman (or Batman, or whoever your favourite is) in no time. This adorable infographic is the work of Canadian illustrator Zia Somjee. Whether you're concerned about which colour spandex you should opt for or how you'll go about finding your superpower, look no further than this fun and inspiring offering.

Related articles:

• What colours say about your brand identity and industry
• 9 simple ways to become more creative
• 20 most important design principles illustrated

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