Infographic Toolkit for AMH Research

Infographic Toolkit

for AMH Research

September 2021

Provincial Addiction & Mental Health

Infographic Toolkit

for AMH Research

Alberta Health Services

Provincial Addiction & Mental Health

Updated: Oct 2021

Contents

Purpose ..................................................................................................................................... 4

Part 1: Design resources ............................................................................................................ 4

AHS branding ......................................................................................................................... 4

Other resources ..................................................................................................................... 4

Part 2: Infographic tips & tricks ................................................................................................... 6

Collect data ............................................................................................................................ 6

Create a narrative .................................................................................................................. 6

Develop a hierarchy ............................................................................................................... 6

Determine infographic format ................................................................................................. 6

Determine infographic layout .................................................................................................. 7

Visual approach ..................................................................................................................... 7

Find examples .................................................................................................................... 7

Choose colours ................................................................................................................... 8

Choose fonts ....................................................................................................................... 8

Structure information ........................................................................................................... 8

Ways to represent data ....................................................................................................... 9

Using icons ......................................................................................................................... 9

Using images ...................................................................................................................... 9

Attributes of good infographics ............................................................................................... 9

Attributes of not-so-good infographics .................................................................................... 9

Infographic Toolkit

for AMH Research

Alberta Health Services

Provincial Addiction & Mental Health

Updated: Oct 2021

Project team

Project Manager:

Neha Batra-Garga, Manager

Knowledge Exchange

Provincial Addiction and Mental Health

Alberta Health Services

Prepared by

Cassandra Churchill, Knowledge Management Coordinator

Knowledge Exchange, Provincial Addiction and Mental Health

Anye Juressen, Consultant

Addiction and Mental Health Strategic Clinical Network™

Contact

Knowledge Exchange, Provincial Addiction and Mental Health

Alberta Health Services

[email protected]

This work is licensed under the

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivative 4.0 International

licence. You are free to copy and distribute the work (including in other media and formats) for non-commercial

purposes, as long as you attribute the work to Alberta Health Services, do not adapt the work, and abide by the other

licence terms. To view a copy of this licence, see

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. The licence

does not apply to Alberta Health Services trademarks, logos or content for which Alberta Health Services is not the

This material is intended for general information only and is provided on an "as is", "where is" basis. Although

reasonable efforts were made to confirm the accuracy of the information, Alberta Health Services does not make any

representation or warranty, express, implied or statutory, as to the accuracy, reliability, completeness, applicability or

fitness for a particular purpose of such information. This material is not a substitute for the advice of a qualified health

professional. Alberta Health Services expressly disclaims all liability for the use of these materials, and for any claims,

actions, demands or suits arising from such use.)

For citation purposes, use the following format:

Alberta Health Services. (2022). Infographic Toolkit for AMH Research. Edmonton, AB: Author.

Infographic Toolkit

for AMH Research

Alberta Health Services

Provincial Addiction & Mental Health

Updated: Oct 2021

Purpose

This resource has been designed to help addiction and mental health (AMH) researchers

communicate the results of their research to broad audiences using infographics. Infographics

are a great tool for providing a short and accessible research summary in a consumable format.

Part 1: Design resources

AHS branding

Materials produced for AHS should following branding requirements, discussed below.

Resource and URL Description

AHS Brand Toolkit

https://www.albertahealthservices.ca/asset

s/about/org/ahs-org-brand-toolkit.pdf

The AHS Brand Toolkit is a document that

provides information on the importance of AHS

branding.

It includes guidelines regarding logos, icons,

images, typography, and colours.

Other resources

For those producing materials external to AHS, the following resources may be helpful.

Resource and URL Description

Choosing colour combinations/schemes

HTML Color Codes

https://html-color-codes.info/

Easily find HTML colour codes/hex colour codes

for use in your infographic using the colour chart

and picker.

Convert between colour formats (HEX, RGB,

HSL, HSV, CMYK) by inserting a colour code in

the format you have.

Upload images from your computer or insert links

to online images to access their colour codes.

Infographic Toolkit

for AMH Research

Alberta Health Services

Provincial Addiction & Mental Health

Updated: Oct 2021

W3Schools HTML Color Picker

https://www.w3schools.com/colors/colors_

picker.asp

Easily find HTML colour codes/hex colour codes

for use in your infographic, including hues and

shades.

Adobe Color CC

https://color.adobe.com/create/color-

wheel/

Create and explore different colour schemes to

use in your infographic. Create your own colour

scheme or explore pre-made colour schemes.

Coolors

https://coolors.co/

A colour-scheme generator that allows you to

create and save colour palettes. Create your own

colour scheme or explore thousands of pre-made

colour schemes.

The Noun Project

https://thenounproject.com/

Collection of copyright free icons. Although many

of the icons are in black and white, they can be

recoloured in PowerPoint, Paint, or other

software.

https://www.pexels.com/

Collection of free images/photos for use in your

infographic.

https://unsplash.com/

https://pixabay.com/en/

https://www.freepik.com/

Infographic examples

https://www.designspiration.net

Search these infographic and design sites for

inspiration.

https://www.behance.net

Infographic Toolkit

for AMH Research

Alberta Health Services

Provincial Addiction & Mental Health

Updated: Oct 2021

Part 2: Infographic tips & tricks

Collect data

Collect data and determine the most important pieces of information to include in the

infographic.

Create a narrative

Create the narrative by asking:

• What is the purpose of my infographic?

• What do I want my audience to take away after viewing

my infographic?

• What is the story I want to tell?

• Is my intent to inform, educate, summarize, or argue a

point?

In your narrative, identify the ‘heroes’ that will lead your story:

• The ‘heroes’ are critical pieces of data or information that serve as the key messages

and will organize your infographic

Develop a hierarchy

Using your narrative, create an outline of your infographic story:

• Identify the order in which you want people to interact with your information

• Organize your ‘heroes’ or critical pieces – this is the backbone of your hierarchical

structure

• Arrange the supporting elements of information or data around your critical pieces to tell

the rest of the story – this can be background information, supporting data sets, or any

additional information to be included

Determine infographic format

Consider the format your infographic will be displayed in:

• Will it be print or digital?

• What is the size of your infographic?

Consider your audience and the language you use:

• Is your audience internal or external to AHS?

• What level of knowledge do they have on the subject matter?

Tip:

If you’re not a designer, note

that a compelling narrative

outshines a beautiful design.

Infographic Toolkit

for AMH Research

Alberta Health Services

Provincial Addiction & Mental Health

Updated: Oct 2021

Determine infographic layout

Set your margins and columns:

• Whichever program you are using to design the

infographic, you must create a structure for placing

your elements within

Set your margins anywhere from 0.5in x 0.5in to 1in x 1in

• Create columns to guide how you align your

information

o Choose between three or four columns

o This creates balance and proportion

Align your infographic’s elements with your margins and

columns:

• Align visual and textual elements to your vertical

columns

• Align your graphics with their accompanying text either horizontally or vertically

• Most users read left to right, so use middle aligned text sparingly – especially with large

bodies of text

Visual approach

Now that you have your narrative, hierarchical structure, format, and layout for your infographic,

you can start the visual approach.

Find examples

• Collect a few examples of infographics that can guide

the look and feel of your infographic

o Examples can also provide guidance on how to

visualize data sets

• Search on Google or Pinterest

o Either broadly by searching “infographics”, or

more specifically, for example “cannabis

infographics”

Trick:

Draw your columns and

margins on your page so that

they are easy to follow.

Tip:

If you have a project sponsor,

ask if there are certain styles

you must adhere to – colours,

fonts, images, graphics, etc.

Also ask which logos must be

included.

Infographic Toolkit

for AMH Research

Alberta Health Services

Provincial Addiction & Mental Health

Updated: Oct 2021

Choose colours

• Select two to three colours to use in your infographic (two

is recommended)

o Use AHS branding colours if it is an AHS-only

project

o If there are non-AHS project sponsors, there might

be more leniency as to the colours you can use

• Coloured text can be used for headings and call-outs

o Avoid using coloured body text

• Use colour to purposefully draw attention

Choose fonts

• Use AHS branding fonts, unless allowed otherwise

• Assign fonts and font sizes to different levels of information

(headings, body, call-outs) and use consistently throughout

infographic

Structure information

• Create a bold and descriptive title for your infographic

• Using your hierarchical structure, create headings for each

section of information

• Arrange your supporting elements of information and data

under the headings

o Group alike elements together

o Utilize white space

 White space signifies relationships and can

be used to separate or group elements

 White space is used to create comfortable

silence and allows readers to breath

throughout the infographic

• In blocks of text, ensure that there are no ‘lonely’ words in the last line

o Reorganize your paragraph so that there are at least two words in the last line

Tip:

Use the colour red very

sparingly.

Tip:

Stick to using three fonts

or less – too many

makes it busy.

Tip:

Objects closer together

are perceived as more

related than objects

further apart.



Trick:

Use lines, coloured

boxes, and shapes to

assist in structuring

elements.

Infographic Toolkit

for AMH Research

Alberta Health Services

Provincial Addiction & Mental Health

Updated: Oct 2021

Ways to represent data

• Identify transformable data sets and turn them into charts, graphs, diagrams, etc.

depending on which format works best

Using icons

• Assign icons to information, lists, headings, categories, etc.

• Utilize the AHS icon catalogue (link in Resources section

above)

o Contact Communications for individual icon images

• Icons are popular and can easily be used alongside text to

simplify complex information

• Ensure your icons have similar ‘styles’ (bold, thin, thick

lines, thin lines, colours, black and white, 2-D, 3-D, etc.)

Using images

• If using images, ensure the ‘style’ of the images are the

same

• Ensure images are high resolution

• Do not stretch images

o Hold down shift button while enlarging / shrinking

Attributes of good infographics

Good infographics have the following characteristics:

• Minimal and simplistic

• Consistency in icons, shapes, typography

• Minimal colour choice – nothing overly distracting

• Visual hierarchy clearly established in graphics –

something jumps out at you and anchors the rest

• Varying levels of engagement offered – allow for

quick scans as well as deep exploration

• Accurate data, represented in an appropriate way

Attributes of not-so-good infographics

Ineffective infographics commonly have the following characteristics:

• Everything equal in scale and fighting for attention – if every element wants attention,

then nothing gets it

• Many different fonts and colours

Tip:

If chosen correctly, icons

are quick visual cues

that aid in understanding

and remembering.

Tip:

Use images sparingly.

Trick:

When you are done creating your

infographic, print it out, look at

the infographic as a whole, and

note what your eyes are drawn to

first.

If these are the ‘heroes’ then you

are in good shape. If you find

there are too many things

popping out at you at once -

reorganize your content.