Introduction: Why are “mistakes” in infographics fatal?

In the modern business world with an overload of information, infographicstake advantage of the fact that visual information is processed 60,000 times faster than textto dramatically improve the efficiency of decision-making and communication. However, “superficial infographics” can instead cause information chaos and may lead to business losses.

Despite 98.8% of people admitting that “infographics make it easier to understand” (BizHits survey, 2024), in reality, mistakes such as information overload and misrepresentation of data have halved their value. In this article,we will thoroughly explain the seven fatal mistakes that professional designers are most wary ofand the AI-driven tool “PicDoc”Provides solutions leveraging [something not specified].

7 Mistakes to Avoid When Creating Infographics

1. Information Overload: The communicative power decreases when you 'try to cram everything in'

The most common failureis trying to collect more information than necessary. Although the processing speed of visual information is as high as about 30 milliseconds (Nature Neuroscience, 2010), when presenting more than 20 items of data at oncethe brain cannot organize the information and cognitive overload occursIn the quality report of a certain electronics parts manufacturer, as a result of creating a characteristic cause diagram listing as many as 20 causes of defects, a situation occurred where it took an average of more than 30 minutes for team members to understand.

PicDoc's solution:

AIAutomatically extracts core informationand visualizes only the top 5-7 items. You can drag and adjust the priority of items from the "Outline" tab.

2. Inappropriate selection of charts: Failing to prioritize "purpose over form"

Using a pie chart for a SWOT analysis or representing the passage of time with a pyramid diagramForm selection mistakesfundamentally distort information. In the customer journey map of a certain e-commerce company, representing the purchase flow with a matrix diagram made the customer's action sequence unclear, and the formulation of improvement measures was delayed by three weeks.

PicDoc's solutions：

Based on the input contentAutomatically recommend the most suitable chart typeFor example, if you enter "sales conversion", a funnel chart will be proposed.

3. Lack of design consistency: Color schemes and fonts are inconsistent

Using multiple fonts and unrelated color schemes can result in a loss of visual unity. According to research,Infographics with inconsistent color schemes can reduce the understanding speed by 40%will do (Design Society, 2023). In the organizational structure chart of a certain small and medium-sized enterprise, each department used its own color, resulting in a situation where the hierarchical relationship could not be understood at all.

PicDoc's solution：

Business/Technology/CreativityThemes such as can be applied in bulk. The fonts are unified, and the color scheme guarantees a WCAG-compliant contrast.

4. Misrepresentation of data: Manipulation of axis scales and distortion of ratios

Like the failure example of the BBC's poverty statistics mapExpressions that deliberately distort the ratio of dataIt undermines trust. In the sales trend graph of a certain beverage manufacturer, by starting the vertical axis not from 0 to create an impression of "rapid growth", it led to a loss of trust from investors.

PicDoc's solution：

At the time of data inputAutomatically perform a ratio checkIn a funnel chart, numerical labels are displayed.

5. Lack of viewer perspective: Abuse of jargon

When a product specification document containing many technical terms is directly visualized for general consumers, the comprehension rate drops to below 30% (Marketing Association, 2024). In the feature comparison table of a certain SaaS company, by using technical terms such as "API integration" and "SLA guarantee" as they are, inquiries from potential customers decreased by 50%.

PicDoc's solutions：

AI cangenerate text in an easy-to-understand expression tailored to the target audienceIf you add requirements regarding the difficulty level to the prompt, it is possible to generate text accordingly.

6. Structural disarray: Unclear visual guidance

If the directions of the arrows are inconsistent or the order of the items is illogical,it is unclear “where to start reading”It became a situation where the delivery date was delayed by one week because the order from start to end was reversed in the process management diagram of a certain project.

PicDoc's solution：

Automatically adjust the direction of the arrow and the thickness of the line, and add a “Start” mark at the starting point.

7. Inappropriate export format: File format that does not match the usage scenario

When using high-resolution PNG for presentations or sending uncompressed PDF for internal sharing,The file size becomes largeAnd sharing becomes difficult. In a certain marketing team, as a result of sending a 20MB infographic by email, it was blocked by the receiving email server.

PicDoc's solutions：

Supports 4 types of export formats(PNG/JPG/PDF/PPT). There is a compression option for SNS use, and batch output is possible in PPT format for presentations.

The correct creation flow using PicDoc

Flow 1: Generation from existing files

1. Upload Word/PDF/TXT/PNG

2. The AI extracts the core information and recommends charts.

3. Adjust the item order in the 'Outline' tab.

4. Select the color scheme/fonts and export.

Flow 2: Generation from keywords

1. Enter keywords such as 'SWOT analysis of new products for beginners'.

2. The AI generates text at the specified difficulty level.

3. Select the chart type and customize the details.

4. Generate a sharing link and share it with the team.

Summary: Let's create an easy-to-understand and trustworthy infographic with PicDoc.

The value of an infographic lies in "accurately conveying information". By avoiding the seven mistakes introduced in this article and leveraging PicDoc's AI features,even those without professional design skills can create an infographic that is easy to understand for 98.8% of people.

PicDoc iscompletely freeand is currently being offered.Please do make use of it in project management, customer proposals, internal strategy sharing, etc., and revolutionize the quality of information dissemination.

Responsible Editor - PicDoc Official Editing Team