People respond to stories – stories about you, stories about them, stories about the world around them.
Data can tell a compact and highly shareable story if it’s presented the right way. Infographics offer a clean, readable and fun venue for showcasing your visual story – plus, they’re pretty popular right now.
But not every business has the resources to create a good infographic. You might have all the parts you need for a good story but lack the design.
Luckily, a number of free tools can help you.
For Sharing Data
Infographics can share a story with your own data or with someone else’s data. You might have the perfect story idea, but no time to compile the research yourself.
These are two of our favorite tools for creating visuals from other people’s data:
Google Databoard
Released by Google in early July, Databoard lets you explore Google’s own research topics and share charts with your followers.
You can also compile relevant charts into your own infographic and share it or use it for your own internal needs.
Visual.ly
Visual.ly is part infographic library, part infographic creator. Browse through a ton of already-made infographics to share with your audience, or create your own visualization.
Their Create tool pulls together data from your social networks. You can track the health of your business’s Facebook page with easy-to-read graphs, or show off your impact to your followers.
These social infographics could be a fun addition to your end-of-the-year round-up showing what an awesome year your business has had.
For Creating Your Own Story
Other people’s data can only get you so far. When it’s time to tell your own story, these are our favorite tools for doing it quickly and aesthetically – and for free.
Easel.ly
Do you have a great visual story to tell, but not much data? Then Easel.ly is your graphic builder.
They’ve got 14 templates to choose from, but their editor includes so many icons, graphs and text styles that you can easily create something unique and appealing.
Easel.ly is ideal for creating flowcharts, maps and visual comparisons.
Infogr.am
Do you have tons of awesome data from a study you ran? Then Infogr.am is the tool for you.
Infogr.am lets you import your data into its editor for easy creation, with tons of styled graphs and charts you can add to their pre-designed templates.
Which One’s Your Favorite?
Out of these four, which your favorite tool for presenting and sharing your visual stories? Or is there another resource you’ve found and love more? Let us know in the comments!