Don’t miss these key tips for clear and effective custom infographics
- Julia Fletcher
- 2 days ago
- 7 min read
If you’ve ever tried to explain a complex technical or scientific concept, you know how tricky it can be to keep your audience’s attention. Long paragraphs can blur together causing people to skim or their mind to drift.
Right at the drift-away point is where an infographic can pull someone back in. These visual layouts turn data and ideas into something people can scan, remember, and share. In this article, I’ll walk through practical tips for creating custom infographics that make an impact, especially for technical and scientific topics.
Not all infographics work. Some feel crowded and confusing, while others are clear, succinct, and satisfying to read. The goal is to create designs that fall into that second category.
Why effective custom Infographics Matter - The Power of Visual Storytelling
Before we get into how to build one, it helps to ask: why bother with infographics at all?
Our brains latch onto images quickly. A strong visual can get a point across in a few seconds, where a full page of text might still leave people struggling to confirm the main points.
Effective Custom Infographics can:
Break down complex information
Help people remember key points
Support your credibility as a clear thinker
Share well on social platforms and in presentations.
Connect with people who learn visually, not just through text
Infographic Creation Tips - Build a Clear Visual Story
Now for the practical side. These are core design habits that help infographics work in real scientific and technical settings.
1. Start with a single main point
Ask yourself: If someone glances at this for 10–15 seconds, what should they walk away with?
Write that sentence down first. Your layout, data choices, and graphics should all serve that one idea.
2. Write for the real people reading it
Think about who will see this. Are they research scientists in your field? Cross-functional partners? Patients? Investors?
For experts, you can use domain terms but keep the layout clean.
For mixed audiences, keep labels tight and use short, clear phrasing.
Steer clear of jargon-heavy language, but don’t talk down to anyone. Aim for clarity that still feels human.
3. Keep the details manageable.
An infographic is not a white paper squeezed into a PNG format. Choose:
3–7 key points,
one main data set, or
a single process you want to show.
Use white space on purpose. Empty space is not wasted; it gives the eye room to breathe and makes each element feel more intentional.
4. Create a clear path for the eye
Readers should know where to look first, second, and third.
You can guide them by:
Using numbered steps
Adding arrows or gentle directional cues
Grouping related items in boxes or regions
Keeping a consistent reading order (top to bottom, left to right)
If someone must think about where to look next, the layout is doing too much.
5. Match visuals to the type of information
Different structures fit different goals:
Pie charts – proportions or parts of a whole
Bar charts – comparisons across categories
Line charts – change across time
Flow diagrams – processes, pipelines, or pathways
Layered diagrams – systems, hierarchies, or “zoomed-in” views
Pick the format that makes the point quickest and least confusing.
6. Use a Limited, Intentional Color Palette
Pick a small set of colors that fit your brand and stick with them:
One base color (often a brand color)
One or two accent colors
Neutral grays for background elements
Use color to highlight what matters, not to decorate every piece. If everything shouts, nothing stands out.
7. Choose fonts for clarity
Use clean, readable fonts and keep the mix minimal:
One font for headings
One for body text
Make sure numbers, labels, and captions are legible even on a phone screen. Try to avoid long blocks of text in all caps or italics.
8. Add a straightforward next step
Once someone finishes reading, what happens?
Do you want them to read a full article?
Request a demo?
Share it with colleagues?
End with a short, visible prompt that nudges them in that direction.
Working with Google’s Nano Banana Pro for Custom Infographics
If you’re exploring AI as part of your creative process, Google’s Nano Banana Pro (Gemini Nano Pro) works well as a quick-thinking partner for ideation, early concepts, and simple design planning. It runs on-device, which makes it fast and handy for shaping ideas before you open your design software.
1. Use Nano Banana to distill your idea
Before you start sketching layouts, paste in a rough draft of your explanation and ask for:
A version in 3–5 short steps
A summary for a slide heading
A bullet list of the most important points
You can prompt it with lines like:
“Turn this paragraph into 4 short steps suitable for an infographic.”“What is the single most important statement in this description?”
This gives you a clean backbone for your visual.
2. Ask for structural variations
Once you have the key points, let Nano Banana suggest possible layouts. For example:
“Suggest three different ways to structure these points: process, comparison, or layered system.”
You might get ideas such as:
A vertical step-by-step layout
A side-by-side comparison
A circular diagram that shows feedback loops
You still choose the final form, but you get more options with less effort.
3. Turn technical text into visual instructions
Dense language can hide strong visuals. You can ask Nano Banana to translate text into design-ready guidance:
“Describe how I could show this concept with icons and simple shapes.”
“Suggest symbols or metaphors for these three ideas.”
For example, for a data pipeline it might suggest disks for storage, arrows for flow, filters for quality checks, and so on. This jump-starts your planning phase.
4. Use nano banana to shape a brand-aligned style guide
To keep your infographics consistent, ask Nano Banana to help you define simple rules:
“Create a small style guide for my infographics using cobalt blue as the main color and two supporting accent colors. Include notes on line weight, spacing, and icon style.”
You can then apply that system in Illustrator, Figma, Canva, or your tool of choice, so each new piece feels like it belongs to the same family.
5. Get help choosing accurate visuals for your data
Charts can mislead if scales, color, or framing distort the message. Before you chart anything, ask:
“Here is my dataset. Suggest chart types that present this information in a fair, clear way.”
“Point out any ways this graph might confuse readers.”
This can catch issues with truncated axes, cluttered labels, or overloaded visuals.
6. Let nano banana draft prompts for other creative tools
If you use Midjourney, Firefly, or other image tools to generate assets, have Nano Banana write detailed prompts for you. For example:
“Write a prompt for a flat vector background for a scientific infographic: cobalt blue base, subtle geometric patterns, light gradients, no text.”
Or:
“Describe an icon set for lab equipment, assay plates, and signal readouts in a clean, minimalist style.”
You can feed those prompts into your image tools and then refine the outputs in design software.
7. Treat nano banana as a reviewer
Once you have a draft of your infographic, describe it (or share the text content) and ask for feedback:
“Here is the structure and text for my infographic. Where might readers feel overwhelmed or lost?”
“Suggest three ways to simplify this while keeping scientific accuracy.”
Treat it like a fast review partner that spots clutter, missing labels, or confusing sequences.
8. Let nano banana handle Alt Text and Metadata
Accessibility and search often get rushed at the end. Nano Banana can help you with:
Alt text that describes the main visual idea
Short captions or posts that pair with the graphic on social channels
Page copy that sits below the image on your site
Prompt ideas:
“Write alt text for this infographic that explains the main idea in one sentence.”
“Write a 2–3 sentence summary that can sit under the infographic on a web page.”
This gives your graphic more reach and makes it usable in more contexts.
The Value of Custom Infographic Design
Template-based tools are helpful, but a custom design does something different. When you create a graphic built around your data, your language, and your audience, it becomes part of your larger brand system.
Custom infographics let you:
Show results or mechanisms that only your team has
Match the visual tone to your field and your values
Avoid generic layouts that feel interchangeable
Double-check every label and visual for technical accuracy
For scientific and technical work, this attention to detail shows respect for both the subject and the reader.
Make Your Infographics Work for You
Once you’ve created a graphic, put it to work in more than one place:
Drop it into blog posts and articles to break up long sections of text
Share sections or crops of it on social channels
Use it inside slide decks for talks, lab meetings, or investor updates
Include it in email newsletters to pull readers into a topic
Print it as a handout or mini-poster for conferences and workshops
On your website, add a short text summary, a descriptive file name, and alt text. This helps both humans and search engines.
Final Thoughts
Effective infographics rely on both design clarity and subject knowledge. By applying a few simple design principles—and using Nano Banana Pro as a planning partner—you can present complex science in a format that’s easy for people to absorb. Start small:
Pick one concept you care about
Write the main point in a single sentence
Let Nano Banana help you shape the structure
Build a clean, focused layout around that spine
From there, each new infographic becomes easier, more consistent, and more useful for the people you’re trying to reach.
Want more tips on visual communication for science and technology? Subscribe to get new articles, examples, and workflows delivered to you.
If you need help with AI design, don't forget to contact JEFS for help!
If you like this story, you may want to check out this one too: https://www.jefstorytellingarts.com/post/leveraging-customized-marketing-approaches-for-success
Julia Fletcher (JEFS) is founder of JEFS Storytelling Arts, a graphic design studio, where she uses her unique research skills and artistic talents to create custom visual stories that help clients’ increase engagement and promote the education of their audience.
Comments