Infographics and the entrepreneur @ thinkbeta.com

Infographics and the entrepreneur

Posted on April 20th, 2010 admin 42 comments

Banner from here: http://www.coolinfographics.com/

According to the world’s most comprehensive data base , Wikipedia, Infographics is defined thus: “Information graphics or infographics are visual representations of information, data or knowledge. These graphics are used where complex information needs to be explained quickly and clearly, such as in signs, maps, journalism, technical writing, and education. They are also used extensively as tools by computer scientists, mathematicians, and statisticians to ease the process of developing and communicating conceptual information.”

I assert herein that as a tool, infographics is a requirement for every entrepreneur to have both a understand of, and a facility in creating for competitive advantage. As in Prezi, which we blogged about yesterday, entrepreneurs have to use “what they have access to better than their competitors, as do students competing in the classroom and in life after.” [BTW, there IS a life after ] Further, at least a basic infographics course should be a requirement for all Krannert management students, and an elective for everyone else including the Entrepreneurship Certificate Program. Why do you ask?

Often times entrepreneurs have to explain to potential investors, customers, employees or government regulators very complex data and/or concepts in a very short period of time in a compact manner. The viewer in a glance [remember short attention spans we are developing in coming generations!] has to drink all they desire of the essence of your communication. Infographics has the ability to accomplish this with a minimum of space and time. While it is way beyond the scope of this blog to turn readers into infographic engineers, as a minimum, take a gander at the following links and the infographic on entrepreneurs embedded below. Links: here, here, and here. There’s a considerable bonus in the final Charles River Ventures presentation for students in my ENTR200 classes who include a great infographic in their presentations/paper 4/29/10. Hank

From here: http://grasshopper.com/blog/founders/2010/04/12/results-are-in-the-entrepreneur-state-of-mind-2010/

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42 responses to “Infographics and the entrepreneur”
1. Kamran Malhance April 20th, 2010 at 07:24
  
  This is a brilliant idea. I can count several occasions when i could have utilized this. Similar to wikipedia it provides quick and simple insight into a topic which you can further research later, if it strikes your intrest. This eliminates a lengthy process that often becomes a hassle when you’re short on time.
2. Justin de la Chi(cago) April 20th, 2010 at 08:59
  
  I have used and created these in one form or another for quite some time, without ever having defined them. I feel that imagery, text, and data can live harmoniously when presented in a visually stimulating manner.
  
  Some of the cool ones are fantastic. I have one about an Engineer’s Guide to Drinks.
  
  I do agree that this should be part of the Entrepreneurship curriculum, or at the very least, a possible elective through Krannert. Maybe we should create a few great ones and sell the idea….
  
  J
3. Anthony Sikorski April 20th, 2010 at 09:10
  
  I was surprised when you said that their were no infographic classes offered at Purdue. Krannert seems like the perfect place to start one and seems like a classe that should be offered, at least as an elective. I like that infogrpahics help you get to the point and show all of your data in an easy to read format. Hopefully, one of these classes will be offered int he near future.
4. Spencer Abrams April 20th, 2010 at 09:38
  
  As a Krannert student, I can vouch that there is no class called Infographics, but we do cover how to create graphs using Microsoft Office in CS235 (required to graduate). While I realize the graphs made in Office aren’t quite as pretty as the ones above, they get the job done, and can be created quickly and easily.
5. Ravi Mody April 20th, 2010 at 09:43
  
  This is a cool idea. It is much like Prezi in that it seems complex and professional but may actually be easy to use.
  
  I can vouch and say that it works because its usually difficult to read a bunch of statistics but this infographic made it interesting enough to get me to read each of them.
6. Josh Graves April 20th, 2010 at 09:47
  
  interesting, im not sure that there is a HUGE market for it, but if there is a cheap way for a company to buy some infographics for their customers to see it would be worth it.
7. Michael Tym April 20th, 2010 at 09:48
  
  Infographics make statistics so much easierto view and hold your attention. I too was surprised when I read that krannert has no classes related to this. Hopefully there is at least an elective for something related to infographics or at least touches on it in some way.
8. Andrew Burke April 20th, 2010 at 09:56
  
  This could definitely be a great tool to help entrepreneurs differentiate themselves from the competition when trying to obtain investment capital or for other marketing purposes. I would certainly be interested in taking a course on infographics.
9. Kelly Plantz April 20th, 2010 at 09:56
  
  I could see this being a competitive advantage in a presentation. However, I know how to create easy simple infographics on Word. They may not be as cool or nice looking as the ones above but they get the job done. And I could see that a class may be beneficial to teach students infographics but I disagree with it. Students should already know and understand how to use them its very simple to create them and especially should be for our generation and how technology savvy we are.
10. Austin Collins April 20th, 2010 at 10:05
  
  I really like this idea of showing off your business to other people in a simple and short way. It has a lot of detail in a short space which is great for a fast informative presentation.
11. Jaideep Singh April 20th, 2010 at 10:20
  
  Is there a software like prezi for creating these kind of infographs? I think these are very convenient in explaining and engaging the audience. Also I think Donald Trump has incredible hair.
12. Keegan Klauke April 20th, 2010 at 10:24
  
  This is nice and all, but some people would prefer to be given a little more info on the polled audience to understand what creditability the graphics show. I know my engineering background leads me to be curious about the study as a whole.
13. Angeline Tran April 20th, 2010 at 10:30
  
  Everyone loves graphs because you can visualize data easily without too much brain power so its good idea to make it more interesting and push how far the graphics can go.
14. Craig Hasbargen April 20th, 2010 at 10:32
  
  I am disappointed that a class is not offered on infographics.
  
  Time magazine always does a good job with the layout of their infographs as well as smaller companies such as USAA. USAA does a superior job comparing their funds and accounts to other banks with infographs.
15. Jacob Higbee April 20th, 2010 at 11:22
  
  A class on infographics would be very beneficial for every profession. Data communication is often times a difficult task to accomplish during a presentation and to do it in an eye catching and also very effective manner provides great benefits. As an entrepreneurship and management student this will be useful for the rest of my college and job career.
16. Dan Wyss April 20th, 2010 at 12:19
  
  This is a good idea. It can make a business look better and can really be beneficial. It seems really short and to the point and that’s really important to people these days.
17. Taylor Gelsosomo April 20th, 2010 at 12:22
  
  I’m surprised they don’t offer a class like this here. It would be really smart to make this a requirement for business students since most people will have to deal with interpreting and displaying data at some point in their careers.
18. Brett Cohen April 20th, 2010 at 13:00
  
  It makes a lot of sense to use infographics instead of trying to hammer out the same statistics in a paragraph format. Using this tool would really help in the long run.
19. Spencer Childers April 20th, 2010 at 14:06
  
  i like the idea.. it would be something that i would be interested in taking.
20. Thomas Gick April 20th, 2010 at 14:23
  
  Great idea, well designed and easy to understand
21. Meiqi Zhao April 20th, 2010 at 15:07
  
  I think there is no classes teaching infographics at Purdue. It is really a necessary skill that each Krannert student needs to learn. As people have quick life style, it is important to know how to inform your information fast and let consumers easier understand.
22. Keith Carlos April 20th, 2010 at 18:08
  
  info graphics make statistics so much easier to view and comprehend. It has a lot of detail in not a specious area which can be great for a fast informative presentation.
23. Cortez Smith April 20th, 2010 at 18:16
  
  Infographics is an product thats has a mind of its own. I say that because of the colors and how it flows along with the picture and the presentation that it is presented in. It shows what is being done at certain moments and it fits well with business showing others how they are progressiing with their products. Its an brilliant idea to me.
24. abawa April 20th, 2010 at 18:49
  
  I am a person who learns best with visual information rather than bookish stuff. Infographics is an excellent option for people like me. Pity we do not have a class teaching this at Purdue! I would definitely take the class if available.
25. Zachary Mirsberger April 20th, 2010 at 20:25
  
  This looks like a really cool website. I really like the work they do for annual reports for companies. Great way to make visuals work to convey a message.
26. Aditya Chaudhari April 20th, 2010 at 20:52
  
  This is interesting and attention grabbing because it presents unique facts that are separated into different categories. Very organized.
27. Justin Riley April 20th, 2010 at 22:16
  
  This is a cool website. It is a good way to get the information that you have into whatever kind of graphs you want in an easy fashion. The colors that they use are somewhat eye catching too. This is a great thing for companies to use or someone that has a project they have to do for school or something of that sort.
28. Byron Young April 20th, 2010 at 22:33
  
  This is definitely a unique idea! People can only understand information they can understand the numbers. The graphs make the information easier to read, but also can take complex information and turn it into something simple. Also, the special effects help engage the audience.
29. Abhinandan De April 21st, 2010 at 00:00
  
  interesting stats but surely infographics convey a lot of information in a small but cohesive way that anyone can understand.
30. Ben Albers April 21st, 2010 at 11:47
  
  Infographics show information in a clean and simple way. That is why businesses like them so much. There needs to be a class for this so I can know how to create one in order to impress possible future employers
31. Harsh Sanghvi April 21st, 2010 at 13:31
  
  Numbers usually tend to get boring in a presentation. This is a very cool way of presenting stats.
32. Jeff Olen April 21st, 2010 at 14:16
  
  Math and science in general, to me, tend to be very boring when you are just looking at the words. But for infographics, this is changing that world. I think that it is awesome for something like the to come out so that way they can make things a lot more interesting and it can be a lot more fun to teach and learn.
33. Maria Del Real April 21st, 2010 at 18:11
  
  Infographics really speak to you. Many people are visual learners and using them makes communication of ideas more efficient.
34. Curtis Brackett April 21st, 2010 at 20:17
  
  I would have to say that I agree with you Hank when you say that there should be a required course on Infographics for all Krannert management students as well as students in pursuit of the Entrepreneurship Certificate. The ability to be able to effectively use Infographis in today’s demanding and high pace entrepreneurial world is simply a must.
35. Jack Kennedy April 22nd, 2010 at 08:06
  
  I’ve done my fair share of work in the graphics design world. Its fun, but difficult, especially to achieve something that is very easy to understand. Communication is key!
36. Blake Bronowicki April 22nd, 2010 at 09:00
  
  This is a great model that can really alert people of the important aspects of businesses and I think it is a wonderful thing. Using Infographics should be taught I definately agree with that and this could really educate young entrepreneurs to understand each aspects of businesses to make them better off in the future.
37. Zach Morgan April 22nd, 2010 at 10:02
  
  This to me is a great concept for any business to utilize. It definitely enhances any presentation. Most people are intrigued by useful statistics regarding something that they have a connection with. It is even more intriguing when you can put those numbers in graphics.
38. Casey Piquette April 22nd, 2010 at 20:56
  
  Infographics is really crucial to catching the audiences attention. It is very important, in such a competitive market to stand out. Marketing and design can even play a role in statistics. I would love a course at Purdue that would be just about learning new “cool” online technologies. Like this, prezi, wix, iphone programming. There is so much potential!
39. Letteer Lewis April 22nd, 2010 at 23:16
  
  Seems like a great way to appeal visual learners. These particular sets of data were so simple to understand. I like the variety that the program provides.
40. Andrew Huff April 23rd, 2010 at 10:08
  
  Using visual graphs and images as an entrepreneur is vital. When presenting your company and your idea you have to be perfectly clear. If people aren’t sure what you’re presenting they are not going to invest. Images and graphs allow you as a presenter to get your point across clearly and quickly.
41. Courtney M. Cronk April 23rd, 2010 at 19:40
  
  ooooOOOooo i like it! graphs, pictures, and loud colors tend to get audiences attention. I plan to use one if i can fit it
42. Justin de la Chi(cago) April 28th, 2010 at 15:00
  
  Infographic of the Day: What Colors Mean Across 10 Cultures
  
  http://www.fastcompany.com/1627581/infographic-of-the-day-what-different-colors-mean-across-10-different-cultures?partner=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+fastcompany%2Fheadlines+%28Fast+Company+Headlines%29
  
  For all of those International Marketers and Brand Developers, here is a link to meanings of colors internationally.
  
  J
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