How to Choose Your Infographic Color Schemes

How to Choose Your Infographic Color Schemes

Written by:
Hailey Hudson

Dec 01, 2021
An illustration showcasing an infographic with color choices.

Let’s be real: Choosing infographic color schemes can feel like a completely impossible task. There are so many different options and combinations that your head might spin just looking at the color wheel.

But there’s hope. Whether or not you’re a designer, if you keep a few key principles in mind, creating infographic color schemes isn’t that hard. In fact, it can actually be kind of fun.

Let’s look at some helpful tips that will simplify infographic color schemes once and for all. But first, why are infographics so important — and why should color be a part of your infographic strategy?

Here’s a short selection of 8 easy-to-edit infographic templates you can edit, share and download with Visme. View more templates below:

 

How Color Impacts Your Infographic 

If they aren’t already, infographics should be a valuable part of your content marketing. As the fourth most-used type of content marketing, infographics can increase website traffic by up to 12%. That’s why 65% of brands use infographics for marketing purposes. Infographics are a great way to distill information into an engaging, easy-to-consume visual.

While this should be a no-brainer, it’s essential for your infographics to include color. Don’t stay stuck in another decade with boring black-and-white visuals — use color to leave a lasting impression in your viewers’ minds. 

Color increases readers’ attention spans and recall by 82%. It also gains readership by 80% and makes an impression that is 39% more memorable. It’s clear that colorful infographics are a must.

Here’s what you need to do to choose the perfect color scheme for your next infographic.

 

Map Out A Strategy For Infographic Color Schemes 

Designing a good infographic takes a lot of time — time most of us don’t have. 

You might be tempted to just re-share a graphic or image created by someone else instead of starting from scratch. But the importance of producing your own visual content can’t be overstated. Remember, infographics are an excellent method of boosting your company’s online visibility.

So how can you design a killer infographic in less time? The answer: Start by mapping out a detailed strategy in advance. Carefully plan every step of your infographic, including what colors you’re going to use. 

You don’t want to just throw colors on your infographic at random. That’s a recipe for disaster. Make sure you set your plan of attack, nailing down a reason for every color you’re including.

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Know Your Target Audience

Think about the demographic that’s going to consume your content. Depending on who your target audience is, your color selections will vary. Different color combinations are more or less suited to different demographics — ages, locations, occupations, etc.

An audience of real estate professionals calls for more neutral, understated colors like blue and gray, which are commonly used in the business world (see below). 

A toy company, on the other hand, would be more attracted by bright primary colors. That’s why it’s best to think about exactly who your audience is before you start designing. 

A flowchart template available to customize in Visme.
Customize this infographic template and make it your own!Edit and Download

 

Use On-Brand Colors

Did you know that color can increase brand awareness by 80%? If you want your brand to stick in your customers’ minds, it’s important to draw heavily on your brand colors as you build your infographic color schemes. 

The goal of your infographic isn’t just to get across information and data. An infographic is also a piece of content marketing, which means it’s a way to promote your brand. And that means your brand colors need to be involved. 

Use Visme’s “grab colors from image” feature to access your brand colors from your website or from graphics created using another design tool. Then save those custom color palettes using Visme so you can apply your brand colors to all future infographics. 

 

Use Relevant Colors

The colors you select should be relevant to the content of the infographic itself. Does the infographic talk about water or swimming? Use shades of blue. Information about lipstick or fire trucks should be presented with plenty of red. 

This coffee-based infographic uses rich, warm tones of brown that are appropriate for the content the graphic contains. Using relevant colors helps your viewer’s mind make the connection and easily understand and retain the data presented.

A Venn diagram template available to customize in Visme.
Customize this infographic template and make it your own!Edit and Download

As you choose relevant colors, make sure they don’t clash with your brand colors. It’s most important for the entire graphic to have a cohesive, appealing look.

 

Evoke Emotion

Familiarize yourself with color psychology so you can strategically use color to produce the emotions you want your viewers to feel. Color influences our emotions, decisions and behavior in ways we don’t consciously realize. 

Think about what you want your viewer to feel or do after seeing your infographic. Then base your decisions in color psychology to choose colors that will elicit the correct response.

For example, yellow tends to make people feel energetic, optimistic and happy. Too much yellow can produce feelings of frustration and overwhelm, however. That’s why it’s so important to balance out the colors you select for your graphic.

A color psychology guide infographic.

 

 

Decide on A Number of Colors

You don’t want to use too many colors on your graphic. This can detract from the data you’re trying to explain. But too few colors will make a boring infographic. 2-3 colors is ideal. 

As you choose your primary colors and accent colors, consider how you’ll use those colors to highlight important information and make the graphic easier to follow. Our brains can only process so much of what we’re seeing at one time. That means color is a great tool to emphasize or de-emphasize key areas. 

For example, this infographic on the history of email uses a coral color to draw your gaze to the dates running down the center of the image. The color pops against the blue background and grabs your attention.

A timeline infographic template available to customize in Visme.
Customize this infographic template and make it your own!Edit and Download

 

Use Colors That Fit Well Together

Use the color wheel or Visme’s color picker tool to help you figure out which colors make sense together. 

According to the color wheel, there are three ways to choose color schemes: monochrome color schemes, triadic color schemes and complementary color schemes. 

Monochromatic color schemes can be created by selecting a single color and modifying all other characteristics — such as the value (the amount of black and white added to a certain color) and saturation (which affects the brightness and purity of the color) — to arrive at other tones and shades of the same hue.

Triadic color schemes are created by choosing three colors that are equidistant from each other on the color wheel.

Finally, complementary color schemes combine contrasting colors on the color wheel, like red and green or blue and orange. This system works best if one of the colors is dominant and the other serves to create contrast. 

 

Use The 60-30-10 Rule

Once you’ve decided which colors you’re going to use, you’ll need to figure out how much to use each color. Try the 60-30-10 rule to add balance to your graphic. 

This design rule states that 60% of your graphic should use one color (this base color is typically one that’s more neutral), 30% should use a complementary color and 10% should use an accent color.

This infographic relies on the purple background color, but also draws in orange and turquoise to help certain information pop.

A concept map template available to customize in Visme.
Customize this infographic template and make it your own!Edit and Download

You can’t go wrong with the 60-30-10 rule. It’s the best way to ensure you’re using each color an appropriate amount. This design rule gives you a formula to create infographics that are visually appealing and easy to take in.

 

Leave Empty Space

White space, or empty space, is important because it adds balance and makes the content easier to consume. See how this infographic has plenty of white, empty space? The uncluttered background makes it easy for your eyes to take in the text.

An informational infographic template available in Visme.
Customize this infographic template and make it your own!Edit and Download

Remember, less is more. Don’t be tempted to add too many details or elements that might clutter up your graphic. White space creates a better user experience.

 

Be Consistent 

Use Visme to save custom color palettes, allowing you to be consistent with your infographic color schemes not only within a single piece of content, but also with everything you put out.

Your color scheme likely won’t be the exact same every time. Remember, you want to make sure the colors you’re using are relevant to that specific piece of content. Some colors will vary based on the graphic’s subject matter and whether or not the graphic is seasonal. 

But it’s still important to make sure all of your infographics share common threads. That way, they’re easily recognizable as being yours. 

Create your own graphics and apply custom color schemes.

  • Simply copy and paste the hex codes
  • Use these colors in your presentations, printables, social graphics or any other visual content
  • Apply professionally selected color schemes with one click

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Use Visme For Infographic Color Schemes 

Choosing colors for an infographic might sound like a tall order. But the more you do it, the better you’ll get at the process. And choosing the right color scheme will take your infographics to the next level, increasing brand awareness for your company.

Don’t want to take the time to choose your own colors? Visme comes with 50 ready-to-use color presets. Infographic color schemes are made easy with our free drag-and-drop infographic maker. Save yourself some time and hassle and start creating killer infographics today!

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    About the Author

    Hailey Hudson is a full-time freelance writer and content marketer based out of Atlanta, Georgia, where her cat acts as coworker and supervisor. Hailey writes for clients like the BEE email editor, Kicksta, LYFE Marketing, and anyone else who will let her nerd out about digital marketing.