World's Best Infographics

Think back to your first memory: Can you still see the watermelon pink dress you wore? Do you remember the unique checkered pattern of your father's jacket?

Our memories are often linked to visual and sensory elements, while the words spoken or read can be more hazy. That's because our brains have a high capacity for storing visuals in our long-term memory, while text enters our working memory, which is limited. 

This contributes to why infographics and the inclusion of visual content in online information has been so successful. Readers crave visual breaks from the overload of text-based information that floods our daily browsing and work-related activities. 

NeoMam Studios studied how people process visual information, how visuals affect the way we read, and why graphics are so appealing. Discover the science behind why our brains crave infographics....

Every year people proclaim the death of something or other in marketing -- and the death of the infographic doesn't escape conversation. It's probably because while more people have caught on to the power of infographics for communications or marketing initiatives, not all of them are doing it well -- so it's hard to separate the wheat from the chaff.

These 15, however, managed to stand out. My criteria here were not scientific. I looked for infographics that I simply could not stop reading til the very end -- or in the case of the interactive ones in the latter half of this post, the ones I couldn't stop exploring. Enjoy perusing the best of what 2014's infographics had to offer, ranked in no particular order (except for #1 -- I love #1)....

This infographic about infographics utilizes a cool blueprint flowchart concept.. something you’d think of as stereotypical for a blueprint. It’s cool, but it might be a tad ironic – it’s harder to read than you’d like it to be. Let’s jump into the things that you should focus on to make sure your infographic looks simple, readable and beautiful.