One of the most useful (and popular) ways to visualize a set of data is by presenting it through an infographic.
Information graphics are a visual representation of information and data, but this is not just some trend. They were actually created because infographics can improve cognition and understanding by using visual elements to enhance our ability to see patterns and trends.
In case you own a blog or website, I am sure you’ve been tempted to create infographics and place them in your posts. However, it is not as easy as one might think since it goes a lot into visualizing a set of information. This is one of the reasons why there are so many websites that sell pre-designed graphic elements, so you can easily combine them into amazing-looking charts, bars, and graphs.
Jumsoft Infographics
In this article, we will be talking about Jumsoft’s Infographics app that can be purchased and downloaded from the Mac App Store.
In case you ever searched for additional templates for your iWork applications, you must have stumbled upon Jumsoft’s website. This company is selling high-quality templates and graphics that can be customized and used via iWork applications. In this particular case, the Infographics app is designed to work with Keynote.
Functionality and Design
Interestingly enough, Jumsoft’s Infographics isn’t exactly an app but a collection of nicely designed and professional-looking images, graphs, and table elements. In other words, this app is just a delivery system for Keynote templates containing third-party graphic elements.
What is also important to be said is that everything in Infographics is already available as an in-app purchase through Jumsoft’s popular Toolbox app which brings all kinds of third-party add-ins for iWork applications.
The only requirement is to have Keynote 6 installed, but in addition – you can use these templates with any iWork application.
I believe it was actually Jumsoft’s idea to present this as a part of a much larger application since it points you towards the Toolbox app, which is priced at $50. This application brings an incredible amount of templates for every iWork application, including some beautifully designed mail stationeries.
Ease of Use
When you open Infographics you will see a nicely designed window that actually looks very simple. In the top positioned bar, you will find three tabs: All, New, and Favorite. As you can see, you can mark some templates you like, so you have quick access to them. The New tab brings newly designed templates, which means that new updates often bring new content. This is another thing that I really like about this app. Even if you pay $20 right now, you can access hundreds of high-quality templates, but you can also expect to receive new ones regularly.
The app is really nicely designed and fits in the overall OS X aesthetics. It is clear that Jumsoft made an effort to make this app look like a part of iWork system, which I think has been a very successful effort.
Upon the initial launch, you will get to see over 850 documents that are organized into eight groups: Infographic Elements, Data Visualization, Country Maps, Diagrams, Flags and Symbols, Region Maps, U.S. Symbols, and Chart Themes. You can also use a Spotlight search to find a category or specific elements.
If you double-click on any of these elements, you will get to see a preview. In case you want to use something, just click on the Open button which copies the template into Keynote. Now you can start editing it.
The good news is that every one of these templates has been created using Keynote’s own set of tools. This means you can use this same set of tools to make edits. In case you’re not sure how this works, don’t be afraid since every element comes with detailed information about how to make changes. However, I am sure you will figure things out very soon. For example, if you want to edit a chart – click on the chart and then click on the Edit Chart Data. This is where you can make changes to the table data and headings. As expected, you can use the standard set of tools like resizing, recoloring, adding opacity, and similar.
Even though you shouldn’t have any problems with these templates, I believe it can be sometimes hard to tell whether an element is purely graphic or if it can be edited. In other words, there are some elements, like maps and such, that can’t be edited. In most cases, you don’t need to edit these, but this is still something to have in mind. On the other hand, I can’t say that this is Jumsoft’s problem since this is how Keynote works. In case you’ve been a long-time iWork user, then you know that the latest version is not the best version yet since we lost many useful features in order to make the app easier to use.
Conclusion
I think it’s safe to say that Infographics is phenomenal. Even though you can find third-party templates for Keynote around the Web, this is the safest way to get access to hundreds of high-quality templates. The app is only priced at $20, which is actually a small price to pay for such an amazing product.
My strong suggestion is to download Infographics instead of downloading separate pieces of graphics from the Web and trying to incorporate everything together. These are well-made templates, very professional-looking, and these are so many of them that you will hardly have to use the same one multiple times.
