If you’ve seen the food pyramid, you must be familiar with hierarchy infographics. Hierarchy infographics — also called hierarchical infographics — are handy for presenting a ranking of information or people, or for breaking down a process into steps.
Are you looking for inspiration to create a hierarchy infographic of your own? Do you want infographic templates that you can easily modify? You’re in the right place. Click on any hierarchical infographic template below to start customizing it instantly — using Venngage’s easy-to-use editor.
Click to jump ahead:
- Pyramid infographic templates
- Funnel infographic template
- Organizational chart infographic templates
- Process infographic templates
- Benefits of using hierarchy infographics
- FAQs about hierarchy infographics
Pyramid infographic templates
Perhaps the most well-known hierarchical infographic, pyramid infographics allow you to portray a ranking of information in a pyramid shape, designed to be read from bottom to top. This template presents the managerial hierarchy for a business, but you can easily customize it for other topics.
When creating infographics, avoid using too much text and make sure to leave white space. This infographic relies on figures and icons with minimal text in the pyramid itself, then uses a dotted line to connect each step of the pyramid to a few sentences of text.
If your infographic contains data, be sure to use graphics and charts to bring your figures to life. This infographic uses a progress bar graphic to represent the percentages visually. With the Venngage Chart Maker, you can quickly turn your data into a visually appealing chart or graph.
Related: How to Choose the Best Types of Charts For Your Data
If your infographic is for business use, be sure to use colors and graphics that draw the audience in but are still professional, as this template does. This infographic uses different shades of the same color for a sleek look, but you can easily customize it. Using Venngage’s My Brand Kit, you can apply your brand colors to your design in one click:
The next template offers the same pyramid shape but with more space for further information.
This template uses several columns with separate blocks to convey a lot of information in a way that’s easy to grasp.
When making infographics, you can use font size, type, and icons to direct the eye to important information and create a flow. This template uses bold and italic fonts to highlight key information. It also uses arrow icons to direct the reader’s eyes and establish an order.
Funnel infographic template
Funnel infographics take their name from the shape and portray a reduction of data from one stage to the next. Flipping the pyramid shape on its head, funnel infographics are designed to be read from top to bottom.
A common funnel infographic is the marketing funnel, which visualizes the journey a customer takes from awareness to purchase of a product or service:
Each step of the funnel represents a different stage of the purchase process, as viewed through a marketing lens. The funnel shape conveys the number of potential consumers at each stage, with the most at the top of the funnel and the fewest at the bottom.
Related:
- 10 Content Marketing Infographics for Your Strategy
- 15 Tips for Using Infographics in Digital Marketing
Also notice how the marketing funnel template above uses icons for each stage to portray information visually. Icons are a great tool for funnel infographics, as they draw the eye and help differentiate between the various steps of the process. If you want to replace the icons here with some others, you can just double click the icon and an icon library will pop up so you can choose the alternative.
The hierarchical infographic above is also a nice example of good color use — it takes the viewer on a visual journey from cooler to warmer colors. It also takes advantage of rainbow colors, which on their own create a sense of hierarchy — a perfect match for a hierarchical infographic.
Organizational chart infographic templates
As we saw in the first pyramid template, infographics are a great way to represent social hierarchies. Organizational chart infographics are another type of social hierarchy infographics, providing more detail on specific employees and how they rank and report to one another.
Another infographic design tip is to use as many visual cues as possible to distinguish between pieces of information. In this company organizational chart template, rectangle shapes for each employee help tell the story of the organization, as do images of employee headshots.
Lines between each rectangle indicate who reports to whom. This template also uses color to denote the employees at the top, with those rectangles shaded blue. You can easily customize this template on Venngage’s platform and switch up the colors.
The next template uses a horizontal orientation instead of a vertical one.
This template uses black and white images to create a sleek look. When using photos in an infographic, always use high-quality and high-resolution pictures to avoid blurriness.
For more basic graphic design tips, check out our post: 11 Actionable Graphic Design Tips for Beginners, According to Design Experts
Process infographic templates
Hierarchical infographics can also present the order of a process, usually in parts or steps. The process infographic template presents a process in a series of six steps, using numbers, icons, and colors to differentiate between each step.
There are different ways to differentiate one step from another in a hierarchical infographic — one way to do this is by alternating between two, three or more background colors, like how it’s done in the template above.
Note that icons are also added next to the step name as another type of visual cue. One tip for designing icons is to use a background for the icons, like this template does. Icon backgrounds help your icons pop and provide order, which is particularly helpful for infographics with steps or lists.
The next template is another process infographic that is easy to customize.
This template describes the customer onboarding process, but you can easily modify it for whatever topic you’d like using the Venngage platform. Customize the icons, choosing from a library of 40k+ professional icons and illustrations. Use color to tell your story and be sure to stay consistent, like how this template uses the same color for the background of the steps and the font of the step headings.
Benefits of using hierarchy infographics?
Now that you’ve seen some types of hierarchy infographics, let’s learn some of the reasons you should use them.
Here are the benefits of using hierarchy infographics:
- Enhanced engagement: Visually appealing hierarchy infographics are more likely to capture attention and engage viewers, leading to increased retention of information.
- Effective communication: Hierarchy infographics can convey information quickly and efficiently, reducing the need for lengthy explanations or descriptions.
- Better decision-making: By clearly presenting information in a hierarchical structure, infographics can help individuals and teams make more informed decisions.
- Enhanced memory: Visual information is often more memorable than text-based information, making hierarchy infographics a valuable tool for learning and retention.
- Increased brand awareness: Well-designed infographics can help to increase brand visibility and recognition.
FAQs about hierarchy infographics
What is a hierarchical infographic?
The dictionary defines hierarchy as “a system in which people or things are arranged according to their importance.” Hierarchy infographics — or hierarchical infographics — are infographics that present an order or ranking, usually in a vertical or horizontal orientation. Common infographic hierarchy shapes include pyramids and funnels.
A well-known example of a hierarchical infographic is the Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs infographic, which portrays a ranking of human needs from physiological needs at the bottom to self-actualization at the top. The needs from lower down must be met before moving up a rung.
What are the different types of infographics?
The nine most common types of infographics are:
- Statistical
- Informational
- Timeline
- Process
- Geographic
- Comparison
- Hierarchical
- List
- Resume
Statistical infographics provide data and facts, often using charts. Informational infographics present info on a specific topic or concept. Timeline infographics offer a history of events. Process infographics present the steps in a process. Geographic infographics visualize location-based and demographic data. Comparison infographics present side-by-side comparisons of different options. Hierarchical infographics portray rankings and orders. List infographics offer lists of tips or examples. Finally, infographic resumes present resumes with more visual information than a typical resume.
What is the best format for an infographic?
Infographics most commonly appear in PNG and PDF file formats, perfect for sharing digitally, posting online, or printing out. With a paid Venngage plan, you can download any of your designs to PNG, PNG HD, PDF, Interactive PDF, PowerPoint, or HMTL.
Infographic sizes and dimensions vary, but I recommend making your infographic 800 pixels wide to ensure the text is readable and the image fits properly on web pages. The content of your infographic will generally determine your height, but a good rule of thumb is to start at 2000 to 3000 pixels and adjust from there.
Present your ideas in a meaningful order with a hierarchy infographic
Whether it’s an organizational chart for a company or a series of steps in a strategy, hierarchical infographics are perfect for conveying ranking and order. Hopefully, these templates have given you some inspiration for making an infographic of your own. To start customizing yours, choose from Venngage’s hierarchy infographic templates and begin editing them in seconds today!
