What's the recipe for a great infographic?

Who doesn't love a good visual, right?  Infographics compellingly and quickly tell a story driven by data.  They can be a wonderful way to communicate a lot of information in a short format that won't overwhelm the viewer and, when done correctly, the visuals push the reader along from one part of the story to the next.  The Oxfam America infographic to the right is colorful (and the colors correspond to well known cultural norms, i.e. red=stop, emergency, crisis), sticks to a basic layout that repeats in each section, supports visual imagery with simple descriptions, and guides the viewer from one section to the next by employing "arrows" at the bottom of each section.  

But it can be challenging to tell the story of a program, organization, or charity in such a short space, because we often believe a story is deserving of intense detail, emotion, and history that can't be boiled down to a single page of images and numbers.  The key to remember when struggling with the desire to elaborate more and more?  The infographic is a stepping stone along a path to greater knowledge by the public about your area of concern.  This is just one form of communication meant to introduce and illuminate a subject, potentially to someone who otherwise wouldn't take the time to read a longer, more involved narrative.  If it does its job then an infographic will intrigue someone so they take action by learning more, donating, sharing the information with others, or volunteering their support.

If you're interested in learning more about infographics and how to design one then check out these resources:
Seven Tips for Creating Compelling Nonprofit Infographics that Get Shared
10 Nonprofit Infographics that Inspire and Inform
10 Steps to Designing an Amazing Infographic