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Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Not So Easy to Use Easel.ly

This past week I made an infographic for class using easel.ly.  According to Wikipedia, "Information graphics or infographics are graphic visual representations of information, data or knowledge intended to present complex information quickly and clearly.[1][2] They can improve cognition by utilizing graphics to enhance the human visual system’s ability to see patterns and trends.[3][4] The process of creating infographics can be referred to as data visualization, information design, or information architecture.[2]"

It was fun to create the infographic on easel.ly but I would not use easel.ly again until they work out a few kinks.  They are still in the "Beta" or testing phase, and despite a great interface and ease of use, there were problems with editing and saving work.  

Despite losing work more than once, I came up with the below infographic synthesizing info. from a group project.  Initially I created my own graphic on a 'blank canvas', but when that didn't save properly, I used one of their free templates, which was not ideal, but got the job done.  Here's the final product:

 



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4 comments:

  1. Unicorn WaterMay 31, 2013 at 6:02 AM

    I didn't get to work with easel.ly, but I like how clear and easy it is to read. I used piktochart and it can easily become a crowded with pictures and design. I like how you added small icons with your text to add interest. I can see this being used for middle school or even high school learners in the classroom. I personally would have liked to use it in my undergrad to display products that we had to create or for an advertising class! I think this can be used for levels of learning.

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    1. Carmen PalmerMay 31, 2013 at 7:39 AM

      Hi Diana,

      Thanks for your thoughts. Yes, there are some some definite benefits to easel.ly. I tried piktochart first, and didn't find it as user-friendly or 'dummy-proof' as easel.ly. While I loved the easel.ly interface due to great drag and drop features, ease of use and the abilty to upload text and images, there is one significant use issue I ran in to, which would prevent me from using it again (unless they address it). My problem was with editing. Not all edited work was saved, and a couple of design features were changed after being saved. I tried to figure out what to do about this by 'googling' it and reading forums of users, as well as writing to easel.ly support, but to no avail. Since it is still in Beta, I hope they will take this issue into account as it is easy to use and fun!

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  2. Evelyn CurtisJune 1, 2013 at 2:29 PM

    I had the same experience with Easelly! I am very visually happy with the product, but it was very difficult to make it look the way I wanted, and it was very easy to accidentally mess things up. I agree that the interface is great, but definitely needs some work. I will be interested to see what Easelly is like when it is fully developed.

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    1. Carmen PalmerJune 10, 2013 at 10:32 AM

      I agree! Hopefully the glitches will be resolved. Time will tell :)

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