How is this different from a poster or flyer rubric?

A flyer persuades or announces; its job is to get a reader to do something. An infographic explains data, so it is graded on whether the numbers are accurate, honestly charted, and readable in a deliberate order. If the assignment is mostly promotional with a statistic or two on it, the flyer rubric is the better fit.

Do students need design software to score well?

No. Every row here can be met in a free tool or even on paper — consistent color, one dominant headline, labeled axes, and short captions are decisions, not features. Grade what the finished graphic communicates, and note that a template-based design still requires the student to choose which finding is the headline and which chart fits the data.

What counts as a distorted chart?

The common cases are a bar chart whose axis starts above zero (making small differences look huge), icons or circles scaled by width while the eye reads their area, 3-D effects that change apparent size, and pie charts whose slices do not sum to the whole. Any of these puts 'Chart choice & honest scale' at the developing level even if every underlying number is correct.

How much text is too much?

A useful threshold: if a section would still make sense with the visual removed, the text is doing the visual's job. The top level describes headline, labels, and brief captions only — roughly a sentence per section. Students who cannot cut further usually need to drop a subtopic rather than shrink the type.

Infographic Rubric Template

A ready-to-use, analytic infographic rubric for Infographic presenting research findings or data on a topic (Grades 6–12 and college). Score whether the graphic makes real data understandable at a glance — accurate numbers, honest charts, a clear reading order — rather than rewarding whichever design has the most icons. Edit it for your own assignment, print it, download it as a Word file, or share a link with your students.

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The infographic rubric

Criterion	Excellent (4)	Proficient (3)	Developing (2)	Beginning (1)
Accuracy & sourcing of data	Every number, percentage, and claim is traceable to a named source, the figures match that source exactly, and the source list includes enough detail (organization, publication, year) to find it again.	All figures are sourced and accurate, but the source list is thin — a publication named without a year, or a website with no organization behind it identified.	Some figures are unsourced, or a stated number does not match the source it is credited to.	No sources given, or the numbers appear to be invented or rounded so heavily that they no longer reflect the underlying data.
Chart choice & honest scale	Each chart type fits its data (parts of a whole, change over time, comparison between groups), axes start at zero or the truncation is labeled, and area or icon sizes are proportional to the values they represent.	Chart types fit the data and scales are honest, but one chart is harder to read than a simpler alternative would have been (a pie chart with seven slices, a line chart for two data points).	At least one chart distorts its data — a truncated axis with no label, icons scaled by height while reading as area, or a chart type that does not match the kind of comparison being made.	Charts are decorative rather than quantitative: numbers are placed next to shapes with no consistent scale, so the visual carries no information the text does not already state.
Visual hierarchy & reading order	One headline finding is clearly the largest and most prominent element, and size, position, and spacing lead the eye through the remaining sections in a deliberate order a first-time reader will follow.	The main finding stands out and sections are grouped sensibly, but the order among the supporting sections is left to the reader to work out.	Several elements compete for attention at similar visual weight, so the reader must scan the whole graphic before knowing what the main point is.	No hierarchy — blocks of equal-weight text and charts are placed to fill space, with no entry point and no clear path through.
Text economy & labeling	Text is trimmed to headline, short labels, and brief captions, and every chart carries what it needs to be read on its own — axis labels, units, sample size or time period where relevant.	Text is mostly concise and charts are labeled, but one section runs to a paragraph or one chart is missing its units or time period.	Substantial blocks of paragraph text carry information the visuals should be carrying, or multiple charts lack labels and units.	The graphic is essentially an essay in a colored frame, or charts appear with no labels at all, so their numbers cannot be interpreted.
Design consistency & legibility	Colors are used consistently (the same category keeps the same color throughout), type sizes follow a repeating pattern for headings and captions, and all text stays readable against its background at the size the graphic will actually be viewed.	The design is consistent and readable overall, but one element breaks the pattern — a fourth typeface, an off-palette color, or caption text that is smaller than the rest.	Colors or type change without meaning between sections, or some text is hard to read at intended viewing size because of low contrast or a decorative typeface.	No consistent visual system — colors, fonts, and sizes vary section to section, and significant text is unreadable at the size the graphic is displayed.

Four levels — Excellent (4) to Beginning (1). Print this page, or open it in the editor to change the wording, levels, or points.

How to use this rubric

Infographics get graded on decoration far more often than on information: the one with matching icons and a nice palette wins, while nobody checks whether the bar chart's axis starts at zero or where the 68% came from. This rubric puts sourcing and honest chart scale in the first two rows, then grades hierarchy, text economy, and legibility — the design decisions that decide whether a reader actually understands the data — so a plain graphic with three accurate, well-labeled charts outscores a beautiful one whose numbers cannot be checked.

Why these criteria

Each row targets something the assignment is really teaching, with descriptors written to be observable rather than vague:

Accuracy & sourcing of data: An infographic presents numbers as fact, so an unsourced or misquoted figure does more damage here than in an essay, where the surrounding argument at least signals uncertainty.
Chart choice & honest scale: The most common way an infographic misleads is not a wrong number but a wrong chart — a truncated axis or a 3-D pie chart makes an accurate figure tell a false story.
Visual hierarchy & reading order: An infographic has no page order to fall back on, so if everything is the same size the reader has to hunt for where to start — this row grades whether the design directs the eye.
Text economy & labeling: The format's whole advantage is that a reader takes it in quickly; paragraphs pasted onto a canvas turn it back into a document, and unlabeled charts turn it into a puzzle.
Design consistency & legibility: Color and type here are functional, not decorative — inconsistent colors make a reader think two unrelated sections are connected, and low contrast simply loses the data.

How to adapt it

If the assignment supplies the data rather than asking students to research it, drop 'Accuracy & sourcing of data' and add a row for interpretation — whether the headline finding the student chose is actually the most important thing in the supplied dataset.
For a printed poster-size infographic, add legibility-at-distance to the last row: heading text readable from about three metres and body text from arm's length, and grade it from a printed copy rather than on screen.
For younger grades (6–7), drop 'Chart choice & honest scale' and grade one simple chart under 'Text economy & labeling' for having a title, labels, and units — chart selection is a real skill but it needs to be taught before it can fairly be graded.

Frequently asked questions

How is this different from a poster or flyer rubric?: A flyer persuades or announces; its job is to get a reader to do something. An infographic explains data, so it is graded on whether the numbers are accurate, honestly charted, and readable in a deliberate order. If the assignment is mostly promotional with a statistic or two on it, the flyer rubric is the better fit.
Do students need design software to score well?: No. Every row here can be met in a free tool or even on paper — consistent color, one dominant headline, labeled axes, and short captions are decisions, not features. Grade what the finished graphic communicates, and note that a template-based design still requires the student to choose which finding is the headline and which chart fits the data.
What counts as a distorted chart?: The common cases are a bar chart whose axis starts above zero (making small differences look huge), icons or circles scaled by width while the eye reads their area, 3-D effects that change apparent size, and pie charts whose slices do not sum to the whole. Any of these puts 'Chart choice & honest scale' at the developing level even if every underlying number is correct.
How much text is too much?: A useful threshold: if a section would still make sense with the visual removed, the text is doing the visual's job. The top level describes headline, labels, and brief captions only — roughly a sentence per section. Students who cannot cut further usually need to drop a subtopic rather than shrink the type.

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