If your guide is more of a visual essay than a structured table or list, then chances are that is an infographic. Flow charts and step-by-step guides are considered guides, so are visual references that line up different types of something next to one another other.Īn infographic is more educational in layout and content, finding something specific on an infographic is not as easy because it is designed to inform through more narrative structures. Guides are typically laid out in a grid configuration of some sort or sectioned into multiple tables by a category or step of a process. On top of that not all guides are created equal, many technically qualify as guides, but lack substance. If someone has to visually bop around your guide to find what they are looking for, the guide does not pass the layout test.
The layout or structure of a guide must be that so, when someone is trying to find/reference information from the guide, they can do so logically or simply. It takes both content and layout to make something a guide. Guides are reference materials, how-tos, and/or comparison tables.
