Infographics are EVERYWHERE. You know - those little graphic visual representations of complex data or information. What started as a daily feature in USA Today has exploded in the past few years, and now you can find infographics on every topic from social media to the anatomy of a s'more. Fast Company and Wired regularly feature infographics, there's a daily blog devoted to infographics, and there's even an iPhone/iPad app that gives you a new infographic each day. Here at Brilliant Ink, we developed our own take on an infographic to describe the work we do.

Sure, infographics are nice to look at, but why should we as communicators care? Well, infographics are increasingly popular because they are a great way to simplify the vast amount of data and information available in our media-saturated culture. For the same reason, they're also a great internal communications tool.

As communicators, we're constantly looking for ways to convey important news and information in a way that is compelling to our various audiences. Infographics are an excellent solution - using illustrations, icons, charts and graphic treatments to explain a complex idea. Some ideas:

• Create an infographic that tells your company's story - what you do, your mission/vision, your different business units, specific priorities/focus areas - and distribute it to employees as part of new employee orientation.

• The next time you're getting ready to launch a new business initiative, think about an infographic to explain it to employees.

• Look for opportunities to incorporate infographics into your employee intranet and other communications tools. Infographics can be a great way to spice up existing content and attract readers. You could use an infographic to illustrate anything from a competitive analysis to your company's sustainability efforts.

Has your company used infographics internally? We'd love to hear your examples in the Comments below.