Since the beginning of the century, infographics have had a powerful impact on the way we view web media. At its inception, it was revolutionary as the perfect medium for both representing data and entertaining the audience.

The success of infographics has evolved since that time. Just a few years ago, infographics became extremely popular with the eruption of digital marketing and search engine optimization.

With their popularity came several changes in the way they were presented. Only the best of the best were shared on social media, resulting in higher brand awareness and consumer engagement.

As the traditional infographic evolved to keep up with consumers’ changing tastes, it brought the world the interactive infographic, which is becoming the most sought after form of data representation to date, even rendering some static infographics as outdated and irrelevant.

To help you stay ahead of the game with your graphic design and create an infographic with the potential to go viral, take a look at this list of awesome interactive infographics.

1. Eastern Tennessee from Derby Supply Chain Solutions

This infographic designed to describe some of East Tennessee’s history, culture, and fun facts uses parallax scrolling to bring the landscape to life as various facts and information are related. It makes learning about this specific location a lot more enjoyable!

2. The Complete History of Social Media by AvaLaunch Media

You probably didn’t know that the human race had a version of social media that dates all the way back to the 1800s, did you? This infographic lets the user click through different time periods to discover the long and interesting history of social media through the ages. The ability to control the speed and order of information is an exciting prospect for consumers.

3. How Search Works from Google

Google probably has more statistics and information to share about internet use and browsing than any other company, and they share some of that data in this inforgraphic that explains the popularity of web searches and how they work through a three part story that users can scroll through at their own pace.

4. Web Browsers & Resolutions by Webby Monks

This animated info dump is just plain fun. As you scroll through the brightly colored and information-packed graphic, eye-grabbing graphics appear to help enhance the data and make the educational experience much more entertaining.

5. The Enlightened Happy Hour: An Interactive Guide to What You’re Sipping by Column Five

Everyone loves happy hour, but all of the calories consumed in that one sitting don’t do much for your waistline. This infographic uses a bar setting and allows you to click through different types of drinks to discover nutritional information for each one, including calories and alcohol content. Notice the convincing nature of the visuals.

6. Evolution of Insight by Vision Critical

You might not care about the history of market research, but you’ll still be interested to glance through this captivating infographic, which uses bold graphics and a variety of pages to share the stories of many influential people and events from the 1900s till now.

7. Women’s Political Rights Around the World from The Guardian

Learn both about the rights of women in various parts of the world and about great interactive design with this lively infographic. Viewers can click on any country or region in the world to learn about the political rights of women there. This infographic is brilliant because the makers are presenting high volumes of information, but the creators of the visual present it in such a way that users can gain the information they want without feeling overwhelmed.

8. Retail Security Threats by Nuspire

This interactive infographic uses HTML5 and a mockup of a typical office space to show exactly how vulnerable businesses are to hackers. Viewers are directed to use the spacebar or arrow keys to move from one security threat to another. It helps to drive the message home, since the visual shows businesses the weakest physical locations. It’s a threat they can truly experience.

9. Why You Shouldn’t Drink and Drive from Town Centre Car Parks in Leeds

This infographic is inspired during the holidays when drinking and driving is at its worst. Consumers can tell this infographic how much they’ve had to drink, and it will inform them of whether or not that amount is over the legal limit. It’s accompanied with a series of statistics in order to promote safer streets.

10. Flights Interactive by The Guardian

Watch miniscule jets and airplanes crisscross in the air at the same time to see just how often human beings take to flight. It shows both the busiest times for flying and also the areas that receive the most air traffic. It’s a fascinating data representation, to say the least, that encourages personal exploration through the data.

11. 13 Reasons Why Your Brain Craves Infographics from NeMam Studios

In case you forgot why infographics are so successful, this animated graphic will remind you. With bright colors, parallax scrolling, and just the right amount of graphic motion, this visual + keeps viewers entertained and informed to the end.

12. Mapping the Dead: Gun Deaths Since Sandy Hook by The Huffington Post

This sobering graphic shows the most common regions for gun deaths in the United States since the shooting at Sandy Hook elementary. The subject of the infographic is sad, but the presentation is brilliant for getting the message across.

13. Dribbble: What’s It Used For? by Dribbble LLC

Almost every element in this HTML5 infographic comes to life when you move the cursor around to show a different element of how to use Dribble. Though much of the information in this graphic could be more specific, the use of animation makes it extremely easy and exciting to access the content.

14. How a Car Engine Works from Animagraffs

This infographic hits the nail right on the head with their graphics, since understanding how a car engine works is really something you have to see in action. it explains in slow motion how the engine comes to life with a series of graphics showing what each engine part does.

15. How Many Households Are Like Yours? from The New York Times

If you’ve ever wondered if your household situation is unique, this interactive visual will give you the answer. The user can choose a variety of options of family sizes and situations to learn how the rest of the country matches up. It’s not as current as it could be, but it’s still an excellent representation of the right way to use animated graphics.

16. The Bright Future of Car Sharing

When you view this infographic, you get to hop into a little green car and ride at your own pace to discover how car sharing is supposed to change through the years. There’s more than one way to interact with this infographic. You can scroll from side to side to move the car or hover over certain elements within the visual to obtain more information. Multiple forms of interaction is extremely effective at keeping viewers engaged from beginning to end.

17. True Fish Tales by United Marine

This website is a fisherman’s dream. Not only does it reveal some of the premiere game fish in every area, but it also shares the stories of those who have tackled the largest fish of prey and won. It’s easy to move from one information point to another, and the big fish tales are captivating.

18. Hungry Tech Giants from Simply Business

This infographic compares the growth of five major tech companies. It shows both the time of growth and the amount each business made. If you click on each company icon, it will lead you to a page about the financial state of each company, which is a very effective way to convey a lot of information while maintaining the integrity of the visual.

19. The Evolution of the Web

Take a look at the way this graphic slowly moves from the inception of the internet to where we are today. The simple beginning that leads to a more complex state effectively shows how large and widespread the internet has become in just 20 short years. To top it all off, the user can select from multiple languages.

20. Evolution of Social Collaboration by Autodesk 360

Take a stroll down the street from the 1950’s to the present and learn about some of the most influential partners in collaboration. The user can click through each time period and explore the history at their leisure. The infographic keeps the viewer engaged to the end where the company reveals their call to action. Another representation of a graphic that can efficiently convert an audience.

21. Plugging In: How Small Businesses Use Technology from Good Infograhpics

One of the largest challenges of infograhpics is presenting a high volume of information without overwhelming the audience. This visual does just that without a hitch, allowing the visitor to click through the infographic to read through the data. The visual is both attractive and informative, leading the reader to a logical conclusion.

22. Evolution of the Games Console from Design by Soap

See how much a gaming console built in 1972 cost then as compared to now. The visual takes you from one year to the next, showing each console created, the year it was made, and the cost then and now. Each console page has a place where users of the infographic can read more information about the individual console.

23. Epic Journeys from Console Gaming by Butler’s Bingo

Gamers everywhere love this infographic that shares some insightful information about various popular video games. You can select from several different games and discover information about the plot and missions within the game. It’s easy to click through and enjoy the information presented. It’s the perfect infographic for companies looking to appeal to consumers’ inner geek.

24. Inception Explained by Togethera

Remember the 2010 film Inception with Leonardo DiCaprio and Joseph Gordon-Levitt? It’s mind boggling to say the least. If you’re one of the many that had a hard time keeping up with the entire concept of inception and how the characters went from one stage to the next, this infographic is for you. More importantly, this infographic is a great example of how to tell a story with parallax tactics.

25. Bond: License to Drive

This infographic has something for everyone. For car fans, it shows some of the coolest cars throughout the history of Bond films. For Bond fanatics, it shows a bit about every Bond movie made (including the one that hasn’t come out yet). And for designers, it shows an exceptional way to keep your audience captivated from beginning to end with this interactive visual.

Each of these examples offers something to learn about successful infographic design. As you study each of these graphics, you’ll find things you think are brilliant and things that don’t work so successfully. Either way, it will help to give you the inspiration you need for effective graphic design in 2015.