This excellent infographics example (and others) provided by the Visual Literacy Organisation:
Click on the table itself or on: Different techniques used to convey information to see the visualisation in action. Awesome idea!
This San Francisco State University Class blog of infographics advises: "If you can avoid it, don’t use a bar chart, a line chart or a pie chart. This infographic of visualization styles is a great resource to help determine a good visual to use for your data. The different styles are grouped together by the type do data they are trying to communicate and in the interactive version, an example is shown as you mouse over each style." (REF: http://digitalnewsgathering.wordpress.com/2010/04/24/10-tips-for-designing-infographics/)