Quick, what’s a millennial? Despite being such a ubiquitous term, it tends to be as ambiguous as ‘hipster’ in its definition. And that’s kind of okay; a lot of different people make up the millennial demographic.
Here’s the textbook definition: a millennial is a person reaching young adulthood around the year 2000; a Generation Yer.
The difficulty with understanding millennials is that they’re different from previous generations in their attitudes and beliefs, in addition to how they interact with technology. And, when you’re trying to explain something and how it’s different from other things – well, that’s a great opportunity to use an infographic (which is probably why there are so many on the subject).
You’ll notice almost every infographic starts with a definition of what, exactly, a millennial is – a testament to the ignorance surrounding the term. There are a few familiar facts and figures that start to arise on each, but beyond those, the majority of these infographics try to understand the millennial as a consumer (which tends to be the biggest concern people have with this demographic).
Millenials Lifestyle, Education, and Work
This is one of the least single-minded infographics on this list. It communicates its message by drawing comparisons between millennials and other generations. The choice proves effective.
Millenials AKA Generation Screwed
This infographic attempts to explain the difficulties facing the generation, but it all comes back to how they’ll interact with the work force. But, interestingly, this infographic seems aimed at millennials themselves; the language, subject, and chosen facts are all directed that way.
The Who, How, and Why of Managing Millenials
This infographic gives a lot of facts and figures that attempt to explain what makes millennials hirable, and how you can manage to lock one down as an employee. It seems like a funny message to communicate for a severely underemployed generation, but it starts to make sense when you look at who made it.
The Rise of Millennials
Again, this infographic comes down to marketing, but before it gets there, it presents the information pertinent to understanding Millenials in some interesting ways. It’s communicates it’s facts and points very effectively (often comparing them throughout), it uses a lot of well-designed callouts, and it incredibly well sourced on its studies.
The Millennial Consumer
The source article on this one acknowledges that “[m]any articles and studies have focused on reaching this elusive adult consumer.” It goes on to give facts from three studies in an attempt to help marketers reach the illusive demographic.
Millennial Drinking Habits
We’ll be honest; we wanted to include an article that wasn’t so single-minded in its attempt to help marketers “reach” millennials. But, as interesting as this infographic is, the first sentence belies its purpose as a tool to help “your alcoholic beverage marketing plan…”. It also fails to get specific about its sources.