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Visuals allow reinforcement of a written or verbal message by creating an easy way to remember the message. 

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Visuals allow reinforcement of a written or verbal message by creating an easy way to remember the message. 

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The correct visual presentation of your data can help you to communicate a message more effectively. Visuals are photos, pictures, illustrations, charts, and tables that help illustrate data to form a message.

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Pre-attentive attributes: Powerful tools in Visual Elements

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Pre-attentive attributes: Powerful tools in Visual Elements

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As we are currently in a data-driven world, the ability to be able to effectively transmit data that an audience will be able to easily understand is essential. This has made data visualization very important to convey information to your audience - internal or external.

Over the years, it has been noted that humans tend to remember pictorial representations of things than words. Data visualization can be done in different formats so far it is representing data in a visual form. These formats include; a graph, chart, image, etc.

Ultimately, the role of data visualization is to communicate the difficult and hidden aspects of a data. Although, a data analyst or scientist may have the ability to see the key insights in a complex collection of unorganized data because he/ she has been trained to do so, an average human will not be able to do the same.

And this is why effective data visualization is a very necessary and important thing. Effectively communication of data is an art that most data scientists or analysts cannot do.

What is Data Visualization?

Data visualization is the graphic representation of data. Data visualization simply means the drawing of graphics display to represent data. It is all about representing complex data in a graphical format It is a way through which information can be made more understandable. The aim and objective of data visualization are to communicate information clearly and efficiently using graphical means. Data visualization is used in data cleaning, identification of trends and clusters, detecting local patterns, spotting outliers and unusual groups, evaluating output, and presenting results.

If you are curious how easy it is to learn data visualization, I've got you covered.

What are the Key Principles of Good Data Visualization?

To effectively represent a data and pass information across through the process of data visualization, it is important to put some things into consideration as there are principles governing data visualization. These principles that guide data visualization help to efficiently pass the intended message to the audience.

By effectively applying these principles, there will be an improvement in the way you display, analyze and process data. In this article, we will discuss in detail the key principles of good and effective data visualization.

1. Determine the appropriate visual

The first thing to do in data visualization is to understand how much data is at hand and identify which format of data visualization will best fit and - more importantly - convey your message appropriately.

You need to make sure you are representing the data well and in a way easy to digest way.

There is a whole debate between operations and analysts over the use of a pie chart. When to use one depends on what you are trying to show and how many categories are represented. Showing a part of a whole. Yup. Showing how 10 categories make up the whole is just not the best way to compare the categories. Debate solved. In my head at least!

There are a lot of different chart types. The choice as to which one to use matters!

2. Determine your target audience

It is also important to know who will be receiving or going through your end state reporting. This is to enable you to use a format of data visualization that they can easily comprehend. No matter the level of data visualization it will still be useless if it is not designed in a way that will make the target audience understand and comprehend it.

It also helps you to meet their expectations. I see way too many request for a dashboard to be created that basically resembles an Excel spreadsheet. They just want something automated & published. Knowing your target audience will help you craft an end result that will actually help them garner valuable insights.

In these instances, I like to give them what they ask for but also provide a graph or full-on dashboard that SHOWS gaps. That said, if you throw some bubble charts and complex visualizations at this person, they're not interested.

Knowing who will consume your data lets you understand where they are at in their data literacy journey and how to make the most of your time... and theirs!

3. Grab your audience's attention with the visuals

As a visual tool, data visualization is about making use of visual elements such as; charts, graphs, pictures, maps, etc. to successfully get the attention of your audience, you need to put some things into consideration while making a design that will grab your audience's attention.

Balance your design

To make your design balanced, you need to ensure that all visual elements such as the color, shapes, texture, negative spaces, etc. are evenly distributed in the design. There are 3 types of balances in design.

The symmetrical balance- in this balance, each side of the design is the same.

Asymmetrical balance- in this balance, both sides of the design are different although they still have similar visual weight

Radial balance- in this balance, elements are randomly places around a central object. This object acts as an anchor to the other elements.

Balanced design falls under a graphic design kind of framework, so while you can use your gut, you would definitely benefit by researching additional principles of design to level your data visualizations up.

Lay emphasis on the important areas

The aim of data visualization is to ensure that the most important part of the data does not go unnoticed. The design should be done in a way that the audience's attention is drawn to the most important data on the design.

This can be done through the layout, color, and size primarily.

Most users will consume data from the top left moving to the right AND THEN down. Whatever you want front & center gets that top left real estate.

Use color appropriately. Red, amber, and green reports are AWFUL. They are an assault to the eyes. If you don't agree, let's walk through this. Aren't you really targeting the red anyhow? Once the red is handled, you want to handle the yellow? How often do you even get to the yellow?

Even if this is important to you, you can use the visualization software to highlight what is important to you that day.

If you're still not won over, then let me tell you that 1 in 8 men have some form of color-blindness. Red, yellow, green reports can't be fully seen easily by them to make the same actionable insights another stakeholder can see.

Make use of patterns - sparingly

Patterns make is a great way of showing similar types of information that are spread across a page as one. A pattern can also help to point out an abnormality as a disturbance in the pattern will naturally draw the attention and curiosity of the audience.

Patterns go beyond the idea of some lines across a bar in an Excel bar charts.

Variety

Variety is a key factor in grabbing your audience's attention and making them engaged and interested in your data. Variety is all about finding different ways to visualize your data by using various interesting design elements.

However, don't throw out the bullet around considering the type of chart that BEST FITS THE DATA AND STORY.

Hello ridiculous versions of charts for the sake of variety. I'm looking at you! I recently had a request to compare 1 metric to a historical version of that same metric or a forecast. Over and over.

I won them over by repeated use of a single bar with a line to represent the comparison. I added color to understand the variance & decide which bar to care about, but ultimately, there are a lot of bars. And that was a happy client.

Theme

A theme helps you to make sure that your design follows a particular standard. A theme helps you to connect with your audience on a deep level and it also increases the visual design.

Theme can also be considered a type of branding. Branding a department. Branding by a report type. You can get creative with what this looks like for your organization.

I have had many instances where I was taking the framework of someone else's dashboard & using it in a new way. If the request and audience allows, I like to keep elements such as title style or filters as similar as possible. Doing this allows users of both dashboards to dive in with an existing comfort level.

Plus there is no sense reinventing the wheel. Take the wins where you can!

Make it simple

Make sure that your visual is easy to understand and simple. Endeavor not to use unwanted and irrelevant information as this may make your visual confusing which will not help in achieving the aim and objective of the data visualization. Always have in mind that simplicity is the final goal of data visualization.

Have you heard of the term 'white space'? Sometimes, less is more. If you are looking at a wall of information, clearing some of it out helps highlight elements.

It's crazy how this works, but this can be as simple as removing lines, reducing the spectrum of colors, or eliminating data labels on every data point.

4. Make your visualization fit for a mobile phone

In the world today, there is a rapid increase in the number of people that use mobile phones. Hence, the demand for data visualization is also rapidly increasing. To be able to reach more number of people, you need to design and optimize your data optimization for mobile phones. In doing this, you will need to add to your data visualization design practices such as:

Use of proper color coding

Zoom-in features for graphs to show the detail of the data

Avoid using graph titles and labels

Put the most important information on the top left side corner

Always check how the end result looks on a phone if the visualization software you're using allows for mobile-specific viewing.

Conclusion

In the world we currently are where there are numerous data sources and unorganized data, we can see that data visualization is a tool that is very useful in data analysis. Data visualization has created an avenue where we can organize data and extract relevant and useful information when they are needed. Data visualization has also helped in providing an avenue where one can successfully and effectively pass data and information across to an audience of choice.

There is no doubt that if you can apply even a few of these principles governing data visualization then you are well on your way to building an effective data viz!

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KEY PRINCIPLES OF GOOD DATA VISUALIZATION - Coffee Break Data

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As we are currently in a data-driven world, the ability to be able to effectively transmit data that an audience will be able to easily understand is essential. This has made data visualization very important to convey information to your audience - internal or external.

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A properly visualized set of ideas and their relationships can be better understood by using an organized visualization.

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How to leverage preattentive attributes to have your audience focus on what you want

Without any indication, your audience tends to process all the information you show. To make a graph effective, you must guide the audience. Preattentive attributes, such as size, colour and position on the page are interesting artifacts to signal what is important and direct your audience's attention.

Learning outcomes:
- Leverage the preattentive attributes to give the expected focus on graphs
- Avoid information overload

Preattentive attributes

Recommended reading Chapter four from the book "Storytelling with Data: A Data Visualization Guide for Business Professionals", by Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic (Editor: John Wiley & Sons, Nov 18, 2015)

Recommended video "Storytelling with Data" by Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic, Talks at Google, 2015. If you want to focus on how to focus your audience's attention, watch from 17:05 to 26:22.

Color

Recommended reading Choosing Colors for Data Visualization, by Maureen Stone. This 10 pages document gives some basic principles of color design, then the problem of legibility (readibility), and conclude with some guidelines for picking colors based on these principles.

Size

Obviously, the larger the size of the objects, the greater the attention! Relative size can indicate relative importance.

But less obvious, size interacts with colors. When you deal we small areas (resp. large areas), prefer high saturation (resp. low saturation).

Recommended video Effect of Size in Coursera course "Information Visualization: Applied Perception", New York University Tandon School of Engineering

Recommended reading Influence of size on color perception, by Maureen Stone. Quite technical. Focus on Figure 1 (and the author's comments about it) to understand the difference in colour perception with different sizes.

Position

People usually start reading the top of a page first. Obviously, the main recommendation is to write the most important thing there. Don't forget the title, put it on top, and of course make this title informative.

Eyes are naturally going everywhere-anywhere-if they are not guided. The second recommendation is to draw viewers' eyes to the part of the figure where you expect them to retrieve the important information: use size, color, but also text to verbalize what must be read and retain.

Recommended video 5 Eye-Tracking Discoveries - 5 design tips for creating optimal column charts. From a study conducted at the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria.

To go further

Recommended reading More here on Maureen Stone's web site: https://research.tableau.com/user/maureen-stone

Recommended reading The Encyclopedia of Human-Computer Interaction, Data Visualization for Human Perception, by Stephen Few.

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Focus your audience’s attention | IMT Atlantique - Data Storytelling

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How to leverage preattentive attributes to have your audience focus on what you want

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What Makes Visual Communication So Effective?

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What Makes Visual Communication So Effective?

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You've heard that visual communication is essential to your marketing and messaging strategies. But why does it matter? Here is the science behind visual communication - and the stats that will make you a believer.

The Science Behind Visual Communication

Humans are visual creatures. Our eyes were designed to continually scan and process the environment, quickly identifying and assessing a vast array of visual information. The eyes shift unconsciously three times per second to take in familiar concepts and assess where to scan next.

A study by MIT neuroscientists identified that the human brain can process images they see for as little as 13 milliseconds. That's thirteen-thousandths of a second or the equivalent of about 75 images each second. The key to this speed is one-way processing, also known as feedforward processing. This means the communication isn't reciprocal; the brain doesn't need to contemplate a response.

In contrast, the brain has to conduct multiple processes to convert text into recognizable concepts. When eyes scan a page of text (like this blog post!), each word is recognized as a picture and associated with a concept from a brain-based visual dictionary.

Simultaneously, the brain converts the word to sound and we "hear" the word in our heads. This process is repeated multiple times for each word in a text string and then goes through a separate process of reading comprehension to understand the message that the words are trying to convey in combination.

There are multiple brain regions involved in effectively comprehending the written word, and while the exact amount of time it takes for text to navigate the correct neurological pathways and interpret the message varies from person to person, one thing is clear: reading text it's far slower than the brain's ability to process visual images.

Visual Processing Statistics

With the visual processing of images such as an innate and efficient human function, it makes sense to target this process to make your marketing and communication efforts most effective. The stats back it up, too. Consider the following:

The bottom line is this: If you want to grab people's attention and have them retain your message afterward, you'd better be using visual communication.

Online Visual Communication Platform

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What Makes Visual Communication So Effective? - Powtoon Blog

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You've heard that visual communication is essential to your marketing and messaging strategies. But why does it matter? Here is the science behind visual communication - and the stats that will make you a believer. Humans are visual creatures. Our eyes were designed to continually scan and process the environment, quickly identifying and assessing a vast array of visual information.

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83% of the information the Brain receives comes from the Eyes

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Your Senses Are Your Raw Information Learning Portals

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What percentage of information comes though each of our senses? How much information do we gather from each sense in the same amount of time as compared to the other senses?

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The first step in integrating visual elements in communication is to consider which graphics are most appropriate given the data you wish to convey.

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Example of effective data visualization used in business presentation.

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Visual communication is whereby messages such as advertisements are delivered using visual aids. Day by day, the level of technology has been increasing, and audio visual communication is the new mode of advertisement for businesses. The ability of human beings to receive, view and process images is the selling point of visual communication. In the business world, communication is very important, as it helps in marketing the products that a business is offering. Based on research, a combination of both audio and visual aids is more effective.

This article will focus on the advantages and disadvantages of visual communication in business.

Advantages of Visual Communication in Business

1. Emphasizes oral communication

There are several benefits of visual communication. Technology has allowed us to use visual aids in delivering important messages for business enterprises. Visual communication helps in emphasizing oral communication. When an individual is explaining something that the business offers, it is always vital to use demonstrations for better understanding. Visual aids come in handy for such situations. When an individual is reading about the portfolio of an organization, visual aids can help in explaining key features of the organization. Moreover, visual communication is more appealing as compared to oral communication.

2. More effective as compared to oral communication

Audio visual communication is more effective as compared to words. Some facts cannot be delivered in form of words, thus diagrams and pictures are used. Graphs and maps are self-explanatory and can be used to show customers on how the business is performing, rather than using oral communication. Visual communication is also attractive, and most people will focus on such communication rather than other modes of communication. ezTalks Cloud Meeting is an online platform which allows for different people in different locations to hold conferences and meetings. This form of visual communication is rather effective and appealing as compared to oral communication. People from different departments can relay information to one another easily, and the information can be understood easily.

3. Presentations in business workplaces

In a business setting, the workers at times may be required to perform presentations on how the company is performing. The information to be displayed can be difficult using words, and thus visual communication can be used in place of words. Graphs, charts, figures and other modes of visual communication can be used to represent mathematical data. It can be difficult for some people to understand data displayed in tables, but charts and graphs make the work easier. The figure below shows world population growth in 2006. Visual aids help greatly in displaying such information. When the Coca-Cola Company is displaying statistics on how the company is performing, as well as growth forecast, charts and graphs are used. This is easily understandable and self-explanatory.

4. Effective in decision making

Another main benefit of visual communication in businesses is that it is very effective to illiterate people. People may not have the ability to read, but they have the visual ability. Furthermore, the amount of time taken in understanding a visual communication set is less as compared to other types of communication. Exchanging information is made easier since the audience will view and interpret quicker. When the information is processed quickly, then people can make quick and correct decisions. Most businesses have realized that using visual communication attracts more customers when compared to other modes of communication. This can also be based on the fact that visual communication is self-explanatory. McDonald's uses visual appeal rather than words or oral communication when displaying the products they offer. This helps the customers to make quick and efficient decisions.

Disadvantages of Visual Communication in Business

However, there are also several disadvantages of audio visual communication.

1. Costly

One of the main disadvantages is that it is costly. As compared to other modes of communication, visual communication is more costly. The process of coming up with a video, chart, diagram or map is expensive, and it requires the involvement of different stakeholders in the organization. In addition, the mode and area of the display are expensive. Hiring a television station, newspaper or magazine at times can be costly. It is such reasons why only large companies tend to use this mode of communication.

2. Insufficient and incomplete

All the topics cannot be represented at once, in a single visual communication set. This, in turn, means that the visual communication is incomplete and insufficient. The audience will require more time to understand the concept of the visual aid, thus leading to time wastage. Furthermore, when the audience does not understand what the message being portrayed, then the meaning is lost. In such a situation, the incorporation of oral communication is vital.

3. Time consuming

The amount of time needed when creating visual aids is considerably longer as compared to other forms of communication. This is due to the fact that different parties are involved, and the software used may be unavailable at times. In addition, it takes much time for the receivers to understand the message being conveyed. For example, visual communication that uses hand gestures and facial expressions may be complicating to normal or illiterate people.

Conclusion

The visual communication advantages and disadvantages have been discussed as above. In conclusion, audio visual communication has proved to be more effective as compared to other modes of communication. Although it may be costly. The main audience is captured, and the result is fruitful for the business. Technological growth has helped in reducing costs and increasing audio visual communication audience.

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advantages of audio visual communication

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advantages of visual communication in business

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Advantages of Visual Communication in Business | ezTalks: Business Software Reviews & How-To

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Visual communication is whereby messages such as advertisements are delivered using visual aids. Day by day, the level of technology has been increasing, and audio visual communication is the new mode of advertisement for businesses. The ability of human beings to receive, view and process images is the selling point of visual communication.

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Incorporating visuals saves a lot of back and forth due to confusion.

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Incorporating visuals saves a lot of back and forth due to confusion.

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Visual communication results in better retention of the information. Whether your planned communication is internal or external and regardless of the topic or strategy, retention is always something to aim for.

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What is visual communication?
Visual communication is the practice of using visual elements to communicate information or ideas. Types of visual communication include animated GIFs, screenshots, videos, pie charts, infographics, and slide deck presentations.
Getting your message across in a clear, concise way can be difficult with words alone. By incorporating visuals, you can save a lot of back and forth due to confusion. Today I want to walk you through how to improve your visual communication.
Here's what you'll learn:
TechSmith's research shows that using visual content, such as short videos and static images, vs. text alone, saves time and improves performance.

How to use good visual communication

Being able to communicate your message clearly is important no matter where you work. And incorporating visuals in your emails or presentations can change the way your team communicates.

We all know the seemingly eternal streams of emails, meetings, phone calls, and instant messages we go through aren't as effective as they could be.

And, guess what all those methods typically have in common?

Words.

Usually lots of them.

Here's a little secret: Words alone aren't the best way to communicate. In fact, there's all kinds of research that shows us that in many cases, it's downright inefficient.

1. Onboard new employees

It can be time consuming to schedule face-to-face training sessions every time a new employee joins your organization. It's also overwhelming to be a new employee with so much to learn right from the start.

Make onboarding easier by creating narrated screencasts that show how to use your organization's standard programs. New hires will be able to re-watch them when they need a refresher, and you'll save time by avoiding in-person training sessions.

You can even use animated GIFs to help with training!

An example of using a video to onboard a new employee to complete a task.

2. Capture inspiration

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. So when you see a concept you like, take a screenshot of it!

Saving good ideas with screenshots lets you build up a library of inspiration to use the next time you're stuck for ideas. Similar to mood boards or swipe files, you'll have images of examples or ideas you liked or didn't like.

Snagit is a great tool to use to create screenshots, simple videos and screencasts, and animated GIFs.

3. Skip writing pages of notes

Have you ever had the problem of trying to scribble down pages of notes, only to realize you missed parts of what was said. One way to help alleviate this problem is to record the conversation (with permission, of course).

Recording a conversation will ensure you don't miss any details. You can also share the recording so that those who might have been absent can still get all of the relevant information.

Handwritten notes can be influenced by the perspective of the note-taker, so it would be ideal to always have a recording handy.

4. Give clear feedback

Giving and receiving feedback on content or projects can be challenging. You often have to wait (or chase) stakeholders for feedback on projects. And sometimes when they provide their suggestions, it's paragraphs of text which you're left to interpret yourself.

Using visuals to show your exact feedback can reduce the time spent sending emails back and forth and helps everyone get on the same page. This can make the approval process go much faster.

5. Reporting progress

Line graphs and pie charts are effective visuals, but without context, they might not be able to stand alone in an email or message.

One of my favorite visual communication strategies is to record a video rather than simply communicating with graphics. It's a simple level-up to how you present information to your team.

By hitting record and narrating your graphs or slide presentations, you can help your audience better understand results, data, and the impact they may have on your business. This can be particularly helpful when reporting data to coworkers in different departments who may need a little more explanation or context in order to understand what the numbers mean.

Adding graphic elements to reports can also help achieve clarity and engagement, instead of text alone.

6. Better emails

Email is a necessary part of work and a crucial communication tool. But what if you could cut down the amount of text and still convey your point in a way that will grab people's attention?

Adding screenshots to your emails can help you create a more visual message. They are more engaging to view than blocks of text, and you can draw your reader to your main point with marked-up screenshots.

Why is visual communication important?

So, why the increase in visual communication? Most of us are figuring out that using communication information visually is a much more impactful way to get your point across. Even it's using a basic visual aid.

Here are four important reasons why visual communication is crucial in order to effectively deliver a meaningful message.

1. Visual communication saves time by relaying messages faster.

Stats have shown that visuals are processed 60,000 times faster in the brain than text.

Getting your point across quickly is a great way to conserve time and money.

Images and video convey a richer experience than text-heavy content alone. In a media landscape filled with clutter, readers' attention is hard to acquire, and even harder to retain.

As a result, readers often prefer to scan content rather than read word-for-word. Keeping your material loaded with visuals is a surefire way to relay your message in less time.

2. Visual communication ensures that a clear, unified message is delivered.

When you have an abundance of text in an email, your message can get lost. The recipient of your note might have a hard time understanding your point, resulting in time being wasted. Instead, use visuals!

Collaborating on projects with remote employees can be challenging. Short, simple videos or animated GIFs are a great way to quickly iterate on suggested edits among your team, and make certain that everyone involved is on the same page.

GIFs are also a great way to lighten the mood. Working can be stressful, so incorporating fun GIFs that not only send a clear message but also entertain can aid the communication process.

3. Visual communication helps to provide a shared, consistent experience.

An important part of delivering a consistent experience with visuals is branding. In addition to a logo, many organizations have defined brand colors that should be used in all marketing activities.

Logos, colors, font, graphics, icons, and imagery, paired with your company's voice and tone, make your brand recognizable.

Using consistent visual communication is a great way to take advantage of your brand's equity when launching to a new market.

Regardless if your organization has five people or 500 people, if it's a start-up, or if it has a long history, making sure that everyone is using the same defined brand elements is a great way to start driving recognition of your organization and build brand awareness.

4. Visual communication results in better retention of the information.

From a scientific perspective, it's been found that using relevant visuals help the audience remember the information more effectively.

Of all information transmitted to the brain, 90% is visual. And as we discussed earlier, visuals are processed 60,000 times faster in the brain than text.

Whether your planned communication is internal or external and regardless of the topic or strategy, retention is always something to aim for.

What are examples of visual communication?

There a tons of good graphics and visual design elements that you can add to your communication stack. Here are a few of the most common:

GIFS

Screenshots

Screen recordings

Videos

Pie charts

Infographics

Data visualizations

Slide decks

Social media posts

Visuals keep things fresh and exciting, don't be afraid to incorporate more than one of the examples discussed above.

The evidence overwhelmingly points to the same conclusion - using visual communication is crucial to an overall strategic communication plan. Incorporating images and video throughout messaging has benefits for both the sender and the receiver.

Creating images isn't exclusive to those with formal graphic design training or with access to expensive, high-end tools. Simple screenshots are a great example of an easy way to create your own image while conveying a message in a meaningful way.

If you are not sure how to get started using visuals to help you communicate better, Snagit is a great tool to use to create screenshots, simple videos and screencasts, and animated GIFs.

Download a free trial of Snagit!

Download a free trial of Snagit and get started today!
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How To Use Visual Communication (and Why It Matters)

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Visual communication is the practice of using visual elements to communicate information or ideas. Types of visual communication include animated GIFs, screenshots, videos, pie charts, infographics, and slide deck presentations. Getting your message across in a clear, concise way can be difficult with words alone.

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Visual communication is an effortless way to engage with a person who sees a visual aid and makes it easy for them to remember it.

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Visual communication is an effortless way to engage with a person who sees a visual aid and makes it easy for them to remember it.

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Intrinsic and extrinsic feedback can be gathered to test whether visual communication techniques are working well.

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This chapter was derived by Annemarie Hamlin, Chris Rubio, and Michele DeSilva, Central Oregon Community College, from Online Technical Writing by David McMurrey - CC: BY 4.0

Technical writers integrate graphics, also referred to as visuals, to complement text in a report. Visuals can take a number of forms- tables, charts, photographs, drawings, to name a few- but their purpose rarely varies: graphics should help to clarify information presented in the report. They also provide an additional benefit: they help to break up a text-heavy report, thereby making the report more visually appealing.

Deciding Which Graphics to Include

As you review your research and begin to think about possible visuals to include in your report, the first step is to consider which graphics are most appropriate given the data you wish to convey. The table below provides some general guidelines on the kind of graphic most suitable given the type of information.

Other Considerations: Audience

When creating graphics, it is very important to keep your audience in mind. This relates not just to the content you share but also how that content appears on the page. Are you aware, for instance, that the same color has different meanings across various cultures? Take a look at the graphic below and notice how the color red means something very different across cultures. Similar differences exist across cultures with other colors, as well, so be aware that the choices you make in colors for your graphics may communicate ideas you do not actually intend.

Other Considerations: Placement and Context

As you develop visuals for your report, you will want to also consider where they should be placed and what information you will need to provide in the body of your report to adequately prepare your readers for the message within that graphic. Minimally, consider the following:

Introduce the information appearing in a graphic in clear sentences in the paragraph preceding the visual. That is also a good place to provide the source material for the information in the graphic, if applicable.

Give the visual a name, even if that is simply "Table 1" or "Figure 1" for easy reference.

Make sure the information within the graphic is clear and easy to understand.

Provide source information at the bottom of the graphic.

Write some follow-up text after the graphic. This might be an interpretation or a final comment about the implications of the information in the visual.

Samples

Let's take a look at some samples.

The first example below is a pie chart created with information the writer obtained from an interview. Notice that the writer provides a name for the visual, includes introductory sentences to provide context for the graphic, lists source information at the bottom of the chart, and finally, includes some closing remarks to tie it all together.

Not all gardeners will experience success with growing vegetables in Central Oregon, and the town of Sisters is especially challenging because of the varied temperatures all year long and the chance of frost or even freezing temperatures during any month of the year. Central Oregon and Sisters resident, Jane Doe, had the greatest success with the following vegetables in the year 2015 as noted in the pie chart below.

Can

Vegetables grown in 2015. Source: Interview with Master Gardener, Jane Doe, 2 May 2016.

It is important to note that depending on the hardiness zone of the city, some vegetables may do better than others. Doe also commented that she protected her tomatoes either inside a green house or under a hoop house.

Below you will find another visual of the same information from the pie chart. It is provided to give you another way of visualizing the same information.

Finally, here is a simple table conveying information about plant hardiness zones for growers in Central Oregon. Notice again that the table isn't simply inserted and left on its own for readers to interpret; the writer introduces the table with prefatory remarks and also provides follow-up commentary after the table.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture publishes a Plant Hardiness Zone Map which growers and gardeners use to help determine which plants, including vegetables and trees, will be most successful at a particular location. The table below shows the hardiness zone for four cities in Central Oregon and includes the annual minimum winter temperature-important information to keep in mind when determining not only which vegetables to plant but how long the growing season may be.

your textbox content here.Table 1: Hardiness Zones in Central Oregon

Source information: "United States Department of Agriculture." USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map. 2012. Web. 05 May 2016.

Before purchasing any plants or vegetables for your own garden, make sure you look at the hardiness number on the label to be sure that the item will grow successfully in your climate zone.

Now that you have had a chance to learn about strategies for creating effective graphics and have examined some strong examples, let's look at a few that could use some revision. As you look at the following visuals, note the possible strengths and weaknesses of each one. Consider what advice you might give the writer on how to improve these graphics.

Guidelines for Graphics: A Final Review

Keep the following in mind as you consider possible visual enhancements to your report:

Use graphics to supplement or clarify information provided within the body of your report.

Make sure your graphics are appropriate to your audience, subject matter, and purpose.

Discuss graphics in nearby text preceding the graphic. Don't just insert a graphic in your report unexplained. Orient readers to the graphic; explain its basic meaning, easily done in introductory and follow-up sentences before and after your graphic.

Intersperse graphics and text on the same page. Don't put graphics on pages by themselves; ideally, no visual should take up more than one-third of any page in your report.

Use figure numbers and titles for graphics. Additionally, include identifying detail within the graphics such as illustration labels, axis labels, keys, and so on.

Make sure graphics fit within normal margins. Leave at least one blank line above and below graphics.

Place graphics as near to the point in the text where they are relevant as is reasonable. However, if a graphic does not fit properly on one page, indicate that it appears on the next page and put it at the top of the next, continuing with regular text on the preceding page. Don't leave half a page blank just to keep a graphic near the text it is associated with.

Cite all images that you create from any source material. You should do this in your introductory sentences before the visual as well as include a citation, if relevant, at the bottom of the visual. See the samples above.

Cite any images you use created by another writer which you include in your report. While it is perfectly legal to borrow graphics-to trace, photocopy, scan, or extract subsets of data from them, you are obligated to accurately cite your sources for graphics just as you are for the words you borrow.

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An Introduction to Technical Communication

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This chapter was derived by Annemarie Hamlin, Chris Rubio, and Michele DeSilva, Central Oregon Community College, from Online Technical Writing by David McMurrey - CC: BY 4.0 Technical writers integrate graphics, also referred to as visuals, to complement text in a report.

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Published on January 30, 2015
Melissa Clarkson
This brief tutorial introduces the foundational elements of visual communication. The emphasis is on techniques to graphically communicate (A) hierarchy, (B) grouping and (C) sequence- three concepts that are critical for designing effective figures, posters, and slides.

Here is an overview of the strategy:

Position, color, size, shape, and orientation are variables applied to individual graphic elements. Graphic elements are the units of information that go into making a figure, slide, or poster. These include photos, icons, paragraphs of text, and titles.

Next, the graphic elements are combined into compositions where contrast, repetition, proximity, and alignment, defined below, are created. (To learn more about these principles, see The Non-Designer's Design Book, by Robin Williams.) A figure, poster, or slide is a composition of individual graphic elements.

Contrast: Elements have noticeably different visual characteristics then others in the composition. Created using the variables of color, size, shape, orientation.

Repetition: Elements have consistent visual characteristics within the composition. Created using color, size, shape, and orientation.

Alignment: Elements have been arranged to create an imaginary line within the composition. Uses the variable of position.

Proximity: Elements are close together within the space of a composition. Uses the variable of position.

By wisely using visual variables and creating contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity within the composition, you can communicate to the viewer the relationships among the elements of your composition. Clearly establishing hierarchy, grouping, and sequence through visual methods allows the viewer to quickly understand how the pieces of information in your figure, slide, or poster relate to each other-and therefore to more quickly understand the information itself.

Hierarchy: A dominant-subordinate relationship among elements.

Grouping: A relationship that specifies the elements to be associated together.

Sequence: A relationship among elements that specifies first, second, third...

As you examine the examples in the figure below, consider which of the compositions would communicate differently if it was turned on its side or upside down. In the top row (the four compositions demonstrating hierarchy), the first three compositions could be turned without changing what is communicated. But the fourth could not because it relies on the variable of position to communicate hierarchy. Using position as a way to communicate hierarchy works because we associate dominance in a hierarchy with the physical position of being "above" or "at the top". Similarly, how we interpret a sequence (demonstrated in the last row) relies on position, following convention of reading English from left-to-right and top-to-bottom.

Now that you have seen these principles of visual communication demonstrated using simple shapes and without any context, it is time to apply this thinking to a real design. Below is a flyer I designed for a visual communication workshop.

First, identify all the uses of alignment. Which of these alignments simply serve to give the poster a tidy appearance, and which have a role in helping to communicate the information in the poster?

I chose to use two fonts are used in the flyer (Trajan Pro toward the top, Gill Sans at the bottom). Where is contrast used in the typography? Where is repetition used? What purposes do they serve?

Next, describe how hierarchy, grouping, and sequence were created within the flyer:

Finally, here are some tips to help you avoid common mistakes in your designs:

You must create a clear hierarchy within the composition so that the viewer knows what is most important and where they should initially focus their attention. If you try to emphasize everything, you end up emphasizing nothing.

If you have created contrast, the viewer expects the contrast to mean something. Therefore, if you have several elements in a composition that are similar, keep them visually consistent. Don't choose different colors for each one simply because your software makes it easy to do so.

Use alignment within your composition wherever it makes sense. Sometimes this alignment helps to communicate with the viewer (for example, "these are a group", "these are a sequence"). Other times it simply helps to reduce visual clutter, so the viewer can more easily direct his or her attention to elements of importance.

Limit your color palette and use highly saturated colors sparingly. As you can see in the examples I provided, color is a powerful way to attract attention to individual elements. But when used carelessly it is a way to overwhelm and confuse your viewer.

About the author: Melissa Clarkson is a researcher, information designer, and educator working at the intersection of informatics, design, and life sciences. She is a graduate of the PhD program in Biomedical and Health Informatics at the University of Washington. Her masters training in design was at Carnegie Mellon University, and she has also received a MA in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology from the University of Kansas. Her research focuses on how to clearly communicate complex and technical information. In her role as an educator she teaches visual communication skills to scientists and engineers. Her portfolio is available at melissaclarkson.com

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Published on January 30, 2015 Melissa Clarkson This brief tutorial introduces the foundational elements of visual communication. The emphasis is on techniques to graphically communicate (A) hierarchy, (B) grouping and (C) sequence- three concepts that are critical for designing effective figures, posters, and slides.

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Tips for Visual Aids during Presentation

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Tips for Visual Aids during Presentation

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Crafting a message that educates, motivates, and engages, and one part graphic design using design principles to communicate that message so that it’s clear and eye-catching.

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Example of how effective visual element aids in audience retention.

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0:00 / 0:55•Watch full video

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Importance of Context in Visual Elements

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Importance of Context in Visual Elements

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Visuals can take a number of forms but their purpose rarely varies: graphics should help to clarify information presented in the report. They also help to break up a text-heavy report, thereby making the report more visually appealing.

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Gestalt Principles for Effective Visual Communication

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Gestalt Principles for Effective Visual Communication

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Gestalt Theory aims to explain the way the human brain interprets information in a visual manner.

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Listen to the audio version of this article

Negative space has long been a staple of good design. Leaving white space around elements of a design is the first thing that usually comes to mind. But then there are designs that use that white space to infer an element that isn’t actually there (the arrow hidden between the E and X in the FedEx logo immediately comes to mind as an example).

The “E” and “x” in the FedEx logo create an arrow within the negative space between them.

The human brain is exceptionally good at filling in the blanks in an image and creating a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. It’s why we see faces in things like tree leaves or sidewalk cracks.

This principle is one of the most important underlying ideas behind the gestalt principles of visual perception. The most influential early proposal written about the theory was published by Max Wertheimer in his 1923 Gestalt laws of perceptual organization, though Wolfgang Köhler’s 1920 discussion of Physical Gestalten also contains many influential ideas on the subject.

Regardless of who first proposed the ideas (there have been essays dating back as far as 1890), gestalt principles are an important set of ideas for any designer to learn, and their implementation can greatly improve not just the aesthetics of a design, but also its functionality and user-friendliness.

In the simplest terms, gestalt theory is based on the idea that the human brain will attempt to simplify and organize complex images or designs that consist of many elements, by subconsciously arranging the parts into an organized system that creates a whole, rather than just a series of disparate elements. Our brains are built to see structure and patterns in order for us to better understand the environment that we’re living in.

There are six individual principles commonly associated with gestalt theory: similarity, continuation, closure, proximity, figure/ground, and symmetry & order (also called prägnanz). There are also some additional, newer principles sometimes associated with gestalt, such as common fate.

Similarity

It’s human nature to group like things together. In gestalt, similar elements are visually grouped, regardless of their proximity to each other. They can be grouped by color, shape, or size. Similarity can be used to tie together elements that might not be right next to each other in a design.

The squares here are all equally spaced and the same size, but we automatically group them by color, even though there’s no rhyme or reason to their placement.

Of course, you can make things dissimilar if you want to make them stand out from the crowd. It’s why buttons for calls to action are often designed in a different color than the rest of a page—so they stand out and draw the visitor’s attention to the desired action.

In UX design, using similarity makes it clear to your visitors which items are alike. For example, in a features list using repetitive design elements (such as an icon accompanied by 3-4 lines of text), the similarity principle would make it easy to scan through them. In contrast, changing the design elements for features you want to highlight makes them stand out and gives them more importance in the visitor’s perception.

Even things as simple as making sure that links throughout a design are formatted in the same way relies on the principle of similarity in the way your visitors will perceive the organization and structure of your site.

Continuation

The law of continuity posits that the human eye will follow the smoothest path when viewing lines, regardless of how the lines were actually drawn.

The eye tends to want to follow the straight line from one end of this figure to the other, and the curved line from the top to the bottom, even when the lines change color midway through.

This continuation can be a valuable tool when the goal is to guide a visitor’s eye in a certain direction. They will follow the simplest path on the page, so make sure the most vital parts they should see fall within that path.

Since the eye naturally follows a line, placing items in a series in a line will naturally draw the eye from one item to the next. Horizontal sliders are one such example, as are related product listings on sites like Amazon.

Closure

Closure is one of the coolest gestalt principles and one I already touched on at the beginning of this piece. It’s the idea that your brain will fill in the missing parts of a design or image to create a whole.

In its simplest form, the principle of closure allows your eye to follow something like a dotted line to its end. But more complex applications are often seen in logos, like that for the World Wildlife Fund. Large chunks of the outline for the panda are missing, but your brain has no problem filling in the missing sections to see the whole animal.

The gestalt principle of closure is illustrated beautifully in the World Wildlife Fund’s panda logo. The brain completes the white shapes, even though they’re not well defined.

Closure is quite often used in logo design, with other examples including those for the USA Network, NBC, Sun Microsystems, and even Adobe.

Another very important example of closure at work in UX and UI design is when you show a partial image fading off the user’s screen in order to show them that there is more to be found if they swipe left or right. Without a partial image, i.e., if only full images are shown, the brain doesn’t immediately interpret that there might be more to be seen, and therefore your user is less likely to scroll (since closure is already apparent).

Proximity

Proximity refers to how close elements are to one another. The strongest proximity relationships are those between overlapping subjects, but just grouping objects into a single area can also have a strong proximity effect.

The opposite is also true, of course. By putting space between elements, you can add separation even when their other characteristics are the same.

Take this group of circles, for example:

The only thing differentiating the group on the left from those on the right is the proximity of the lines. And yet your brain interprets the image on the right as three distinct groups.

A USPS PDF form example where the proximity gestalt principle is impairing UX. Due to the field labels being closer to the fields under them, people would mistakenly believe that’s where the information goes for “c.” and “d.” Yet, the information is supposed to be provided in the fields above the text labels.

In UX design, proximity is most often used in order to get users to group certain things together without the use of things like hard borders. By putting like things closer together, with space in between each group, the viewer will immediately pick up on the organization and structure you want them to perceive.

Figure/Ground

The figure/ground principle is similar to the closure principle in that it takes advantage of the way the brain processes negative space. You’ve probably seen examples of this principle floating around in memes on social media, or as part of logos (like the FedEx logo already mentioned).

Your brain will distinguish between the objects it considers to be in the foreground of an image (the figure, or focal point) and the background (the area on which the figures rest). Where things get interesting is when the foreground and background actually contain two distinct images, like this:

Some people will immediately see the tree and birds when viewing the logo for the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium, while others will see the gorilla and lion staring at each other.

Another great example of the figure/ground gestalt principle.

A simpler example can be seen with this image, of two faces creating a candlestick or vase between them:

In this famous illusion developed by Danish psychologist Edgar Rubin, the viewer is usually presented with two shape interpretations—two faces or a vase. It’s another excellent example of the figure/ground principle.

In general terms, your brain will interpret the larger area of an image as the ground and the smaller as the figure. As shown in the image above, though, you can see that lighter and darker colors can influence what is viewed as the figure and what is viewed as the ground.

The figure/ground principle can be very handy when product designers want to highlight a focal point, particularly when it is active or in use—for example, when a modal window pops up and the rest of the site fades into the background, or when a search bar is clicked on and the contrast is increased between it and the rest of the site.

Symmetry and Order

The law of symmetry and order is also known as prägnanz, the German word for “good figure.” What this principle says is that your brain will perceive ambiguous shapes in as simple a manner as possible. For example, a monochrome version of the Olympic logo is seen as a series of overlapping circles rather than a collection of curved lines.

Here’s another good example of the gestalt design principle “prägnanz”:

Your brain will interpret the image on the left as a rectangle, circle, and triangle, even when the outlines of each are incomplete because those are simpler shapes than the overall image.

Common Fate

While common fate was not originally included in gestalt theory, it has since been added. In UX design, its usefulness can’t be overlooked. This principle states that people will group together things that point to or are moving in the same direction.

In nature, we see this in things like flocks of birds or schools of fish. They are made up of a bunch of individual elements, but because they move seemingly as one, our brains group them together and consider them a single stimulus.

A flock of birds is viewed as a single unit when flying in the same direction and thereby sharing a common fate. (by Martin Adams on Unsplash)

This is very useful in UX as animated effects become more prevalent in modern design. Note that elements don’t actually have to be moving in order to benefit from this principle, but they do have to give the impression of motion.

Gestalt Principles in UX Design

As with any psychological principle, learning to incorporate the visual perception principles of gestalt into your design work can greatly improve the user experience. Understanding how the human brain works and then exploiting a person’s natural tendencies creates a more seamless interaction that makes a user feel comfortable on a website, even if it’s their first visit.

Gestalt principles are relatively easy to incorporate into just about any design and can quickly elevate a design that seems haphazard or like it’s fighting for a user’s attention to one that offers a seamless, natural interaction that guides users toward the action you want them to take.

• • •

Further reading on the Toptal Design Blog:

Design Principles: Introduction To Hierarchy

UI Design Best Practices and Common Mistakes

How to Use Powerful Gestalt Principles in Design (with Infographic)

The Comprehensive Guide to Information Architecture

Boost Your UX with These Successful Interaction Design Principles

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Exploring the Gestalt Principles of Design

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Gestalt principles of visual perception are an important set of concepts for any designer to learn, and their implementation can not only greatly improve the aesthetics of a design but also its functionality and user-friendliness.

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What are some of the most common types of visual communication? 

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What are some of the most common types of visual communication? 

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Whether you're an executive looking to align your team on new organizational processes, or a marketer looking for ways to differentiate on social media, you may wonder how best to use visuals to really connect with your audience.
In this guide, I'll give you some trade secrets from my experience as an information designer. I'll show you how to leverage design and visual communications best practices to engage your audience while avoiding information overload.
Table of contents:

What is visual communication? Visual communication defined:
Visual communication is the practice of using visual elements to convey a message, inspire change, or evoke emotion.
It's one part communication design-crafting a message that educates, motivates, and engages, and one part graphic design- using design principles to communicate that message so that it's clear and eye-catching.

Effective visual communication should be equally appealing and informative.

Visual communication is really about picking the right elements (usually text, icons, shapes, imagery and data visualizations) to create meaning for your audience.

Some common visual communication strategies include:

What are some of the most common types of visual communication?

When you think about visual communication, your mind might first jump to design-heavy content like social media graphics or infographics .

And while visual communication certainly plays a role in those cases, there are a ton of other types of content that fall under the visual communication umbrella.

Some common types of visual communications in the workplace include:

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These can look very different when used in different industries, but they all use the same visual communication strategies and design principles to accurately present information and create meaning for audiences.

Let's take a look at some visual communication strategies used across different types of organizations.

Nonprofit organizations

Nonprofit organizations often combine data visualization and visual storytelling to gain the trust of their audiences and establish the credibility of their organization.

This might take the form of a statistical infographic or an impact report that they share with their donors and supporters:

They may also create public-facing informational or to build awareness around their organization and foster support for their cause.

Another place where visual communication is key for larger nonprofits is to update stakeholders on campaign or research results. These reports often combine storytelling with data visualization to inform and convince.

Healthcare organizations

A visual communication strategy often applied in healthcare is the use of plain language and simple iconography to communicate with audiences with lower health literacy.

For example, a public health unit might create an infographic factsheet to ensure that recommended protocols are followed, like these recent COVID-19 guidelines from Public Health Ontario:

In fact, the CDC recommends the use of visuals to boost understanding of health information for external communications in healthcare.

These types of visual guides aren't just helpful for external communication. Similar tactics can be used to remind staff of workplace best practices, like patient safety and infection prevention practices.
Learn more: Venngage for Healthcare Organizations
Business consulting organizations

Business development organizations may use diagrams like process maps to communicate high-level strategy to clients, which can help make their value more tangible.

A simple roadmap or summary of strategy recommendations can go a long way towards communicating and aligning with clients.

Why does visual communication matter?

Visuals can help create understanding where words alone cannot.

They can help bridge the gap between concepts and words, especially when appealing to an audience with diverse needs and backgrounds.

It's clear that visual communication is top-of-mind for many. When we surveyed marketers about their use of visual content , 74% of the marketers we surveyed stated that more than 70% of their content contained some form of visual.

Plus, it's been demonstrated time and time again that in addition to making information more engaging, visuals can actually help with the comprehension of information.

But when should you consider making your content more visual?

You can use visual communication to:

Engage your audience

Communicate complex information

Tell a story and convey emotion

Simplify information

Communicate the impact of your data

Let's take a look at how this can apply in the workplace.

How to use visual communication in the workplace

You might think that visual communication isn't really necessary in your day-to-day work.

But visuals, in the right hands, can be used as a tool to influence what your audience pays attention to, thinks about, and understands.

1. How to make boring topics engaging

Creating engaging content that shows the value of your business can be a challenge when you work in a "boring" or technical industry like finance, business development, engineering or healthcare.

But it's this kind of challenge where visual communication shines. Creating unique visuals can help you position yourself as the innovative solution in the market.

Here are some simple strategies to consider:

Use stylized icons to make technical information feel concrete and approachable

This infographic about credit card merchant processing, for example, takes advantage of a playful icon style and a modern design treatment to capture your attention and keep you reading.

This might be the perfect way to signal to young business owners that you're different from the traditional big banks, and that you're right for them. It feels so much more approachable than a wall of text on a web page.

Just applying some basic visual communication strategies can make this "boring" technical information a bit more accessible and relatable to your target audience -ready to boost engagement on social media, your blog, or your newsletter.

Use visual metaphors to get your audience thinking

Visual metaphors are another way to make old ideas feel fresh and exciting, and can even help foster deeper understanding of your subject matter.

The use of women running in the infographic below, for example, helps me think about NPS scores in a new way:

By allowing the visual presentation to drive how you position the value of your product or service, you can find new ways to reach your customers.

To sum up, here are some visual communication tips for how to make boring topics engaging:

Use visuals and icons to make technical information feel approachable

Choose a graphic design style that will resonate with your target audience

Think outside of the box: use a unique visual presentation to get your audience thinking

If your visual presentation is unique, your information doesn't have to be revolutionary to give you an edge over your competitors.

2. How to communicate process changes and improvements

Being able to quickly re-align your team on process changes has never been more important.

Visuals can make processes easier to understand and more memorable. They can also help boost employee alignment and engagement.

Here's how you can use process documentation to help align your team.

Show both high-level and low-level changes with hierarchical process diagrams

Breaking down processes into discrete visual steps can make new processes much easier to grasp.

And breaking down steps into even smaller sections can help you communicate both high-level concepts and specific details in the same place, like in this process diagram below.

Providing these process documents to employees can help quickly align teams on new strategies, like an action plan to address a crisis or a shift into a new market, while also acting as a reference point in the future.

Provide presentation slides as a post-meeting reference guide

With remote work becoming the norm, you likely spend many of your days in back-to-back Zoom calls.

If you're holding a meeting to discuss major process changes or company updates, it may be worth your while to whip up some quick meeting slides to help clarify changes and ensure your team is aligned.

Including a slide deck can help reinforce the importance of what's discussed, and act as a reference when your team digs into their work.

CREATE THIS PRESENTATION TEMPLATE

Provide checklists to help your team keep track of complex processes

Providing a checklist of steps for your team to follow can help you delegate work with confidence, while giving your team the confidence to know that they're doing things right.

Checklists are particularly helpful for communicating complex or proprietary internal processes, as they can help remove any anxiety from the process.

Build out a library of internal training documents that you can update periodically

Building out a library of training documents, while it might take a bit of time up front, can really save time and money in the long run, because a team that's aligned is a team that's productive.

Onboarding guides, FAQs for new employees (like the fun onboarding FAQs below), and other process documentation can all help make remote onboarding easier, and help new employees feel comfortable and in control.

HR onboarding checklists can help avoid the headache of overlooked paperwork and unclear expectations. Having one checklist for the employee and one for your HR department will help keep everyone aligned and on top of their tasks.

If you're ramping up to hire a mass of new employees, it may even be worth rethinking the design of your offer letter. After your new employee signs, you can send on their package of matching onboarding documents.

And once you create those documents, they should be easy to update and disseminate to new and existing team members, making your job even easier.

To summarize, here are your tips for communicating process changes on the fly:

3. How to simplify complex information with visuals

Perhaps the most powerful use of visual communication is to simplify complex information.

Just take this image that HubSpot posted on Twitter recently, for example. With one simple visual, they manage to position their product as the perfect solution to three problems experienced across three different teams:
Source
This doesn't work for external communications on social media.

It can be the perfect approach for consultants looking to communicate their ideas and strategies to clients, in a quick and digestible way.

Or B2B organizations in technical fields looking to demystify the products and services they offer to differentiate from their competitors, without using a ton of technical language:

Or healthcare organizations looking to make recommendations clear to patients:

The four key steps for simplifying complex information with visuals are:

4. How to visualize data and insights

Effective data visualization does more than just display some data from a spreadsheet.

It should communicate insights and capture ideas. It should communicate the behind the trends.

It should help you answer the question often asked by busy people with competing demands: why should I care?

Use the right chart for your data and your goal

The first thing to consider when visualizing data is what visual form will best communicate your insight.

At Venngage, we've developed the ICCOR method to help you choose the best charts for your infographic. The ICCOR method is a framework aimed to help you use a visualization type that aligns with your communication goal.

Your communication goal might be to:

Inform: convey a single important message or data point that doesn't require much context to understand

Compare: show similarities or differences among values or parts of a whole

Show Change: visualize trends over time or space

Organize: show groups, patterns, rank or order

Reveal Relationships: show correlations among variables or values

Each of these different goals will be best communicated with a different type of chart.

For example, icons arrays (also called 'pictograms') have been shown to be more effective than bar or pie charts for communicating risk , which is particularly important for healthcare providers and public health workers who want to support good decision making in their patients.
For access to professional templates, and a simple editor to visualize financial information, check out: Venngage for Finance
Bar charts, on the other hand, are perfect for handling larger amounts of data and highlighting comparisons between sets of data, which might be more important for those working in finance:

Choosing a chart is just one part of the process. How do you actually make an impact with your data?

Tell a story with your data to inspire your audience

A plain old bar graph won't do much to inspire your audience. But a creative combination of charts, visuals, text, and statistics that tells a story can.

By highlighting the right numbers and pulling in text and other visuals, you can show the impact of your organization in a more holistic way, and tell the story behind the data.

Storytelling with data is as much about crafting a narrative as it is about understanding and communicating the insights in your data.

The first step to crafting your narrative is understanding your audience. Think about:

What's going on in their lives?

What knowledge do they have on the subject?

What context do they need from you?

Once you understand your audience, it should be easy to pull out the insights that will make an impact, and present them in an impactful way. That's the difference between an engaging design and your standard Excel chart.

Another common practice in data storytelling is the use of icon stories to draw viewers in and make abstract ideas more concrete.

Take this report from UNICEF, for example. The simple, universal icons are combined in different ways to create and reinforce key ideas, creating an impactful report that will be memorable for readers.

Call out key insights and action items in the data

The impact of your hard work can easily get lost in a monthly or quarterly report.

But you can apply the design techniques typically used in infographics to make sure your efforts stand out of more traditional summative reports.

The trick is to do more with less. Get rid of data that doesn't say anything, and emphasize the data that's meaningful. Remove the noise to pull focus towards what's useful.

Highlight key data points and add annotations to provide context to the most important data:

Here's what to consider when visualizing your data and insights:

How to make your visual communications look professional

If you're not a full-time designer, one of your main concerns might be making sure your visual communications look professional.

You want to make sure you're producing content that elevates your brand, and inspires your colleagues, donors, and stakeholders.

Here's what you should think about:

Establish a cohesive visual brand for any external communications

It's critical for any growing business to establish cohesive visual branding.

Especially for consumer-facing communications, like for your blog or social media, the quality of your visual brand signals to your customers about the quality of your organization.

Luckily, it's pretty easy to ensure your branding feels consistent. Here's how:

Include the same header and footer with your logo across infographics, one-pagers, reports, and flyers

Apply your brand fonts and colors consistently across all of your collateral

Use the same style of symbols and icons across every document

As a shortcut, you can use Venngage's Brand Kit to add your brand logos, fonts and colors to your designs with just a few clicks.

Repurpose and reuse designs to keep your communications consistent

Reusing and repurposing existing designs can truly be a game changer.

For one, it'll speed up your workflow. But more importantly, it'll ensure that you're producing communications that are consistent and cohesive.

Did I mention yet that your communications need to be cohesive?

You can repurpose the documents you've created for one client or project, add different content and tweak it a bit for a new client or a different target audience, to get a ton of mileage out of a small amount of design work.

Even if you're just creating documents to share internally, like project summaries or company newsletters, you can set yourself and your team apart by producing documents that have a consistent visual style.

Conclusion

The recent rapid transition to remote work has propelled visual communication from a "nice-to-have" into an integral part of communication at work.

I hope you've already started thinking about how you can use visuals to amplify your communications.
For help getting started with visual communication and infographics, check out this guide: How to make an infographic in 5 steps
Just remember to keep these design and visual communication principles in mind:

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How to Use Visual Communication: Definition, Examples, Templates - Venngage

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Whether you're an executive looking to align your team on new organizational processes, or a marketer looking for ways to differentiate on social media, you may wonder how best to use visuals to really connect with your audience. In this guide, I'll give you some trade secrets from my experience as an information designer.

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There are three types of memory within the brain that is important for understanding visual communications; iconic memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory.

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Different visualizations offer different summaries regarding the topic needed. Inappropriate tools may result in misleading information received by the readers.

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Best Book for Visualization of Data for Effective Communication

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Best Book for Visualization of Data for Effective Communication

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Chapter 4: Focus your audience's attention

There are two ways of strategically preattentive attributes to gather the audience’s attention. The first attribute starts with determining the information to catch the audience’s attention. The second attribute provides the visual hierarchy of elements.

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Highlight all Match case

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storytelling with data_ a data visualization guide for business professionals (2015)

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storytelling with data: a data visualization guide for business professionals

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Storytelling With Data: A Data Visualization Guide For Business Professionals (2015)

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Before creating any visual elements, knowing who your audience is essential in establishing a better position on how to ensure they hear your message.

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Data visualization requires more than design skills. You need both technical and critical thinking skills to create the best visuals for your audience. It is important to match your visualization to your viewer's information needs. You should always be asking yourself: "What are they looking for?"

1. Understand your audience before designing your visualization
The first and most important consideration is your audience. Their preferences will guide every other decision about your visualization-the dissemination mode, the graph type, the formatting, and more. You might be designing charts for policymakers, funders, the general public, or your own organization's leaders, among many others.

What type of decisions do your viewers make? What information do they already have available? What additional information can your charts provide? Do they have time (and interest) to explore an interactive website, or should you design a one-page handout that can be understood at a glance? A chart designed for local government leaders wouldn't be appropriate for a group of program implementers, and vice versa.

2. Your audience determines the type of visualization you prepare
Spend some time thinking about your dissemination format before you sit down at the computer to design your visualization. The days of 100+ page narrative reports are long gone. Nowadays viewers want visual reports, executive summaries, live presentations, handouts, and more.

Visual Reporting
Traditional M&E reports are 80% text and 20% graphics. Ready to break the mold? This visual report,State of Evaluation 2012 from Innovation Network, is about 20% text and 80% graphics.

One-Page Annual Reports
If you know your viewers won't read more than a page or two, try a one-page annual report. These "reports" focus on just the highlights of what was accomplished within the past year and leave out the lengthy narrative sections. Here is an annual report I created for theWashington Evaluators:

Online Reporting
Maybe your viewers would respond better to a different reporting style altogether-an online report. These website-based reports can include images, videos, interactive visualizations, and more. My favorites includeDatalogy Labs' Baltimore report and the University of Chicago's computer science report.

3. Remember that the key is to keep your audience engaged
If you are sharing results in client meetings, staff retreats, conferences, or webinar, try breaking up your charts into several slides so the chart appears to be animated. This storyboarding technique ensures that your audience is looking where you want, when you want.

Draw Attention to key charts with handouts
If you are getting ready to share your M&E results during a meeting, rather than printing your full slide deck, select 3 to 5 key charts and print those slides on a full-page. Your full slide deck will likely end up the trash can as soon as the meeting ends, but your curated handouts will get scribbled on, underlined, and saved for future reference. I often see these handouts taped above meeting attendees' desks weeks and months after my presentation.

Tweeting your results
If you are planning to tweet a chart or two, be sure to adjust your charts to fit a 2:1 aspect ratio. Otherwise, your carefully crafted visualization will get chopped in half because when you are scrolling through your Twitter feed, the images automatically display about twice as wide as they are tall.

That's all for my top tips to keep in mind when creating your visualization! How do you engage your team when creating and presenting reports for your organization? What types of communications modes are you currently using to share your visualizations? Tweet at us @TechChange and join the conversation!

Interested in learning more about how to best present findings for your team or organization, join me and Norman Shamas in TechChange's brand new Technology for Data Visualization and Analysis online certificate course. The course begins on June 1, and you can register with code ' DATAVIZ50′ for a $50 discount! Click here to register.
About author

Ann K. Emery is a co-facilitator for Technology for Data Visualization and Analysis course. Through her workshops, webinars, and consulting services, she equips organizations to visualize data more effectively. She leads 50 workshops each year both domestically and abroad. Connect with Emery through her blog.

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Why Your Audience Matters in Data Visualization

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Data visualization requires more than design skills. You need both technical and critical thinking skills to create the best visuals for your audience. It is important to match your visualization to your viewer's information needs. You should always be asking yourself: "What are they looking for?" 1.

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Who, What, How: Questions to be Asked Before Visual Creation 

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Who, What, How: Questions to be Asked Before Visual Creation 

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Data visualization is not just... data visualization: you have to turn the data into information that can be consumed by an audience.

Who, What, How

To go further

Exploratory Analysis is the process you perform as a data scientist, when you “summarize data sets characteristics, often with visual methods. A statistical model can be used or not, but primarily exploratory analysis is for seeing what the data can tell us” (Exploratory data analysis, wikipedia).

In this course, we focus on Explanatory Analysis, the kind of analysis you use when you present some selected results to someone, in order to convince this someone to do something. It comes after the exporatory analysis.

Learning outcomes:
- Identify the audience
- Identify the message and deliver it in a synthetic way
- Practice the Big Idea Concept
- Build a synopsis of an explanatory analysis with a storyboard

When it comes to Explanatory Analysis, you have to be clear on :

1. Who: To whom are you communicating?

2. What: What do you need your audience to know or do?

3. How: What data is available that will help make my point?

Who is your audience? What do they care about? These may seem like obvious questions to ask yourselves when you step back and think about it, but too often we completely skip this step. Getting to know your audience (WHO) and understanding her needs and what drives her is an important early part of the process for successfully communicating with data.

As in any communication process, you have to define the purpose (WHAT). What message do you intend to deliver? What is your call for action? What do you want your audience to do? The Big Idea is a tool that can help you to define your message. The Big Idea, originally introduced by Nancy Duarte in Resonate (2010), should (1) articulate your unique point of view, (2) convey what’s at stake, and (3) be a complete sentence. Imagine you would have to announce your presentation on Twitter with only 140 characters ;-)

Once you have a clear message to be delivered to a clear audience, HOW to build your presentation? How to choose the better targeted materials and organize the presentation? Storyboarding is an efficient tool. A storyboard is a visual outline of our content, usually written with a pen on a sheet of paper, or on sticky notes.

Recommended ressource The Big Idea worksheet

Recommended reading Chapter one from the book "Storytelling with Data: A Data Visualization Guide for Business Professionals", by Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic (Editor: John Wiley & Sons, 18 novembre 2015)

Recommended video The "Who, What, and How" of Data Visualization. From Coursera, Creating Dashboards and Storytelling with Tableau, by University of California, Davis.

Recommended video Presentation tutorial: How to create a storyboard

Recommended video Why is it so important to know your audience, to know their motivations? Learn about the emotion in decision-making. From Coursera, Creating Dashboards and Storytelling with Tableau, by University of California, Davis.

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Data visualization is not just... data visualization: you have to turn the data into information that can be consumed by an audience. Exploratory Analysis is the process you perform as a data scientist, when you "summarize data sets characteristics, often with visual methods.

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Using visual aids in literature creates a strong engagement between readers and the texts. Visuals encourage readers to give interest in the material given, helping them understand thoughts better.

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Award-Winning Training & Coaching | The Presentation Company

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We live in a visual world. Billboards on the highway, TV commercials, and social media newsfeeds are constantly trying to sell us messages. But these visuals aren't built merely to be colorful or pretty. Clever visuals are designed for a more strategic purpose - to get us to notice and respond to ideas.

This same logic directly applies to business communications: relevant visuals help our insights and recommendations be more easily understood, remembered, and acted on. Here's a quick and easy guide to understanding how to make clear, powerful visuals in your presentation:

Why do visuals help us remember things?

In one word: neuroscience. Neuroscientists have discovered that an idea expressed in visual form is processed 60,000 times faster than the same information either printed or spoken.

But visuals do more than just help us remember something - they spur action. Visuals trigger our right brain where we process emotion and feelings. And it's emotion (even more than pure logic) that motivates us into action.

Why are visuals important in presentations?

To understand why getting visuals right is so important, ask yourself this one question: what is the purpose of any presentation? Or email? Or proposal? Isn't it to help decisions get made? Or move business conversations forward? Clear, simple visuals help our ideas be quickly interpreted and decisions get made faster because they humanize your ideas and infuse emotion (rather than relying on pure logic.) Conversely, distracting visuals slow decision-making down. Slower decisions mean slower business.

What are common mistakes for presentation visuals?

Visuals often go wrong when we lack either time or an overarching visual slide strategy (or both!). Business presenters are-understandably-always looking to save time, reuse, and repurpose existing slides. As a quick fix, we throw together slides from past decks, or borrow slides from a co-worker without giving thought to the intent of the message we are trying to communicate for the specific purpose (we call these " Frankendecks.")

Let's face it: it's easy to fall prey to bad visuals. Business presentations are essentially known for including too much text and data, while often using off-brand colors, fonts, and imagery (and let's not forget about cheesy stock photography.)

On the other hand, even slides that are "pretty" aren't always designed with a clear, easy-to-digest message, ultimately causing confusion rather than advancing the story we need to tell.

What are the visual elements that make a strong presentation?

There are five main ways to display information in presentations: photos, diagrams, data, text, and video.
Photos
Photos are powerful. They'll humanize your message help you connect your ideas to your audience on an emotional level. Photos can also build a mood or theme for your presentation.

Diagrams

Diagrams help breakdown and 'cluster' information into digestible concepts. We often suggesting using shapes or icons to call-out key messages. An example of a diagram would be a timeline or an organizational chart.

Data

Data is most often presented in charts and tables. But sometimes, like in the case of the image below, only key data - that advances the story - is displayed. Also notice how the use of contrasting colors is used to draw the eye to the data point, and gray is used to subdue data that is simply there for context.

Text

Text is the most common - and overused - visual we see in business presentations (hello bullets!). Text used sparingly with contrasting color and size, however, creates an easy-to-digest message.
Video
Video is an excellent to way to change the pace, the voice, and the medium of a presentation. It's usually a good idea to keep it brief and embedded straight into the slide deck. To ensure good flow to your visuals, it's important that any change of medium - such as video - is seamlessly integrated.

Now that we've established how critical strong visuals are to business presentations...

Let's get into some simple tips that will help jumpstart visual thinking the next time you open PowerPoint:
TIP 1: Callouts are Visual Eye-Candy
Callouts are one of the easiest and most potent data visualization techniques. By calling out key information with a contrasting color, size, or shape, you can easily highlight key points. This is a gift to your audience because with a simple visual 'gesture' you are helping them digest your message in one glance. This is one of the fastest ways to move your ideas forward.
TIP 2: Slide headlines refer to key visuals and help tell a story
Hands down, the best place to summarize the key message of your slide is in the headline (particularly if you are offering a lot of facts or data). Summing up your "big idea" in the slide title offers your audience the gift of clarity.
TIP 3: Create a Landing Page for Easy Navigation
What's more, slide headlines - like chapter headings - offer a logical outline to the overall story you are telling in your presentation. No data or facts are thrown in just because you have them. Everything should fit together logically.
Here are some additional questions we often get about creating memorable, authentic visuals for presentations...
Not every presentation needs to be delivered in a linear format. As you can see from this slide, grouping your presentation into sections on a landing page gives an instant visual picture of everywhere you can go in this presentation.

Even better, each of the tabs on this landing page are portals to dive deeper into those sections, offering not only a visual orientation of your deck from start to finish but a way to jump around depending on your audience's needs. This non-linear approach is particularly helpful for decks that are presented by someone else or being emailed.

Does Color Matter in Presentations?

So much has been written on the psychology of color and using it in presentations to incite emotion and convey ideas. So yes, red incites passion. And yellow conveys happiness. White is calm and neutral. Always consider color when planning your presentation. However, first and foremost, always select colors from your corporate palette to keep your visuals coordinated and brand-consistent.

How Do I Create Great Visuals Without Being a Graphic Designer?

Our best advice? Keep it simple. Clean, easy-to-interpret visuals are not only efficient to create, but keep the spotlight on your key message, rather than distract from it. Even a common list can be improved with basic icons or shapes. There are many easy, visual tactics that let you prioritize your ideas and offer an easy way to connect with and motivate your audience.

Looking for meaningful, authentic ways to visually express your ideas? We have loads of tips and resources for you. Stock photos don't have to be cheesy - try adding search terms like "authentic," "candid," "context," or "interactive" after the main search term to find real looking photos that aren't posed or cliché. And while there's no harm in trying free stock photo sites first, we've found that you often get what you pay for. Our favorite paid stock photos sites are iStock, Getty Images, Adobe Stock, and Shutterstock.

Alternatively, ditch photography altogether and try using icons to represent ideas. The Noun Project has millions of curated, editable icons created by people around the globe. And the best part? They're all royalty free with attribution, or less than $40 per year for a subscription. Interested in learning best practices for transforming text- and data-heavy presentation slides into visuals that are easy to scan and highlight your key points? Our Influencing with Visuals workshop teaches teams how to organize ideas into visual messages that are clear, memorable, and (you guessed it) authentic.

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Easy Guide to Choosing the Right Presentation Visuals - Award-Winning Training & Coaching | The Presentation Company

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We live in a visual world. Billboards on the highway, TV commercials, and social media newsfeeds are constantly trying to sell us messages. But these visuals aren't built merely to be colorful or pretty. Clever visuals are designed for a more strategic purpose - to get us to notice and respond to ideas.