Business Communication Today: An Analysis (part 12)

GAINING AN ADVANTAGE WITH VISUALS

Well-designed visuals can bring business messages to life and help communicators connect with their readers. Visuals enhance the communication power of textual messages. They can convey some message points more effectively and more efficiently than words. Pictures are also an effective way to communicate with the diverse audiences that are common in today's business environment. In the numbers-oriented world of work, people rely heavily on trend lines, distribution curves and percentages. An upward curve means good news in any language. Visuals attract and hold people's attention, helping your audience understand and remember your message. Busy readers often jump to visuals to try to get the gist of a message and attractive visuals can draw readers deeper into your reports and presentations.

Identifying Points to Illustrate

When deciding which points to present visually, think of the five Cs:

• Clear. The human mind is extremely adept at processing visual information, whether it is simple as the shape of a stop sign or as complicated as the floor plan for a new factory. 
• Complete. Visuals, particularly tables, often serve to provide the supporting details for your main idea or recommendation. The process of summarizing, concluding or recommending often requires you to narrow down your material or exclude details; a table or other visuals can provide these details without getting in the way of your main message.

• Concise. You have probably heard the phrase, "A picture is worth a thousand words." If a particular section of your message seems to require extensive description or explanation, see whether there is a way to convey this information visually.
• Connected. A key purpose of many business messages is showing connections of some sort - similarities or differences, correlations, cause-and-effect relationships, and so on.
• Compelling. Your readers live in a highly visual world. Will one or more illustrations make your message more interesting or more likely to read? You never want to insert visuals simply for decorative purposes, of course, but even if a particular point can be expressed equally well via text and visuals consider adding the visual in order to make your report or presentation more compelling.

Maintaining a Balance Between Illustrations and Words

Strong visuals enhance the descriptive and persuasive power of writing, but it is important not to overdo them. Cramming too many visuals into a report can distract your readers in two ways. First if you are constantly referring to tables, drawings and other visual elements, the effort to switch back and forth from words to visuals can make it difficult for readers to maintain focus on the thread of your message. Second, the space occupied by visuals can disrupt the flow of text on the page or screen, which also creates additional work for the reader.

*SOURCE: BUSINESS COMMUNICATION TODAY 8TH ED; COURTLAND L. BOVEE, JOHN V. THILL; PGS. 332-334*

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