Visual Communication
Visual communication includes art, signs, photography, typography, drawing, graphic design, illustration, color and electronic resources. Visual communication is an interdisciplinary approach bringing together anthropology, communication studies, semiotics (the study of signs), media and cultural studies, sociology, and the theory and practice of visual design.
Words are a well understood form of communication. This newsletter is an attempt to show the power of images. (This is not to suggest that meetings don't need spoken or written words.) Some argue that images are becoming more important in our society. Everyday we experience a blitz of images. Images appear in our newspapers, magazines, books, clothing, billboards, computer monitors and television screens as never before in the history of mass communications. Dr. Paul Martin Lester, Professor of Communications at California State University, states that "for many, understanding of the world is being accomplished, not through reading words, but by reading images."
(Source: Lester, Paul Martin. 2006. Syntactic Theory of Visual Communication. Retrieved from http://commfaculty.fullerton.edu/lester/writings/viscomtheory.html)
This issue of Tips for Innovative Meetings and Events will help expand your view of visual communication. This is your opportunity to discover the power of images to inform, educate and persuade individuals. We will discuss seven forms of visual communication with an in-depth focus on graphic facilitation.
Spectrum of Visual Communication
There are seven visual tools we will review:
1. Text
2. PowerPoint
3. Flipcharts
4. Post-it Notes
5. Mindmapping
6. Templates
Graphic Facilitation
(Source: Information taken from Brandy Agerbeck's presentation)
Comparing Visual Tools
Here are some of the pluses (+) and negatives (-) of the various visual tools:
Text
+ Specific meaning
+ Familiar medium
- Promotes linear thinking
- Requires lots of text to describe complex situations
- Requires time to reach consensus on "text"
- Contributes to information overload
PowerPoint
+ Integrates text, photos, models, animation, audio and video
+ Projection allows viewing in large meetings
+ Accessible
- One way communication; not collaborative
- Encourages reading off slides
Flipcharts
+ Mobile medium for sharing
+ Encourages drawing
+ Larger Scale
- List-heavy
- Illegibility
Continued...
