Module 18: Using Visual To Tell Stories Flashcards
Why Use Visuals?
Appropriate, attractive visuals create immediate stories: audiences understand them quickly and remember them easily.
Tables
are numbers or words arranged in rows and columns
Figures
Everything else
What Are Stories, and How Do I Find Them?
Stories interpret or frame situations in ways that resonate for readers. Look for relationships and/or patterns that are significant to your audiences.
The best stories
Support a hunch you have
Surprise or challenge so-called common knowledge
Show trends or changes you didn’t know existed
Have commercial, cultural, or social significance
Provide information needed for action
Have personal relevance to you and the audience
You can find stories in three ways:
Focus on a topic (starting salaries, alternative music choices, Twitter demographics).
Simplify the data on that topic and convert the numbers to simple, easy-to-understand units.
Look for relationships and changes;
For optimum information impact, tell—show—tell.
First, tell your readers or listeners what they are about to see.
Next, show your audience what you promised to show them.
Finally, tell them the significance of the visual.
And, of course, use the visual to depict exactly what you said it would.
Does It Matter What Kind of Visual I Use?
The visual should emphasize and expand the story.
Use software to make
infographics, charts, graphs, tables, and figures, and use a digital camera to capture vignettes.
Tables
Use tables only when you want the audience to focus on specific numbers.
Pie Graphs
Use graphs to make comparisons memorable.
Bar Graphs
Bar graphs are easy to interpret, because they ask people to compare distance along a common scale, which most people judge accurately
Line Graphs
Line graphs are also easy to interpret. Use line graphs to compare items over time, to show frequency or distribution, and to show correlations.
What Design Conventions Do I Follow?
Tell your story effectively and ethically. Provide the context. Cite your sources.
Visuals appeal to both ____ and. ______
Logic and emotion
Grouped bar graphs
Allow you to compare several aspects of each item or several items over time
Segmented, subdivided, or stacked bars
Sun the components of an item
Deviation bar graphs
Identity positive and negative values, or winners and losers
Paired bar graphs
Show the correlation between two items
Histograms or pictographs
Use images to create the bars
Plan your visuals to achieve a purpose and meet your audience needs
1) use clear, simple, and relevant images
2) use metaphors and pictures that make connections and patterns obvious
3) put people in the picture: show people are using and enjoying the product, service, or idea you are selling
Every visual should have
1) have a title that tells the story the visual shows
2) clearly indicates the data
3) clearly label units
4) provide labels or legends identifying axes, colour, symbols, etc
5) give the source of the data
6 five the source of the visual
Should I use colour?
Carefully!
It makes 2 problems, first, people try to interpret the color (which may not be accurate)
Second, meaning assigned to colors differ depending on the audiences culture and profession
Chartjunk
The encoded legends, the meaningless colour, the logo type branding
