People predominantly think in images (if you close your eyes and think of your couch at home - what comes up first?) and communicate in stories (dreams, chats, small talk, tv, movies, news, books etc are stories). Then it's easy to determine that combining imagery with narratives is a successful equation for business communications from the starting blocks.
Company visions, strategies, processes etc are often filed in the depths of our office draws because they're often presented in a non-engaging document of some kind, and in business speak. But imagine if the words were brought to life using visual hand-drawn illustrations, and told in a story-like narrive that was engaging and excited and delighted staff or users? Add a touch of light humour where appropriate and people will connect with it. Sprinkle some excitement and emotions - and this is a recipe for success.
You may of noticed I didn't mention graphics, instead hand-drawn illustrations...why? it's because we live in a world of graphics, and similar to death-by-PowerPoint, a part of us has seen so many graphics before, so we don't engage fully with a fresh pair of eyes anymore. it's not so exciting anymore. I do graphics for customers where appropriate, but it's not my first call for attention, engagement and delightment for people. Even infographics need to be done extremely well for them to increase the engagement and retention of a communication. However, clever hand-drawn (live-drawn or on drawn on computer) illustrations offer a raw, light, engaging and entertaining visual that people can refreshingly connect with.
This example is a visualization of an organization's 3 hour meeting, using computer hand-drawn visuals, actual people and story narratives. It enables a whole meeting to be seen and reviewed visually on one sheet of paper, communicated in an engaging way during (shown in intervals of a meeting/conference) and ongoing, after the event online, email or in posters.
Today, peoples expectations of rich media are so high and retention levels are so low, businesses need to lift their game too, both internally and externally. Visualisation is a major key to help others engage with material and if posters like the above are presented in offices, it keeps the topic top-of-mind. If your delivery of information is engaging, exciting and kept top-of-mind, isn't it more likely to come to fruition?
I hope you enjoyed :-)
Dave Leigh, Emphasise Limited www.emphasise.nz
#visualization, #visualisation, #graphicrecording, #visualmeetings, #businesscommunications, #communications