There are two main categories of visuals, Tables and Figures. Tables are used to organize, logically present, and/or compare data in columns and rows, using numbers and words. Figures, on the other hand, illustrate all other types of data. Figures include pie charts, line graphs, bar graphs, layouts, photographs, drawings, and photographs.
Conventions for Integrating Visuals into Your Document
In general, whenever you integrate any kind of visual into a document, webpage, presentation, or any communication, you should adhere to the following practices.
- Place the visual as close as possible to its related text.
- Give each visual a number and a clear descriptive title.
- Refer to the number/title within the body text when discussing the visual’s content.
- Surround the visual with enough white space to emphasize the image and enhance its readability.
- Label all units (x and y axes, column heads, parts of diagrams, etc.)
- Provide the source of the data and/or visual image if you did not create it yourself. Use only those images that you can use ethically (e.g., free images without copyright, creative commons licenses, or used with author’s permission).
- Do not change or distort the data or image.
- If at all possible, try to orient the image in the same direction as the body text (e.g., don’t put the text on the right-hand side of the page and a visual with people facing left on the left-hand side of the page, as the visual and text move your eyes in two different directions).
Look at Figure 1 below. Do you understand the information it conveys? What is missing?
If you look carefully, you might be able to guess the story this graph is telling. However, the lack of a descriptive caption and labeling of axes makes it impossible to know for sure. Compare it to Figure 2 below.
Figure 2 has a number, a descriptive title, and properly labeled x and y axes. It also cites the source the graph was retrieved from with an in-text citation, which is linked to a full reference below.
Selecting the Right Visual
Table 1 below lists common visuals used in professional communication, along with their general purpose.
TABLE 1 Common types of illustrative graphics |
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Type of Visual | Description and Purpose | |
Tables | Place detailed data/information in categories formatted into rows and columns for comparison; use when exact figures are important. Label column headings and/or rows. | |
Graphs | Bar Graph | Compare and contrast two or more subjects at the same point in time, or compare change over time. |
Column Graph | Reveal change in a subject at regular intervals of time. | |
Line Graph | Show the degree and direction of change relative to two variables; compare items over time, show frequency or distribution, or show correlations. | |
Charts | Pie Chart | Display the number and relative size of the divisions of a subject; show relation of parts to a whole (parts must equal 100%). |
Org. Chart | Map the divisions, levels of responsibility, hierarchy, and/or reporting structure within an organization. | |
Flow Chart | Show the sequence of steps in a process or procedure. | |
Gantt Chart | Indicates timelines for multi-stepped projects, especially used in proposals and progress reports. | |
Illustrations | Diagram | Identify the parts of a subject and their spatial or functional relationship; emphasize detail or show dimensions. |
Photo | Show what a subject looks like in realistic detail or show it being used. | |
Animation | Simulate a process, operation, or incident. | |
Film clip | Depict a process, operation, or incident in realistic detail. |
The video below offers useful information on using graphics in professional communications.
Considering Visuals as Part of the Plan-Create-Revise Process
You might consider visuals – whether to use them and which kinds to use – at any point in the process of planning, creating, and revising a communication. If you know at the start of the process that your audience is unfamiliar with the data you need to present, you might plan on doing a visual presentation via a graphic in addition to explaining the data in words. As you create a draft, you might find that you’re writing multiple paragraphs to explain one concept; it might be useful to consider an appropriate graphic to allow your audience to visualize and to allow you to cut down on your explanation in words. As you revise your communication, you may at that point realize that some information could be emphasized with graphics. Remember that visuals are very useful communication tools; don’t forget to use them if they are appropriate to your purpose, audience, and other aspects of your communication situation.
For fuller information on using visuals, pertinent to both written documents and oral presentations, consult the pages in this text on:
Effective Visual Images
Effective Visual Layout
[1] EPCOR, Edmonton’s Water Utility. “Water Consumption in Edmonton during 2010 Gold Medal hockey game,” Cited on Flowing Data[Online] , //flowingdata.com/2010/03/09/canada-the-country-that-pees-together-stays-together/
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
- Demonstrate how to use visual aids effectively in your presentation.
Almost all presentations can be enhanced by the effective use of visual aids. These can include handouts, overhead transparencies, drawings on the whiteboard, PowerPoint slides, and many other types of props. Visual aids are an important nonverbal aspect of your speech that you can control. Once you have chosen a topic, you need to consider how you are going to show your audience what you are talking about. Have you ever asked for driving directions and not understood someone’s response? Did the person say, “Turn right at Sam’s Grocery Store, the new one” or “I think you will turn at the second light, but it might be the third one”? Chances are that unless you know the town well or have a map handy, the visual cue of a grocery store or a traffic light might be insufficient to let you know where to turn. Your audience experiences the same frustration, or sense of accomplishment, when they get lost or find their way during your speech. Consider how you can express yourself visually, providing common references, illustrations, and images that lead the audience to understand your point or issue. Visual aids accomplish several goals:
- Make your speech more interesting
- Enhance your credibility as a speaker
- Serve as guides to transitions, helping the audience stay on track
- Communicate complex or intriguing information in a short period of time
- Reinforce your verbal message
- Help the audience use and retain the information
When you look at your own presentation from an audience member’s perspective, you might consider how to distinguish the main points from the rest of the information. You might also consider the relationships being presented between ideas or concepts, or how other aspects of the presentation can complement the oral message. Your audience naturally will want to know why you are presenting the visual aid. The purpose for each visual aid should be clear, and almost speak for itself. If you can’t quickly grasp the purpose of a visual aid in a speech, you have to honestly consider whether it should be used in the first place. Visual aids can significantly develop the message of a speech, but they must be used for a specific purpose the audience can easily recognize. Perhaps you want to highlight a trend between two related issues, such as socioeconomic status and educational attainment. A line graph might show effectively how, as socioeconomic status rises, educational attainment also rises. This use of a visual aid can provide emphasis, effectively highlighting key words, ideas, or relationships for the audience. Visual aids can also provide necessary support for your position. Audience members may question your assertion of the relationship between socioeconomic status and educational attainment. To support your argument, you might include on the slide, “According to the U.S. Department of Education Study no. 12345,” or even use an image of the Department of Education Web page projected on a large screen. You might consider showing similar studies in graphic form, illustrating similarities across a wide range of research.
Clarity is key in the use of visual aids. One way to improve clarity is to limit the number of words on a PowerPoint slide. No more than ten words per slide, with a font large enough to be read at the back of the room or auditorium, is a good rule of thumb. Key images that have a clear relationship to the verbal message can also improve clarity. You may also choose to illustrate the same data successively in two distinct formats, perhaps a line graph followed by two pie graphs. Your central goal is to ensure your visual aid is clear.
You may choose to use a chart or diagram to show a timeline of events to date, from the first meeting about the proposed product to the results from the latest focus group. This timeline may work for you, but let’s say you would like to get into the actual decision-making process that motivated your team to design the product with specific features in the first place. You may decide to use decision trees (or tree diagrams) showing the variables and products in place at the beginning of your discussions, and how each decision led to the next, bringing you to the decision-making point where you are today.
Finally, you may move to the issue of results, and present the audience with a model of your product and one from a competitor, asking which they prefer. The object may be just the visual aid you need to make your point and reinforce the residual message. When we can see, feel, touch, or be in close proximity to an object it often has a greater impact. In a world of digital images and special effects, objects presented in real time can still make a positive effect on the audience.
Get started early so that you have time to create or research visual aids that will truly support your presentation, not just provide “fluff.” Make sure you use a font or image large enough to be legible for those in the back of the room, and that you actually test your visual aids before the day of your presentation. Ask a friend to stand at the back of the room and read or interpret your visual aid. If you are using computer-generated slides, try them out in a practice setting, not just on your computer screen. The slides will look different when projected. Allow time for revision based on what you learn. Your visual aids should meet the following criteria:
- Big. They should be legible for everyone, and should be “back row certified.”
- Clear. Your audience should “get it” the first time they see it.
- Simple. They should serve to simplify the concepts they illustrate.
- Consistent. They should reinforce continuity by using the same visual style.
Here are three general guidelines to follow when using visual aids. Here are some dos and don’ts:
- Do make a clear connection between your words and the visual aid for the audience.
- Do not distract the audience with your visual aid, blocking their view of you or adjusting the visual aid repeatedly while trying to speak.
- Do speak to your audience—not to the whiteboard, the video, or other visual aids.
PowerPoint and similar visual representation programs can be an effective tool to help audiences remember your message, but they can also be an annoying distraction to your speech. How you prepare your slides and use the tool will determine your effectiveness.
PowerPoint is a slideware program that you have no doubt seen used in class, presentation at work, or perhaps used yourself to support a presentation. PowerPoint and similar slideware programs provide templates for creating electronic slides to present visual information to the audience, reinforcing the verbal message. You’ll be able to import, or cut and paste, words from text files, images, or video clips to create slides to represent your ideas. You can even incorporate Web links. When using any software program, it’s always a good idea to experiment with it long before you intend to use it, explore its many options and functions, and see how it can be an effective tool for you.
At first, you might be overwhelmed by the possibilities, and you might be tempted to use all the bells, whistles, and sound effects, not to mention the tumbling, flying, and animated graphics. If used wisely, a dissolve or key transition can be like a well-executed scene from a major motion picture film and lead your audience to the next point. But if used indiscriminately, it can annoy the audience to the point where they cringe in anticipation of the sound effect at the start of each slide. This danger is inherent in the tool, but you are in charge of it and can make wise choices that enhance the understanding and retention of your information. The first point to consider is what is the most important visual aid? The answer is you, the speaker. You will facilitate the discussion, give life to the information, and help the audience correlate the content to your goal or purpose. You don’t want to be in a position where the PowerPoint presentation is the main focus and you are on the side of the stage, simply helping the audience follow along. It should support you in your presentation, rather than the other way around. Just as there is a number one rule for handouts, there is also one for PowerPoints: do not use PowerPoints as a read-aloud script for your speech. The PowerPoints should amplify and illustrate your main points, not reproduce everything you are going to say. Your pictures are the second area of emphasis you’ll want to consider. The tool will allow you to show graphs, charts and illustrate relationships that words may only approach in terms of communication, but your verbal support of the visual images will make all the difference. Dense pictures or complicated graphics will confuse more than clarify. Choose clear images that have an immediate connection to both your content and the audience, tailored to their specific needs. After images, consider only key words that can be easily read to accompany your pictures. The fewer words the better: try to keep each slide to a total word count of less than ten words. Do not use full sentences. Using key words provides support for your verbal discussion, guiding you as well as your audience. The key words can serve as signposts or signal words related to key ideas. A natural question at this point is, “How do I communicate complex information simply?” The answer comes with several options. The visual representation on the screen is for support and illustration. Should you need to communicate more technical, complex, or in-depth information in a visual way, consider preparing a handout to distribute at the conclusion of your speech. You may also consider using a printout of your slide show with a “notes” section, but if you distribute it at the beginning of your speech, you run the risk of turning your presentation into a guided reading exercise and possibly distracting or losing members of the audience. Everyone reads at a different pace and takes notes in their own way. You don’t want to be in the position of going back and forth between slides to help people follow along. Another point to consider is how you want to use the tool to support your speech and how your audience will interpret its presentation. Most audiences wouldn’t want to read a page of text—as you might see in this book—on the big screen. They’ll be far more likely to glance at the screen and assess the information you present in relation to your discussion. Therefore, it is key to consider one main idea, relationship, or point per slide. The use of the tool should be guided with the idea that its presentation is for the audience’s benefit, not yours. People often understand pictures and images more quickly and easily than text, and you can use this to your advantage, using the knowledge that a picture is worth a thousand words.People love color, and understandably your audience will appreciate the visual stimulation of a colorful presentation. If you have ever seen a car painted a custom color that just didn’t attract you, or seen colors put together in ways that made you wonder what people were thinking when they did that, you will recognize that color can also distract and turn off an audience. Color is a powerful way to present information, and the power should be used wisely. You will be selecting which color you want to use for headers or key words, and how they relate the colors in the visual images. Together, your images, key words, and the use of color in fonts, backgrounds, table, and graphs can have a significant impact on your audience. You will need to give some thought and consideration to what type of impact you want to make, how it will contribute or possibly distract, and what will work well for you to produce an effective and impressive presentation. There are inherent relationships between colors, and while you may have covered some of this information in art classes you have taken, it is valuable to review here. According to the standard color wheel, colors are grouped into primary, secondary, and tertiary categories. Primary colors are the colors from which other colors are made through various combinations. Secondary colors represent a combination of two primary colors, while tertiary colors are made from combinations of primary and secondary colors.
- Primary colors. Red, blue and yellow
- Secondary colors. Green, violet, and orange
- Tertiary colors. Red-orange, red-violet, blue-violet, blue-green, yellow-orange, and yellow-green
Visual aids should be clear from the back of the room.
As we’ve discussed, visual aids can be a powerful tool when used effectively, but can also run the risk of dominating your presentation. As a speaker, you will need to consider your audience and how the portrayal of images, text, graphic, animated sequences, or sound files will contribute or detract from your presentation. Here is a brief list of hints to keep in mind as you prepare your presentation.
- Keep visual aids simple.
- Use one key idea per slide.
- Avoid clutter, noise, and overwhelming slides.
- Use large, bold fonts that the audience can read from at least twenty feet from the screen.
- Use contrasting colors to create a dynamic effect.
- Use analogous colors to unify your presentation.
- Use clip art with permission and sparingly.
- Edit and proofread each slide with care and caution.
- Use copies of your visuals available as handouts after your presentation.
- Check the presentation room beforehand.
- With a PowerPoint presentation, or any presentation involving technology, have a backup plan, such as your visuals printed on transparencies, should unexpected equipment or interface compatibility problems arise
KEY TAKEAWAY
Strategically chosen visual aids will serve to illustrate, complement, and reinforce your verbal message.
EXERCISES
- Look at the picture of the blankets above. Write copy for the left part of the slide and decide what colors would best complement the message. Share your results with the class.
- Create your own presentation of three to five slides with no less than three images and three words per slide. Share the results with the class.
- Explore PowerPoint or a similar slideware program and find your favorite feature. Write a series of steps on how to access and use it. Share your results with the class.
- Create a slide presentation that defines and explains your favorite feature in the program and include at least one point on its advantage for the audience. Share the results with the class.