Let the Story Do the Work

CHAPTER 6

COMBINING THE POWER OF STORY AND SIMPLE VISUALS

WE LIVE IN A highly visual world, but some people struggle with the idea of using simple visuals to tell their stories more effectively. Don’t worry: you don’t need to be the next Picasso or hire an army of professional designers and illustrators to churn out beautiful infographics. Instead, all you need to know is how to draw a dot and a line. If you can, you already have all the tools you need.

Why are visuals so important? Cognitive psychologist Steve Franconeri, Northwestern University professor and director of the school’s Visual Cognition Lab, sums up the impact of visual elements nicely: “If you get your visual on the whiteboard, it dominates the meeting.” Most of us would agree ...