Skip to Main Content
Real Communication
book

Real Communication

by Gabrielle Dolan
April 2019
Beginner to intermediate content levelBeginner to intermediate
192 pages
3h 53m
English
Wiley
Content preview from Real Communication

Chapter 7 Visualise information

Think of the last time someone was explaining a process to you and you just couldn't quite ‘get it'. So perhaps you asked, ‘Can you draw it or map it out for me?'

Visuals help us understand and remember messages better.

Dr John Medina, author of New York Times bestseller Brain Rules, has done extensive research on how visuals aid with memory. He says, ‘The more visual the input becomes, the more likely it is to be recognised and recalled'.

In fact, he says that 90 per cent of what the brain processes is visual information. People generally understand and remember pictures, diagrams, models and images better and faster than they do words alone.

Remember the walls of your classroom when you were a kid? They were likely plastered with images showing that ‘A is for apple' and ‘B is for banana' (with, of course, images of apples and bananas). This increased retention of visual information.

As we moved through our schooling and entered the workplace, however, this all stopped.1

Visuals are very much like stories — they are something we have used to help us learn and remember key messages since we were very little. Unfortunately, once we enter a ‘serious job' visual representations all seem to be replaced by boring facts and stats, and lots and lots of text and bullet points.

Yet the 2018 State of Attention report presented by Prezi showed that engaging content must have ‘a compelling narrative combined with stimulating visuals and dialogue'.

In the ...

Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
and much more.
Start your free trial

You might also like

The Way Up

The Way Up

Errol Pierre, Jim Jermanok
Brilliant Email

Brilliant Email

Dr. Monica Seeley
Big Picture Strategy

Big Picture Strategy

Marta Dapena-Baron

Publisher Resources

ISBN: 9780730369721Purchase book