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 ...