System Error
Just as with almost everything in life, a strong visual begins with the first step; in this case, your audience. Each visual has a beginning, a middle and an end, just like a story. But what if we turn that story around and start with the ending? By starting the design process with the key message in mind – the message we want to stick –, we are off to a flying start.
When you work on a visual, your first tendency is probably to put in as much information as possible. After all, an incomplete story is not a story at all. Right? Well, no. In the case of visual communications, this tendency should be dumped first. Back to the cognitive load theory: in our working memory there is limited capacity for absorbing information. To be precise: there is storage capacity for 7 MB. When you give a computer a task, you rely on the power of the processor, the ‘computer brain’. If you ask too much, then the program crashes and it can no longer process new stimuli: System Error. Just like a computer, the human brain has a limited amount of working memory to process information. Too much information leads to a system overload. The reader no longer absorbs anything, stops reading (or watching) and the visual loses its function.
The golden rule of information design is limiting the amount of stimuli you present to the audience. Ask yourself: what message do I want to stick and what is the purpose of the image? Keep this message in mind and create the visual from there.
Let's take for example a simple line graph, although you can apply these tips to each visual.
- Information selection. What information is really necessary to reach your goal? Less is indeed more! Less elements? - The less hurdles stand between your message and your recipient. And when details are not necessary: summarise or omit.
- Information hierarchy. What information is more important than other information? Focus on the part you want to draw attention to. This can be done through the order in which you present the information, but also through colour, shape and size you ‘draw’ your eye towards to the most important information.
- Place essential but not influential items in the background. Think of a legend, for example, but also important items such as axis, lines and arrows that are necessary, but do not necessarily demand a place in the foreground.
In short, the next time when you create a visual: be selective and critical, keep the goal in mind and remember that there is only space for 7 MB!
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