What is Visual Communication?
To me, visual communication is the opportunity to impart a message to an audience in a way that is impactful, concise and audience appropriate.
Visual communication is prominent through various visual media outlets, including websites, television, social media and print publishing. It can include signs, typography, drawing, graphic design, illustration, industrial design, advertising, animation color and electronic resources.
It is usually two-dimensional and relies on the audiences’ vision to encode a message.
The most important reason to use visual communications in business is that it offers the power to inform, educate, or persuade an audience. When company’s implement visual communications, they are able to:
- Save time by relaying messages faster. (After all, we are a society of ‘skimmers’!)
- Ensure that a clear, consist message is delivered.
- Enable better retention of the information/message.
Visual communication entails a variety of components, but mostly it is a way to communicate a message to an audience that transcends words, videos and pictures. In essence, visual communication portrays an emotion or a feeling that makes an audience want to buy a product or purchase a service.
Over the next few months, I will break down the components of visual communication to define them further. Some of the components include:
- Audience awareness
- Fonts
- Colors
- Graphics – (including shapes, icons, lines, space)
- Messaging
- Readability
Stay tuned!
Resources:
https://www.designmantic.com/blog/infographics/ten-commandments-of-visual-communication/
https://www.techsmith.com/blog/why-visual-communication-matters/