Putting It Together: Visual Media

Statistics from different professional fields tell us that visuals support and can even improve communication—that’s a compelling reason to use visual media in all your communication. Visual media makes your message more accessible. It helps your audience process the information faster, it can even transcend cultural and language differences. With visual media, your reach is wider and your message more powerful.

You have some different kinds of visual media to choose from:

Images
Charts
Graphs
Tables
Video

And you have some uncomplicated standards by which to select just the right type to make your message more accessible:

Clear, clean and simple
Consistent and uniform
Relevant and on brand
Persuasive

Now it’s time to put all of these tools to work for you.

REDUCING TURNOVER

Imagine that your human resources department is celebrating the fact that they have curbed the high turnover rate in your distribution center. Once at almost 100 percent employee turnover, they’ve been under 50 percent for the last three years. It’s time to report to the board of directors how the HR team is doing, and this should be a part of their success story.

In your report you write, “The HR department is pleased to report that turnover has been under 50 percent for the last three years after significant development of items to create value of employment.”

But on it’s own, this statement seems very flat and one dimensional. To emphasize this amazing success story, you decide to add a chart like this to support the message and give it more impact.

A bar graph depicting DC turnover from 2000 to 2004. In the year 2000 it was at 100%. In 2001 it was at 50%. In 2002 it was at 45%. In 2003 it was at 45%. In 2004 it was at 50%.

Leverage visual media to tell your story in the most memorable, impactful way possible.