Skip to main content

I see! Visuals create understanding.


When we grasp an idea or a concept we often say 'I see' -even when the information might have been delivered in writing or verbally. Our minds paint a picture, the bits of information become joined and a meaningful picture forms. If it is meaningful we say that it has made an impression or have gained insight.

I won't say that I think 'visually'; I'm not sure that is what is happening inside my brain at all. But I do know that I think more clearly and have better comprehension, faster when ideas are presented to me with the support of images or graphics.

Of course not all images are created equal. Some can be baffling and serve only to amplify the speed of confusion. But well thought-out graphics can be a godsend for conveying ideas - with that metaphor in mind it reminds me of how paintings and stained glass windows helped dramatise the liturgy for an ignorant peasantry.

There is a selection information graphics here which illustrate a range of contemporary techniques to explain the economic crisis.

Video offers an unrivalled means of not only conveying information but engaging the viewer with a narrative to support the data that can be both rational and emotional. How many times did you ever feel an emotional connection with a text book on engineering, say. The video I've embedded in this post explains the changes to cars to be used in the 2009 Formula 1 motor racing series. To a lay person, like me, the changes sound mundane. New front and rear spoiler configurations that reduce grip, a return to slick tyres/tires that increase grip, a new system for converting wasted kinetic energy from the drive train - and so on. I can sense your eyes glazing over already. But the clip brings the information to life with superb Computer Generated Graphics (CGI), a story telling narrative whereby the information is conveyed graphically - at full throttle - changes to aerodynamic aids are dramatically illustrated while you are taking a hairpin bend under full braking. It is exciting - the narration is by a droll Sebastian Vettel, a German driver whose measured delivery anchors the story in a way that a breathless Jimmy Stewart would not.

“Tell me and I'll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand.”

The net result is operatic and thrilling. I can't wait to see the cars in action. I clearly see the point that F1 has answered its critics who said the event had become a drag race without the excitement of overtaking.

That's what happens when you feel involved.

If you are interested in information graphics I recommend these books:

Information Architects - Saul Wurman
Information Anxiety 2 Information Architects - Saul Wurman
Beautiful Evidence - Edward Tufte
Visual Explanations - Edward Tufte

(any others?...interested in your recommendations and links)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Johnny Bunko competiton

The Great Johnny Bunko Challenge from DHP on Vimeo . There's a young chap in Indiana, one Alec Quig , who has written to me about creating a career based on a polymathic degree, from which he has recently graduated. He's an interesting young man and his concerns about going forward in life are the anxieties we all face at crossroads in our lives when we are forced to make choices. Dan Pink's latest book The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You'll Ever Need might help: "From a New York Times, BusinessWeek, and Washington Post bestselling author comes a first-of-its- kind career guide for a new generation of job seekers.There's never been a career guide like it.the fully illustrated story (ingeniously told in Manga form) of a young Everyman just out of college who lands his first job. Johnny Bunko is new to parachute company Boggs Corp., and he stumbles through his early days as a working stiff until a crisis prompts him to find a new job. St
Post a Comment
Read more and leave a comment

Ze Frank thinks so you don't have to

Ze Frank appeared on my radar when I saw his presentation among the excellent TED Talks videos . This morning I was reading Russell Davies planning blog in which he referred to a clip by Ze Frank - Where do ideas come from. Here's the transcript: "...Hungry Hippo licks Aunt JEmima [sic] writes, "Are you ever gonna break into song again? Are you running out of ideas?" Hungry Hippo licks Aunt JEmima, that's a good question. I run out of ideas every day! Each day I live in mortal fear that I've used up the last idea that'll ever come to me. If you don't wanna run out of ideas the best thing to do is not to execute them. You can tell yourself that you don't have the time or resources to do 'em right. Then they stay around in your head like brain crack. No matter how bad things get, at least you have those good ideas that you'll get to later. Some people get addicted to that brain crack. And the longer they wait, the more they convince themse
1 comment
Read more and leave a comment

Sexist Advertising and stereotypes

Advertising lives in the short-form world. Because mass media is so expensive the 30 second commercial is conventional and because there is so much clutter simplified signals are essential to 'cut through'. One form of communication short-hand used as a default is the stereotype - "A stereotype can be a conventional and oversimplified conception, opinion, or image, based on the assumption that there are attributes that members of the "other group" have in common. Stereotypes are sometimes formed by a previous illusory correlation, a false association between two variables that are loosely correlated if correlated at all. Though generally viewed as negative perceptions, stereotypes may be either positive or negative in tone." In the 1950's and 60's when men dominated advertising stereotypical impressions of women as inferior or subservient were not only commonplace but usual. It was normal to show women as housekeepers, largely because most wer
9 comments
Read more and leave a comment