Why it makes sense to communicate your message visually

Have you ever tried to convince people to give money to your organisation? Or take part in your campaign? If so, you’ve probably spent hours and hours editing and polishing text. If you used images their sole function was to make your leaflet or funding application to look less dry - not to communicate the key message. This is understandable but unfortunate.

I’m not saying words are not important - of course they are. But in many cases you are throwing away a great opportunity to really get through to your audience by not using visuals to communicate your message. Here are couple of examples when it might make sense to try a visual approach:

• If you need to grab people’s attention.
  Every day we are bombarded with information from all directions. If you  don’t have your audience’s undivided attention visuals can help you to cut through the clutter and get your message across quickly and efficiently (the human brain picks up visual cues more directly than written ones).
• If you need to communicate statistical information.
  Some information is better expressed visually and statistics fall into this category. It’s for example very difficult to see trends in numbers, but if you turn those numbers into visualisations (a simple graph or something more sophisticated) people can see the pattern right away.
  
  
• If you are trying to communicate emotionally difficult issues.
  If you deal with issues that evoke shame or fear (for example mental health issues, disease etc) then visual communication might help to make the topic more approachable - especially for younger audiences.

What this blog is about

In this blog I’m going to introduce different ways to communicate messages visually ranging from infographics to comics. The approach will be mostly practical: things you should consider before trying a particular visual approach as well as links to resources if you want to learn more. Most charity communicators are not visual people so I try to take this into account when planning the content.

If you are an expert on visual communication or want to share your experiences on how visual communication made a difference to your organisation do get in touch. This blog will be based on interviews and I’m always on the lookout for experts and case studies!

A bit about me

I’ve worked as a non-profit online communicator for over six years -mostly doing campaigns. During that time I’ve produced visual content ranging from animations and videos to illustrations. I’ve also written and drawn comic strips for magazines and newspapers (best freelance job ever!). Despite my arty pursuits my educational background is mostly in social sciences (political sociology).

Virpi Oinonen

PS. Quick plug: If you are attending the NCVO Annual Conference (March 2012) you might want to attend the “Go visual!” workshop to learn how you can use data visualisation in your communication.