Visual Media

Videos increase your message's accessibility because it:

"humanizes" a company and its mission by showing employees at work

Organizational Charts

(sometimes call hierarchy charts) show the people in an organization and their reporting relationships.

The most common types of numerical charts include:

- Bar graphs - Line graphs - Pie charts - Stacked comparison charts

What are some captioning standards when using video?

- Captioning should not exceed three lines of text at a time - Captioning should be synchronized with the spoken word-no faster or slower - Captions should not cover up text or other important information on the video - Captions should identify who is speaking when multiple speakers are present (as in an interview) - Captions should use a sans-serif font such as Arial or Calibri Non-speech sounds should be indicated with brackets, like [applause]

As a rule, in all business communications, we should have:

- Clarity - Conciseness - Objectivity - Consistency - Completeness - Relevancy - Audience awareness

Questions to ask when your visuals are being critiqued:

- If you had to make two suggestions for improving my work, what would they be? - Do the colors, alignment, or content of the image add or distract from the message or text? - Is there something confusing or that could be done differently in this visual aid? - How eye catching or engaging is the visual aid? - Is it interactive, original, funny, or interesting? - What is something that works well in this visual aid? - Which parts of the visual aid are successful unsuccessful and why? You can also request examples of what they think a good visual is.

What are some places to find royalty-free video?

- Internet Movie Archives - National Parks Multimedia - Wikimedia Commons - Vimeo

What are some free video-editing programs?

- Lightworks- - Shotcut - Rawshorts

What are some tools to make charts and graphs?

- MS Excel - Lucidchart - OnlineChartTool - Beam -BeFunky - Visme - Canva

What are some places to find royalty-free music?

- Melody Loops - Incompetech

Accessibility also benefits people without disabilities, such as:

- Older people with changing abilities due to aging - People with "temporary disabilities" such as a broken leg or lost glasses - People with "situational limitations" such as trying to read in bright sunlight, external noise such as music or a continuous car alarm, or in an environment where they cannot listen to audio

You've filmed your video, and now you're going to put it together. This is where you add the style and pizzazz that makes your video engaging. Let's:

- Organize your footage - Start placing your chosen footage into an editing program - Pick out some video music - Edit - Add company graphics and branding elements

How can you achieve CONSISTENCY in visual media?

- Stick to the format of your charts and graphs wherever you're able. - Stick to the color scheme and fonts you've already established. - Use pictures that are visually similar.

Videos are an excellent visual media choice when communicating things like:

- The features of a new facility or office the company has opened - The details of a new product or service the company has introduced - Instructions for a new company process, like signing up for benefits or a new 401k plan - The introduction of a new business idea, plan or merger, especially if the subject is complex or the audience is highly emotional about the announcement - Webinars and meetings that all attendees might not be able to attend in person

How do you choose the right picture to match your content?

- The image should be clear and simple - The image should have the same look and feel as the other images in the document - The image should persuade the reader (or at least capture some feeling) - The image should fit with your company's brand.

When should you use an image?

- Use an image if the information is presented verbally. - Use an image if the information is complicated and can be better explained in a visual format. - Use an image when it conveys something words just cannot.

How can you achieve CLARITY in visual media?

- Use bold, contrasting colors. - Use easy-to-read fonts. - Use only pertinent information.

When should you use text?

- Use text when you want to make a powerful point. - Use text when you're creating a list or a mnemonic. - Use text when an image just isn't enough.

Non-Numerical Data Charts include

- Venn diagrams - Flow charts - Gantt charts - Organizational charts - Pictographs - Infographics

Now that you have a basic idea of what kind of story you want to tell and how you're going to tell it, you're going to pack up your equipment and get on the road. The things you will need:

- Your camera - Your microphones - Your tripod - Your script and notes

You might want to reconsider video as a choice in any of the following scenarios:

- Your human subjects are visibly uncomfortable in front of a camera and cannot deliver a message effectively in that manner - Your subject requires the display of a lot of data, and the audience will require time to review, contemplate and study the information - Your video is longer than fifteen minutes and viewers are likely to tune out after a while - You're covering a sensitive topic or the topic of discussion shouldn't be made public in any recorded format, written or visual

Stop & Study! Here are some resources:

- https://www.office.xerox.com/latest/COLFS-02UA.pdf - https://www.oreilly.com/content/visual-design-principles/ - https://edu.gcfglobal.org/en/beginning-graphic-design/# - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sByzHoiYFX0

Tables

A communicator can also use tables to display data. Tables can be formatted for words or for numerical data. They can be used for comparing data, or when one item has several data points associated with it.

If you're communicating a complicated idea or process

A diagram or picture may help communicate the process more easily than trying to write it out

Royalty-Free Images

A word of caution: "royalty-free" doesn't necessarily mean "free." On the contrary, sites like Getty Images or Shutterstock often charge licensing fees and even instructions by which you give the original artist credit for his or her work. But once that transaction is complete, the visual media is yours to use as you wish. There's no need to pay royalties for copies sold or time of use.

Alignment

Alignment creates a sharp, linear order to the elements of your visual, so they all have a connection to each other. If objects are closer together, the viewer assumes that they're related. In the first image of trees below, we see six trees that are in two rows even though they're not precisely linear. In the second image, we perceive two groups of three.

How many of the business communication principles should apply to your choice of visual media?

All of them

Use of color in persuasive image will

Allow you to associate the emotion of the image with your brand

"Revenues are decreasing" is an example of

An active chart title

A communicator can use the colors of her company's brand

And still provide shading and contrast where needed

Which of the following is NOT a part of the video creation process?

Building a set on which to film

Information like the sample size of a survey or source information

Can be included in a caption

When using an image in a communication, a communicator can make it more accessible to sight and hearing disabled audience members by

Captioning it with detailed "alt text"

Color

Color is an important choice in visual communication because each color has a meaning. If you're following brand guidelines, your colors will reinforce your brand, but if not, you might want to consider some of the universal associations that go along with each color. Green tends to conjure images of the environment, while red symbolizes anger, and yellow, happiness. Which of these roses looks cold to you?

Gabu tweeted an image from the company's Twitter that he thought would get a lot of traffic. However, while some people have liked and retweeted the image, it didn't get the amount of traffic he wanted. Which of the following should Gabu do?

Compare the image against his company's visual media standards to see what he could improve with his next tweet.

Contrast

Contrast is when two aspects of an image are strikingly different from one another, like dark and light. Contrast is an important principle in visual design and helps highlight the important part of the image. It adds "weight" to your design and guides the viewer's eye to what you want them to see.

Font

Design doesn't stop at the picture. Fonts have everything to do with your audience's engagement with your communication. Your audience won't continue to read your communication if you've chosen a font that's difficult to read.

As part of the process to evaluate the effectiveness of a message, your boss has asked you to measure the amount of time people have spent on a new page on your company's website. Which question will doing this answer?

Did the audience consume any of the message?

Screen readers will

Do a better job reading tables than they will charts and graphs

Fonts are a part of our visual communication as well as our written communication, and if choosing more than one you should confirm that they are:

Easy to read and complementary to one another

How many categories is too many categories for a pie chart?

Eleven (Actually, 10 or more should be displayed as something else entirely.)

You see a line of soldiers standing at attention, and one of them is sitting cross-legged on the ground. Your eye is drawn to that soldier that's sitting because

He's breaking pattern, and the eye always goes to the part of an image that's different

Using a clean and simple image to help communicate your idea

Helps convey a singular idea and creates impact

In which of the following situations would you NOT use video?

If information regarding an impending layoff needs to be distributed to those employees remaining at the company

Clara has put together a presentation on new vacation benefits for a staff meeting. She has carefully made sure that her powerpoint slides have functional images that can still be understood in greyscale and have a detailed notes section for each slide. How would printing out the presentation also make it more accessible for any audience members WITHOUT disabilities?

If someone comes in late they can get caught up quickly.

Ming is a manager at a home improvement store and is sending an email to his employees about a new procedure to request time off. The email has an instructional video to describe the procedure that has closed captions making it more accessible. How does including closed captions make this video available to the widest audience possible?

If someone is unable to watch the video with the sound on they can still read along to understand the video.

Amiel is a regional manager who will be giving a presentation on current employee training programs and retention rates. She has made an infographic image to showcase how efficient the onboarding process she implemented has been for her region. Amiel makes sure that there is a text description of what the image is showcasing. How would including alternative text (alt-text) make this infographic available to the widest audience possible?

If someone needs to download the presentation and the image does not appear they will still know what the image was describing.

Hierarchy

If there are multiple elements in a design, more visual "weight" should be given to the most important part of the graphic. Establish the most essential part of the graphic first, and then fill in the rest with the less important parts.

How can you achieve RELEVANCY in visual media?

If your message is communicating annual sales, your charts and graphs shouldn't be dealing with employee turnover rates. If your message is about your company's efforts to reduce waste, that message should not feature a photo of a cute puppy. That's relevancy at a very basic level. Keeping communication "on brand" takes relevancy to a whole new level. Large companies usually have a set of brand guidelines or a brand "style guide" that communicators can consult to familiarize themselves with the company's preferred color palette, fonts and image standards. All of your business communications represent an opportunity to reinforce and reflect your company's brand, and it's your duty as a communicator to do so.

Once you've decided to make a video to communicate your message, your first step is to

Interview subject matter experts and stakeholders to determine what the message should be

How do we decide if an image is suitable for use in our communication

It's suitable if the image stands up to our visual media standards

Balance and Space

Keeping the elements of your design balanced gives the design some form and stability. Even spacing makes it look professional and attractive, but that doesn't mean it needs to be symmetrical. It can be asymmetrical, with larger items in the upper left corner balancing out smaller ones in the lower right, and so on. Leaving open or "negative" space ensures that your visual isn't cluttered and can highlight the important parts of a design. As we mentioned in our adopted standards above, simplicity is your friend!

If you have numerical data and you want to show a trend, the best graph to use is a

Line graph

When choosing a title for a graph, a great way to communicate your message to the audience is to

Make the title active and point out your message

Contrast is a visual principle that is identifiable by

One element of a visual standing out against the rest.

Repetition and Pattern

Repetition strengthens the overall design and ties together elements to make them more consistent. This technique is often used in branding to make items more recognizable.

As part of the process to evaluate the effectiveness of a particular email, you should answer three questions: - Did the audience receive the message sent? - Did the audience consume any of the message? - Did the audience understand the message? Which of the following actions will answer the question "Did the audience understand the message?"

Sending a survey to ask customers about the effectiveness of the email

Maria is preparing for a presentation she will be delivering to her fellow store managers at a district meeting. She's decided to use a PowerPoint in order to keep herself on track. Which of the following is the best piece of advice for her to keep in mind?

She should use just enough words on her slides to remind her what her next topic is.

A line graph is used to

Show the trend in numerical data over time

When faced with communicating a complicated process, an image is

Sometimes helpful to make the process more accessible and easy to understand, but sometimes the process is so complicated that it should only be written out.

If you're interviewing your subject, you want to get answers on video the first time around because

The answers will be fresh and the speaker animated. You know what people sound like when they've told a story again and again; it just doesn't pop!

Open Images

There are plenty of free sources out there, though. Some authors and artists have "released" their works under an open license. This means their works are free to use, modify, and share. Many of them work with a Creative Commons license.

When should you use a chart or graph?

To simplify data of any kind, whether it's represented in numbers or in words

When choosing colors for your graph, you should

Use a contrasting color to call out a piece of the chart that you want your audience to notice

If you're preparing material for a speech, it's best to

Use text only when there's a strong, powerful idea involved

Aram is creating a presentation to deliver at his company's regional conference. His portion of the presentation is a story about a mom shopping for new school clothes at Aram's store with her little boy with autism. Aram's employees were extra helpful in finding soft clothes with no itchy tags or seams. They were patient with the boy and asked the mom lots of questions about the best way to approach him and help her. The mom was so impressed that she wrote an email to Aram about his employees and included a picture of her son in one of his new outfits. She also posted stellar reviews of his store on Yelp and on a forum for parents of kids with autism. Aram wants to get across the emotion of the story while also making some points about the value of good customer service. Which of these is his best approach?

Use the picture in combination with a few slides with brief notes on them that help tell the story and discuss the business outcomes.

What is one benefit of a company's choice to use a website to distribute their annual report instead of using a PDF (or another static document)?

Websites allow for the use of video

Videos are a storytelling tool, so first you need to determine what story you want to tell. You do this by:

Writing the story. - Interviewing stakeholders - Assembling a storyline or storyboard - Writing a script - Choosing people to interview

Dmitri is writing a review of a new movie. He wants to use stills from the movie and a promotional poster for the video as visual aids in his article. Is this use legal?

Yes; since he's writing a critique of the movie, this use falls under fair use.

How can you be PERSUASIVE in visual media?

Your visual media choice should help you tell your story. Even if your data is perfect, it's no guarantee your audience is going to jump on board with you. Your use of image, chart, or video should indicate it is from a reliable source, be simple to read, and allow you to show the audience exactly how you drew the conclusion you've drawn.

Graphic artists use this principle to show that objects in a visual have a connection with one another.

alignment

Bar Graphs

are used to compare categories, usually on an x and y-axis.

Stacked Comparison Charts

can compare categories with a "pie chart" approach, incorporating the composition factor in a variety of ways.

The image of a kitten on a plain white background is an example of the principle of:

clarity

Line Graphs

compare categories, but they're most often used to show trends.

If a communicator needs to show the pieces that make up a whole, he or she can use a:

composition graph

Fair Use Act makes it okay to use an image for purposes such as:

criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research

Flow Charts

document a sequence of events from start to finish so that the process can be documented, followed, and managed.

If a visual isn't working well in your communication you should ________.

evaluate it by measuring it against your visual media standards, and choose a new visual if it doesn't pass muster.

Seeing feedback as an opportunity is referred to as a __________.

growth mindset

If you see a teddy bear in the foreground of the picture and other stuffed animals in the background, you pay close attention to the teddy bear. That's due to the visual design principle of

hierarchy

Stop & Study! Learn about writing AltText

https://pressbooks-dev.oer.hawaii.edu/accessibilitytoolkit/chapter/images/#Functional

Stop & Study! Exploding pie-chart

https://www.lifewire.com/exploding-pie-charts-in-excel-3123549

Creative Commons

is a US not-for-profit organization that's devoted to expanding the range of creative works available to the general public, and it does so by providing copyright licenses to creators allowing them to express which rights they want to reserve and which they waive.

Gantt Chart

is a timeline

It's considered "fair use" if a piece of visual media is obtained from another source and used for

news reporting or teaching

A communicator wants to take every opportunity to communicate a company's mission and promise to its customers by using company colors and thoughtful image choices. This visual media standard is:

on brand

Visual media that is purchased with a one-time payment and includes no additional payments for copies sold or time used is referred to as being

royalty free

Venn Diagrams

show a comparison of two different categories and the items they have in common.

Pie Charts

show the composition of data, or the pieces of a whole.

Visual media works in a report when it ________.

supports the ideas you're communicating by being clear and simple, persuasive, uniform and on brand.

As a communicator, you can determine if your audience understood your message by ________.

surveying your audience, referring to employee engagement strategies that indicate your audience's level of comfort

When creating a line chart that can be read by an audience member who is color blind, a communicator should

use contrasting colors with dotted and dashed lines and labels

Infographs

use pictures, but they also incorporate data and words, all to explain a single point.

Pictographs

use symbols and images to convey data, information, or ideas.

When trying to show a two groups and their properties, and a place where those properties intersect, you might choose a

venn diagram

Consistency

your visuals should all maintain a uniform look and feel

Clarity

your visuals should be clear, clean, and simple

Persuasive:

your visuals should inspire an emotional bond or a new level of understanding.

Relevancy:

your visuals should make sense as a part of the whole communication and be on-brand