By Roger C. Parker
Using Visuals to Make Information Come Alive
Using Visuals To Make
Information Come Alive
By Roger C. Parker
Visuals communicate at a glance, making it easy for your readers to better understand
your message. Always be on the lookout for opportunities where you can replace words
in paragraphs with visuals like charts, tables and other types of information graphics.
These add interest to your print or online publications and help readers quickly and
easily grasp relationships, comparisons and sequences.
There’s more to visuals than photographs and illustrations. Thinking visually involves identifying
opportunities where you can translate words and
numbers into visuals that preview and reinforce .
When working with visuals, start by asking yourself: “What is the message I’m trying to communicate?” Your answer will help you choose the appropriate type of visual.
Table architecture
Table information, or data, is placed in cells which
occur at the intersections of rows and columns. Tables are often surrounded on all four sides by borders. Internal gridlines separate the cells. Headers
identify the information in the individual rows and
columns.
Then ask yourself: “How can I simplify the visual so
the message emerges with enhanced clarity?”
Working with tables
Tables make it easy for readers to make instant
side-by-side comparisons of information organized in rows and columns. Information that
would be lost as words in a paragraph becomes
obvious when placed in a table.
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Contrast and simplicity
When formatting tables, use the minimum number
of graphic elements necessary to organize the data.
Often, major improvements in the appearance of a
table can be achieved by eliminating unnecessary
borders and gridlines. Other times, you can improve contrast by reversing headers.
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Using Visuals to Make Information Come Alive
Another way you can improve the appearance of
tables is by using shaded backgrounds (or fills).
These can be placed behind alternating rows or
columns, or groups of 2 or 5, rows or columns.
Shaded fills behind rows guide the reader’s eyes
horizontally across the table so they don’t lose their
place as they search for information associated
with each row’s header.
Categories
Categories can be considered a simplified form of
tables. Categories help pave the way for a more indepth analysis to follow, providing a useful overview. Unlike tables, categories don’t tell the whole
story, they just provide a visual frame of reference
for the information to be described in greater detail in the adjacent text.
Accented Points
Accented Point graphs are yet another table variation, one that permits you to visually introduce
categories which summarize the important points
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By Roger C. Parker
to be discussed in the adjacent body copy. At a
glance, readers can catch the high points of information that would, otherwise, not lend itself to an
interesting visual display.
Circle Ratings
Circle Ratings are another type of business graphic
based on the row and column arrangement found
in tables. Circle Ratings use omitted, empty, filled
or partially filled-in circles to communicate quality
comparisons at a glance. The goal is to introduce
and summarize the items being compared and
provide a quick overview of how they perform in
important areas.
Pro and Con Charts
Pro and Con charts permit you to quickly compare
the advantages and disadvantages of two sides of
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Using Visuals to Make Information Come Alive
an issue, introducing and summarizing points discussed in detail in the adjacent body copy. Pro and
Con charts simplify complex arguments and direct
attention to key conclusions. You can add color to
the oversize plus and minus signs introducing each
argument to add further interest to your print or
online page.
Quadrants
Quadrants permit you to compare multiple product or performance characteristics. Two-dimensional quadrant charts allow products to be positioned along an X-Y axis. In many cases, the X, or
vertical, axis ranges from inexpensive to expensive
while the horizontal axis displays performance attributes, such as miles-per-hour, miles-per-gallon,
uncomfortable to comfortable, etc.
By Roger C. Parker
interest to otherwise boring pages, acting as “advertisements” attracting your reader’s interest and
making your message more memorable.
Organization charts display hierarchy
Organization charts permit you to display an organization’s structure; who is responsible to whom.
There are two types of organization charts.
The standard organization chart emphasizes departments or positions. The structure of even the
most complicated organization can be understood
at a glance. When the focus is on positions, the
names of the individuals may or may not be displayed.
As an option, the circles representing each brand
can be drawn larger or smaller depending on yet a
third characteristic, such as market share.
Using visuals to display relationships
There are several ways you can visually represent
relationships. These relationships can be hierarchical or sequential. Or, the visuals can display cause
and effect relationships.
In each case, the information graphics permit you
to visually represent relationships which you can
discuss in greater detail in the adjacent body copy.
In these cases, the information graphic adds visual
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Team charts are a more sophisticated form of organization chart. These display not only the structure
of an organization but also the names of the individuals who are responsible to each department or
division head. By omitting boxes and just listing
names next to vertical lines, team charts make it
easier to read the names.
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Using Visuals to Make Information Come Alive
Organization or team charts?
Consider a combination of organization and team
charts. Use a simplified organization chart to provide an overview of your firm’s structure. But,
since organization charts can often become complicated and hard to read (i.e., as the layers in an
organization chart goes up, the type size goes
down), break the big chart up into smaller, individual team charts.
By Roger C. Parker
simplify complex processes and help readers understand procedures that take place only once.
Use the organization chart to provide an overview
of your firm’s structure and use two, or more, individual team charts to show individual departments
or divisions.
Visuals that communicate sequence
There are several types of visuals that can help
your reader visualize sequence or cause-and-effect
events. Employing these visual graphics will not
only add visual interest to proposals and formal
business documents, they will emphasize your
message and make it more memorable.
Cycle
Use a cycle chart to emphasize repeating procedures,
that begin again after the last step has taken place.
The completion of one cycle begins another.
You can greatly enhance your publication’s ability
to communicate the order in which events occur by
using visuals like flow charts, Gant charts and
timelines. These visuals greatly simplify your message and attract readers who might not otherwise
read the body copy.
Gant chart
Gant charts help you communicate when procedures take place. Gant charts not only show the order in which steps occur but how long each step
takes. Completion dates are automatically updated
if steps take longer or shorter.
Flow chart
A flow chart represents the easiest way to represent
time relationships between events. Flow charts
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Timeline
Timelines permit you to visually communicate a
historical perspective showing the order events
took place and the environmental (i.e. competitive,
economic, social or historical) events that were oc-
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Using Visuals to Make Information Come Alive
By Roger C. Parker
curring at the time.
Although often displayed horizontally, timelines
can be organized vertically.
Flow in
A Flow-In chart displays the resources or inputs
needed for something to happen, i.e. a concert to
Visuals that represent cause and effect
In addition to hierarchy and sequence, information
graphics can be used to display the environment in
take place, a sale to be made. A flow-in chart can
display the necessary requirements for the successful completion of a project or procedure.
which an event occurs as well as cause and effect
relationships.
Orbit
An Orbit chart allows you to display the environment in which an event or a procedure takes place.
Orbit charts display the various forces acting on an
individual, government or business. For example, a
business is influenced by the world economy, the
weather, competition and government regulations.
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Flow-Out
A Flow-Out chart displays individuals or groups of
people who are influenced by an event, product or
service. It can describe the buyers of a product, the
readers of a publications or the market segments
who purchase a product or service.
Fan-In
A Fan-In chart is another way of displaying the resources needed to complete a project. It can be
used to display the income stream that contributes
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Using Visuals to Make Information Come Alive
to a firm’s profits.
Fan-Out
A Fan-Out chart displays the distributions of resources, or the effects of an event or process, such
as as program or product benefits, expenses or the
distribution of profits.
Creating visual metaphors
You can create visual metaphors by replacing
words with visuals. These help you translate words
into visual concepts. These visuals can add a great
deal of visual interest to your publication—especially business publications like proposals and reports—which often lack opportunities for photographs or illustrations.
a Triad (above) are of equal importance, a Pyramid
prioritizes your ideas and makes it easy to identify
which ideas are fundamental to the ones which
More important, when you translate words into
visuals, you drive home the importance of the
message you want to communicate. The following
types of information graphics can be considered
metaphors because they visually represent the
meaning of the message they communicate.
Triad
Choose a Triad when you want to emphasize three
words of equal importance. A triad emphasizes the
three important points you want to make and
makes it clear that the three words (or phrases) are
of equal importance.
Pyramid
Use a Pyramid when you want your ideas to visually build upon each other. Whereas the elements of
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build upon them.
Puzzle
Use a Puzzle to represent interlocking ideas. The
Puzzle emphasizes that no one idea, or component
of a process, is more important than the others;
that the whole is the sum of the parts.
Creating themes with metaphors
Triads, pyramids and puzzles can create visual
themes for your publication which begin on the
cover are repeated within your publication. For example, you can emphasize that piece of a Puzzle as
it is discussed in each section of a report. I used the
puzzle metaphor to organize Roger C. Parker’s
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By Roger C. Parker
Using Visuals to Make Information Come Alive
Guide to Web Content and Design.
Translating numbers into visuals
Numbers make for boring reading. It is very difficult to gauge the importance of numbers contained within paragraphs of body copy. It is very
difficult to evaluate the importance of individual
numbers or their relationship to other numbers.
Choosing the right types
of charts and graphs
The starting point for translating numbers into visuals is to choose the right type of chart or graph.
Each type of chart or graph is best suited for representing a different type of information.
The legend, which can be located above, below or
to the left or right of the pie chart, helps readers
understand the information what each slice represents.
You can improve the appearance of your pie charts
by keeping information as close to the slices as possible. For example, if size permits, replace the legend with data labels adjacent to each slice. These
can indicate both the information displayed as well
as the quantity or percentage of the whole the slice
represents.
Pie charts
Use pie charts to represent part-whole relationships.
Pie charts make it easy for readers to evaluate the
relative importance of each slice representing the
various elements that make up the whole. Pie
charts use different colors, shades of gray or textures to represent each slice.
Using data labels helps readers avoid the necessity
to glance back and forth between the chart and the
legend in order to understand the significance of
each of the slices.
Titles are an easy way you can enhance all types of
charts and graphs. Never leave it up to your readers
to figure out the significance of your chart or
graph. Consider using borders and white space to
isolate charts and graphs from surrounding text
and draw attention to them.
Avoid pie charts containing too many slices which
result in small slices which can easily get lost. Most
charting software programs permit you to create a
“call out” bar or pie chart which groups together
the smallest segments of the pie chart.
Bar Charts
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By Roger C. Parker
Using Visuals to Make Information Come Alive
Use horizontal bar charts to display side-by-side
categories of information. Bar charts without data
Column Charts are ideal for showing changes of
multiple variables over time. Again, a legend is
labels help readers make relative comparisons. Add
data labels to the bars if the exact quantity displayed by the bar is important to your message.
used to identify each column and you can add data
labels if the exact numbers are important to your
message.
White space and logical proximity improve the ap-
As always, keep your chart as simple as possible by
eliminating as many unnecessary horizontal and
vertical gridlines as possible. Often, white space between the data series is sufficient to organize the
chart.
Stacked Bar Charts
A Stacked Bar Chart is a more sophisticated form
that permits you to display relative contributions as
well as totals. A Stacked Bar Chart, for example,
can show not only the total performance of each of
your sales territories but also the relative contribution various products made to each territory’s
sales.
Column Charts
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pearance of column charts.
By selectively grouping columns and adding extra
white space between categories, you can create simple, yet, effective charts without the clutter often
caused by unnecessary vertical gridlines.
Line Charts
Line, or fever, charts show changes in data over
time. Without data labels, trends become easily obvious. Different colored lines indicate each data series. If you add data labels, you can review the exact quantities displayed at each interval. Depending
on the image you want to communicate, you can
use curved, instead of straight lines to link the data
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points.
To avoid confronting your readers with charts that
resemble spaghetti, however, limit yourself to a
maximum of six lines—preferably fewer.
Area Charts
Use area charts to emphasize changes in quantity,
By Roger C. Parker
product comparisons or survey results). Avoid radar charts with multiple comparisons when results
are similar, as the chart elements may overlap each
other.
Scattered point charts show the relationship between sets of data to identify patterns. (Most software programs permit you to connect the points or
add trend lines to emphasize the direction of
change.)
Making the most of charts and graphs
Simplicity is always a virtue when working with
charts and graphs. The fewer elements you include,
the easier it will be for readers to understand your
message.
totals or volume. Area charts combine the characteristics of stacked columns and line charts. You
can observe the trends over time as well as the relative contributions made by different products,
profit-centers or departments.
Start by adding the data series with the lowest
values. Narrow elements look best grouped at the
bottom of the chart rather than at the top.
Other chart options
One of the biggest challenges you face is eliminating clutter. Clutter can consist of unnecessary horizontal or vertical gridlines or tick marks. Tick
marks can be added to the vertical axis of a chart to
indicate increments between the major divisions
indicated by gridlines. For example, if your chart
contains grid lines at increments of 100, you can
add tick marks to the inside of the vertical axis at
increments of 10, and tick marks along the outside
of the vertical axis at increments of 50.
Be especially careful when using the three-dimensional capabilities of your charting or graphing
There are several, specialized, types of charts and
graphs which you should consider using, especially
if your design work is going to involve a lot of financial or highly technical publications.
High-low charts to display changes in data over
fixed time periods. (Use the area option to emphasize the range of data.) Note: many software programs permit you to add bars to display opening
and closing prices.
Radar charts permit you to display information
plotted against a number of criteria (for example
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program. Although three-dimensional charts and
graphs can be very eye-catching, they often distort
the chart’s message. Small elements located along
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Using Visuals to Make Information Come Alive
the front of the chart can become exaggerated in
size. Three-dimensional charts can also hide information that gets pushed behind foreground ele-
For example, if you find yourself describing a
schedule of upcoming events, instead of listing the
events and their dates in text paragraphs, create a
calendar showing the dates when important events
occur. The calendar will help your readers relate
“event” to “date” at a glance.
To add impact to your calendar, use a black or colored background to emphasize the important dates
and reverse the date and text describing the event
out. Use a bold, sans-serif typeface to help the text
stand out.
More information on creating charts and graphs
can be found in Roger C. Parker’s One-Minute
Designer (MIS Press).
Colophon
ments.
Small, hard to read data labels are always a problem. When data labels are added to a the columns
of a chart, they often are both hard to read and detract from the reader’s ability to get an overall view
of the trend.
The solution to cluttered data labels is to slightly
reduce chart or graph’s size and include the data in
a table next to the chart. This gives readers the option of looking at the chart to gain an overall view
of the trends, analyze the detailed data in the table.
The combination of simplified chart and easy-toread table permits both comparisons and detailed
analysis.
I set this piece in various fonts included with
Adobe Minion, designed by Robert Slimbach.
Minion is a refinement of Garamond, a classic
typeface design ideal for extended reading.
I set the title in 40-point Adobe Minion Display.
Display fonts are optimized for use at large sizes.
Title leading is solid, i.e. 40 points
The introductory paragraph was set in 14-point
Minion italics on 23 point leading.
Body copy was set in Adobe Minion, 11 points on
16-point leading. (Default, or auto, leading is 13.2
points). Paragraph spacing is .1 inch. I reduced the
hyphenation zone to .25 inches.
Level One subheads are set in 12-point Minion
Black Level Two subheads are set in 11-point
Minion italics.
Conclusion
Once you get in the habit of replacing text with visuals, you’ll undoubtedly notice more and more opportunities to do so.
I employed two Minion Ornaments to separate the
Colophon from the article. Roger C. Parker’s
One-Minute Designer is set in Minion True
Small Caps.
I used 10-point Minion for headers and footers.
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throughout.
Software included Adobe PageMaker 6.5 for