Archived article from March 25, 2015
Visual Communication: A Powerful Tool
by Caidleigh Murphy
Images provide the world with visual summaries. In his book Ways of Seeing (Penguin Books, 1972), art critic and theorist John Berger writes, “Seeing comes before words. The child looks and recognizes before it can speak”. Our brains react differently to images than language, leaving many behavioral psychologists to believe that without pictures, words have no meaning — or at least no chance of retention. Even some of the earliest Paleolithic cave drawings, dating back as far as 40,000 years, are theorized as being ways of communicating with others.
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In today’s modern age, we may no longer be etching figures on cave walls, but we continue to use visual communication as one of our most powerful tools. Various studies have shown using images along with a set of data, increases information retention by up to 80% (it is said that on average humans only retain 10% from speaking and listening, and 20% from reading alone).
Many of our projects at Lucid incorporate visual tools as a way of reducing complex information and concepts. For us, visual communication methods such as infographics, videos, and illustrations, help bring focus to traditionally complicated topics touched upon in much of our work. Topics like politics, economics, and the environment are made more logical with the use of visual stimulation — allowing the mind to retain the message as clearly and quickly as possible. In Ways of Seeing John Berger uses seven essays to describe his ideas: four with text and image, three with images only. In the image essays, Berger manages to prove his thesis through strategic placement of complimenting and contrasting photos. For our purposes, we thought it would be interesting to visit this concept of the “visual essay”, to demonstrate how generally complex topics can be reduced to their key messages through the use of images, and tailored visual tools. Not exactly the “Berger method”, but a different way of seeing nonetheless.
