Visual literacy at work

It's a great start to the day when a client says:

"Erin, I opened the job aid / pictorial you sent to the field team.

And in 30 seconds or less, I understood everything we need to do

at tonight's medical meeting".

This kind of comment gets my heart racing with joy - especially when the client is in a medical affairs role and will be leveraging some new business software / mobile app for the first time.

I particularly enjoy examples and experiences where highly technical information can be communicated in visual ways to busy people.

For me, visual presentation design is a worthwhile skill that I continue to refine.

It all started a few years back when I took a grad school course on distance education and E-learning design. I remember confiding in the professor how I wanted to get better at communicating more visually.

His advice to me was brilliant. He said that if I wanted to get better, I needed to force myself to do it even more. So I took it to heart and starting practicing every chance I got. I asked my grad school buddies for resources. I read books by Nancy Duarte. I followed a fantastic ISPI webinar with Connie Malamed.

According to my client's comments earlier today - it has paid off!

The worlds of communication, education and presentation continue to evolve at a rapid pace. Learning to communicate visually is a 21st century skill.

I am curious to know if anyone else is working on this skill or striving to communicate more visually... A job aid or a software tutorial is a perfect place to start.

For some background reading on this topic, call me. I would love to discuss and continue to learn in this area.

If you'd rather not reach out just yet, then start by visiting these links:

10 tips for designing visual communication

Visuals are the starting point for our attention -- why waste time unnecessarily?

Try this to get started - a visual planning map for your team

Try Wikipedia for an introduction to communicating visually