Quality visual communication is about so much more than combining text with visuals. It’s an evolving combination of art and science, and it takes a discerning eye to execute it successfully.
Since so many components go into the creation of great visual content (research, copywriting, graphic design, data science, marketing, and more), there are unfortunately quite a few ways in which it can go awry. Check out these 5 examples of visual communication mistakes that are common, but avoidable.
1. Using Visuals as a Supplement to Text
It’s common to see visual content that has several paragraphs’ worth of text combined with some imagery. But this relies too much on the text — and not enough on the visuals — to make meaning.
This mistake is why writing for visual communication is a true challenge. Although content is often the first phase of a visual communication project, it shouldn’t happen in isolation. The length and organization of content must be chosen with visuals and formatting in mind.
Visuals need to drive the end piece. If you’re creating an infographic and you can’t understand the topic just by looking at the visuals, your infographic is too dependent on the copy to tell the story — in which case, it isn’t much of an infographic at all.
2. Missing Opportunities to Visualize Data
Whether your content is rich with statistics or relies more on qualitative information, your visual content should never be a reading assignment. Successful visual communication takes advantage of each and every opportunity to visualize data. Use charts and graphs where you can, with illustrations and icons where no chart or graph will work. Avoid text-only information except in your intro and conclusion — and don’t hide key stats in those sections!
3. Adding Visuals Without Purpose
Every visual cue, from the banner style you use to emphasize text to the recurring character illustration in your narrative, should serve a distinct purpose and add to your story. Adding extraneous elements could take your viewers down a confusing path.
Say your topic is grocery shopping habits, but you saw a really cool circuit-board pattern on a TV ad and want your designer to incorporate that. Or perhaps you have some white space and want to add a cash-register illustration to fill the void. Resist the temptation! Make sure that any visual element on your design is helping to tell the story, rather distracting viewers from the core message.
4. Picking the Wrong Chart or Graph for Your Data
Every type of chart and graph has an explicit purpose. For example, visualizing percentages of a whole (e.g. “25% of all consumers”) is generally best visualized with a circle graph. Showing trends over time is a perfect use for a line graph (though it’s not the only way to show that information).
The more you know about what types of charts and graphs serve what purposes, the more intuitively clear your data will be to viewers.
5. Letting Format Dictate Your Goals
Quality visual communication begins by defining goals, not deliverables. Rather than being determined to create an infographic or a motion graphic, you must first analyze your audience and determine what results you want to see.
You can’t tell every story most effectively with an infographic — nor should you try. The same goes for motion and interactive mediums. Before getting too excited about how you’re going to tell your story, make sure you take the time to analyze why and for whom you’re telling that story.
Everyone makes mistakes. It’s how we learn! But avoid these 5 common errors, and you’ll be well on your way to creating quality visual communication.
What was a content marketing mistake you made, and how did you put what you learned into action next time? Tell us in the comments!