Visual communication is a way of the communication that people get through the reading or seeing. As mentioned earlier, it can be anything that shows a message. It expresses an idea and gives a piece of information with the use of the different signs, gestures, postures, and anything that can be expressible.
It comes with an impressive power to inform and educate a person or groups. Just imagine while driving on an unknown road, we keep asking the people about the destination. But if you have a medium of visual communication like a map, you can simply find out the way without any help. You can say that visual communication can be anything that expresses the things in a beautiful and understandable manner. People rely more on the different forms of visual communication than the verbal communication as they get all the details with the signs and symbols.
The use of visual communication is massively growing among business. Over 84% of all marketing strategies use images, popular GIFs, graphics, animations, and signs among others to pass information. Visual communication has more impact in passing information to people. The following are reasons as to why visual communication is important.
1. It saves time
It is easier to process a visual signal quickly than to read a sentence of a paragraph full of text. An image will pass a lot of information within a short a time because one image can have a thousand words. Research shows that the brain processes images 60,000 times faster than texts. With this background information, it will save you time when using visuals to communicate to people. Rather than loading an advertisement with words, it is highly beneficial to utilize visuals to effectively pass a message within a short time.
2. It is clear
Visual communication improves the clarity of information. You easily fall in love with a book of a movie because of the graphics used on the front cover or trailer respectively. This is the same way customers fall in love with products and services depending on how they are advertised by using images and graphics. When using images for business advertisements, use simple and clear graphics that will pass the same message to the targeted audience to avoid confusion.
3. It helps in achieving consistency
This is mainly achieved by using same colors of the original product or company to advertise. The use of logos and consistent colors boost the brand image of the business. The company’s colors should be used in all form of marketing and advertisements. Also, using consistent images, logo and colors make it easy for people to identify a product with the company. Build brand awareness of your company or organization by using visual communication.
4. Gives better retention of information
Since the human brain processes information in image form, a person will be able to retain visual information for long. People easily forget what they hear or read easily but retain images for long. This is because images are stored in long-term memory, and words and texts are stored in short term memory. A study conducted on active learning showed that 10-20% of the participants were able to remember spoken and written information while over 50% of visuals and images was remembered. It is important to aim at retention of information when passing marketing products and services.
5. It is simple
The illiterate can understand visual communication hence makes it an effective communication method to all. Its simplicity makes it easy for people to understand the information. Coming with an appropriate image for an advertisement may take time, but the end result is usually simple and understandable to all groups of people. The main reason as to why you still remember road signs is because they are simple, clear, and memorable.
6. It is flexible
Flexibility in visual communication makes it better than verbal communication. For instance, if you are looking forward to advertising a product to millions of people across different cultures, you may consider using images and graphics. This is because they are flexible and can be understood by different people. Verbal communication will be limited to language, and some terminologies may not be similarly understood by different cultures. Images are more flexible than words.
7. It is effective
Visual communication is one of the most effective ways of sending information. The main reason lies in the cognitive function of the human brain. Nowadays, images and graphics have flooded the advertising field because of the effectiveness of visual communication. The mind remembers images faster than words or texts.
8. It is popular
People love watching images, GIFs, graphic videos rather than listening to words or an advertisement. If you are running a business, you will easily catch the attention of potential customers by using visuals, images, GIFs in advertising. Social media platforms like Facebook encourage ads to have fewer words and more graphics. Also, visuals stimulate the emotions of the people making them respond quickly to an advertisement.
Conclusion
The above is about the main importance of visual communication. Visual communication is important just like using the ezTalks Meetings for communication. People pay more attention when communicating with people they can see rather than just using a telephone or emails. Visual communications have a positive impact in boosting your business. Start applying visual communication techniques on your business and you will get positive results.