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Business Communication: Building Critical Skills
Kitty O. Locker, Ohio State University
Steven Kyo Kaczmarek, Columbus State Community College
Kathryn Braun, Sheridan College
Using Visuals

E-Learning Session

  1. What are stories, and how do I find them? A story is something that is happening, according to the data. To find stories, look for relationships and changes.
    1. When and how should I use visuals?
    2. To find stories,
      • Focus on a topic.
      • Simplify the data.
      • Look for relationships and changes.
    3. Almost every data set allows you to tell several stories.
      • You must choose the story you want to tell.
  2. Does it matter what kind of visual I use? Yes! The visual must match the kind of story.
    1. Visuals are not interchangeable.
    2. Choose the visual that best matches your purpose of presenting the data. TRANSPARENCY MASTER
      • CONCEPT CHECK True or False: Replacing a table with a chart is fine-what's important is to choose the most attractive visual for your report. CONCEPT CHECK
  3. What design conventions should I follow? Check your visuals against the lists that follow.
    1. Every visual should contain six components:
      • A title that tells the story the visual shows.
      • A clear indication of what the data are.
      • Clearly labeled units.
      • Labels or legends identifying axes, colors, symbols, and so forth.
      • The source of the data.
      • The source of the visual.
    2. Follow design conventions for each kind of visual.
  4. Can I use color and clip art? Use color carefully. Avoid decorative clip art in memos and reports.
    1. Color makes visuals more dramatic, but it creates at least two problems:
      • Readers interpret color, and that interpretation may not be appropriate.
      • Meanings assigned to colors differ culturally.
    2. When you use color, follow guidelines. TRANSPARENCY MASTER
  5. What else do I need to check for? Be sure that the visual is accurate and ethical.
    1. Always double-check to make sure that the information in a visual is accurate.
      • Accuracy goes beyond numbers and labels-shapes in visuals can also distort data.
    2. Avoid bias: Check clipart for balance in age, race, ethnicity or gender.
    3. Avoid chartjunk.
      • CONCEPT CHECK True or False: Chartjunk is OK if you are using the visual as decoration, rather than to provide information; at least a few decorative visuals are expected in most business reports. CONCEPT CHECK
  6. Can I use the same visuals in my document and my presentation?
    1. For presentations, simplify paper visuals.
    2. Visuals for presentations should have titles but don't need figure numbers.
  7. Go to the Self-Quizzes section if you would like to test your understanding of this module.




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