A Powerful and Colorful Medium of Visual Communication - Essay Example

Effect of Visual Communication on Businesses 'A good picture is worth a thousand words' is a clich' that might have given birth to what we knowas visual communication today. Visual communication was a powerful and colorful medium of communication even in the earlier times of history. It percolated into the lives of society through hand made pictorial books and designs in the medieval Europe. Technology and industrial revolution, the renaissance brought forth faster methods of visual communications in the form of printed books. And the electronic communication through the internet and computers brought about a revolution in all types of communication in the form of graphic design and advanced concepts of visual forms of communication that engulfed the world of business as of today, illustrates History of Visual Communication. In the review of More than Meets the Eye by Jammeison H. the importance of visual communication and its practical application in the commercial world has been stated as "We exist in a visual culture. The importance of reading and interpreting signs has become a rapidly increasing concern in recent years. This book offers an intricate theoretical perspective regarding the study of visual communication and expands the academic arena for debate concerning the visual. 'The significance of Jamieson's book is that it addresses the subject of the visual arts from this wider vantage point. For Jamieson, the visual arts reveal visual communication as the means by which the body and its organs communicate with its surrounding forms.' (Professor Robert Cooper, Keele University) Worth S in Studying Visual Media expresses it as "The central thread that runs through Sol Worth's research and writings is the question of how meaning is communicated through visual images. Coming to academic life after careers in painting, photography, and filmmaking, Worth was imbued with the conviction that visual media were forms of communication that, while fundamentally different from speech, could and must be seriously examined as ways by which human beings create and share meanings." The powerful effects of this visual media of communication grew faster in the 21 century due to the ubiquitous ness of the computers and the internet. Fast paced life and neck by neck business competition made businessmen and Commercial intelligentsia aware of its powerful impact on consumers and citizens of the global world. Communication was always important means of reaching out to people but the digital technology and the revolutionised electronics have not only made life swifter but also made it essential for everyone to stay connected in order to survive in the pace of globalisation and dissolving geographical boundaries in this century. Anything that is easier, faster and effective to understand and tell is the fundamental aim of every means and mode of communication today. Visual communication thus paved its way into nooks and corners of daily lives of all who walk on the earth in the modern world. From domestic to diversified sectors of business, media, commerce, health, religion, or any faculty of society, visual communication has now become a supreme form of effective communication. Corporate offices and Multinational companies have realised the importance of reaching out to their consumers. Visual communication through graphics, designs and signage has surpassed all barricades of language as a means of communication today. A visual graphic needs neither reading nor learning as it is easy to comprehend by sheer vision. Hence it has gained immeasurable popularity in the daily world including the world of business communication. Research in visual communication has proved the magnified influence of this form of communication and there is very little doubt of its becoming a panacea of top business strategies. In Visual Communication: Images with Messages Lester (California State University) "explores how the brain processes the individual graphic elements that make up a pictorial scene, examines the ethical problems associated with images, and describes each medium of presentation from a personal, historical, technical, ethical, cultural, and critical perspective. The fourth edition adds new images, and analyzes recent advertising campaigns and news events" to bring forth the magnetic effect of this form of communication over the masses. So much so that verbal interaction is fast becoming a redundant tool of communication with the advent of visual communication. Barryman has already recognised this new form of communication in "A remarkable notebook of essential design information intended to provide a solid, basic "visual vocabulary." Commenting on visual communication as the latest means of communication in 'Visual Communication: More than Meets the Eye brings back all the fervour and insight of the best analyses of visual communication...It contains numerous insights to help media practitioners, artists and educational designers to understand their crafts. Jamieson goes beyond the descriptive approach typical of broadcast and media studies analysts, and treats underlying themes of the visual in art and the media.' (Jon Baggaley, Learning Media and Technology). Eckerson illustrates the emphasis of visual communication in business not only as a form of reaching out to consumers but also as a valuable means Assessment, Monitoring performance, Planning and management of Business houses and their in-house personnel through visual communication. He points out the remarkable importance of Dashboards in work places. Calling them 'Organisational Magnifying Glass' he asserts that "strong leaders need more than just the force of personality and experience to form and organization. They need an informative system that helps them clearly and concisely communicate key strategies and goals to all employees on a personal basis every day. The system should focus workers on tasks and activities that best advance the organisation strategies and goals. It should measure performance and reward positive contributions and align efforts so that workers in every group and level of the organisation are marching together towards the same destination" (Eckerson 4). The widespread adaptation of graphics and visual forms of communication in businesses proves its catalytic effects on their fast growth. They have become a universal means of communication superseding the need of words and language to educate, entertain, inform and promote any product or service to the viewer irrespective of his background, colour, cast, creed or age. Even children comprehend visual forms faster, better and easier than any other user friendly method of communication as on today. Pointing at Market trends "At the dawn of 21 century, business intelligence converged with performance management to create dashboards. This convergence has created a flood of interest in performance dashboards "as visual forms of communication "since the year 2000". "The Data Warehousing Institute showed that 51 % of business houses used it and 17 % of others are in the process of using them" to enhance their business growth. Hypothesis. Research Question. Does visual communication have an effect on businesses' Research from the fields of psychologists, media, anthropologists, business intelligentsia and market surveys have unitedly concluded that communication has drastically changed in the past few years and that it has had a great impact in the way people understand each other. The process of learning and dissemination of information has undergone colossal metamorphosis with the governance of modern technology. Creativity has seen diabolic upheaval in expressions. The same expressions of bold colours, forms and representations have penetrated the deepest crevice of businesses today. Its tentacles penetrating even faster every day. There is no field untouched by visuals and graphics as media of communication. In the form of product design, services, company logos, advertising, signage, dashboards or any other. Visual communication has influenced all sectors in all parts of the world to reach out to the masses. With a constant effort to reduce the disparity between consumer needs and their demands, products and services are aiming to become user friendly at every stage from the inception to the final product. The lesser the time needed to reach the consumer, the better the sale and the more the profits of the manufacturer or service provider. So, graphic designs rule the world of communication over that of eloquence of words or language. Apt to the adage 'a good picture is worth a thousand words'. Is visual communication really having an effect on businesses' The next time you step out of your home note down the visual graphics that you come across at various places of your walk from home to the Mall, Railway Station, School, Shopping Centres, Theatres, Offices, Museums, Airports, Parking Lots, Restaurants, Banks, and other public places even Zoos. You will be confronted with nothing else but visual communication. To your surprise it will also be a realisation of how easy and quick it is to decipher instructions, information and directions with the help of these graphics and boards with visual signs for a viewer. From little children to elderly. From Africans, Indians, Japanese to any other national in any nation, visual graphics is the language of communication today. With the facilities of international travel and means of commuting to any part of the world, quick and easy communication is a vital need of the century. A form of communication which could melt the barriers of language was an urgent need. This symbolic form of communication grew into a modern user friendly method of interaction and soon got adapted by the whole world as visual communication. Multinational tycoons patronised it and exploited its shapes, size, colours and impact on the minds of viewers and soon amalgamated it into their products and services to lure more consumers to their goods thereby creating an artificial demand for their businesses. This visual communication has become an important department of all Business houses with designers working their professional skills to come out with ever powerful and attractive graphical representations of any thing and everything that needs to be sold under their brand businesses. This is the revolution of the graphic design and visual communication and its effect on businesses today. Content Analysis. Why has visual communication acquired such a magnified proportion in business communication' Why has it become so popular' What is it that makes it so user friendly a language beyond any other methods of interaction and what is the basic ingredient of this form of communication' What do romance and customer service have in common' Asks Egan in Initial Lust: The Key To Visual Communication & Brand Marketing. Just like the lingering pleasure of a relationship consumers today want the prolonged satisfaction from a product or service. Competitive markets, global brands, consumerism, disposable incomes and capitalistic economies have only one goal - that is to create a demand for their products and services and to entice new customers every minute. The challenge of keeping them glued to the very same brands uses the baits of attractive visuals to make them pay attention to the very same services and products for the remaining periods in the markets. This is analogous to a romance as in customer service. To pay special attention to pamper consumers to satiate their basic psychological needs like importance and ego, is the discreet aim of customer service. "Customers now expect businesses to demonstrate long-term commitment "(Egan). Short term relationships are pass'. A consumer who has bought a good by chance must be baited for the next time and must be captivated for the rest of the life by business strategies of cut throat competition today. Visuals are quick to lure people. To make heads turn in the wanted direction towards the item on sale is the prime aim of every marketing wizard. His words have lesser effect than the bold and beautiful abstract graphic he has got designed from his expert team for his business communication. It works like magic on every onlooker. The battle is won the moment eyes turn to see the intriguing shape and moving form of the visual in advertising. The media captures the mind of the viewer and the aim is achieved. Visual communication has proved its supremacy over any other form of transaction of emotions, not even the best and most eloquent of words can achieve what a smart and beautiful graphic can conquer within a fraction of a second. "Lasting relationships require thought & energy" (Egan). Comparing interpersonal relationships to those short and frivolous ones gives insight on the fact that there is immense intricacy of emotions and thoughts that are required for keeping these relationships alive and healthy. They have to nurture with care and tenderness. Similar to the strategy of the business market to keep up the trust of the consumer in the product. The quality of the product and its beneficial effects take time to be experienced by the consumer where as to attract the attention of the same consumer with the help of dynamic designs is much easier for a corporate house. Having gained their attention to feed their distracted minds with any contents is an easier task for the smart businessman. The sooner and faster he does it, the better the effect on the viewer. Hence the rising importance of visual communication in the rat race of products and services in the market. "Brand fidelity requires the same" (Egan). Faith and trust still play an important role in the lives of humans. They have acquired different definitions but they are primarily the same old virtues humans rested upon at all times. Today they are governed by vested interests but never the less; they are still a prime entity to be preyed upon for marketing. It takes a lot of effort, resources and management to establish business credibility in a competitive market. Branding is none other than embossing a reputation for a particular product or service. It demands immense honesty from the businessman to live up to the expectation of his consumer in terms of the high quality he promises, the cost and price of his goods and services, after sales service and customer service throughout the sustenance of his product. Maximising profits amidst this monetary jungle is a dangerously risky business today. But the lust for money, the temptation of materialism, power and the intoxication of wealth creation gives rise to newer and newer methods and techniques of reaching out to people. To masses and individual with spending power. And this is facilitated by visual communication like no other means of expression and interaction in the modern world. "Inconsistency & indifference kill relationships". "Many businesses have an inflated view of their service" (Egan). Business demands a renowned branding today. But it cannot be achieved in a short period of time. Irrespective of marketing and media gimmicks to trap consumers, good brands take long time to earn the patronage of their customers. Once downtrodden, the image building becomes an errant mission which acts as a deterrent to business of any product or service. Just like Egan remarks about relationships getting killed due to non communication, irrational silence or inconsistencies in behaviour, similarly the branded products have to fulfil their obligations to their individual consumers. To penetrate into the deeper realms of human minds and that too in fractional time is only possible through visual communication at any juncture. It does not take a flicker of a moment to read the expressions on a face or to admire the beauty of a picture through its vivid colours than to read the best speech and allegory of the same. Visual form of communication reigns supreme as the best and the most effective form of communication today. Findings and Discussion. How can we accept that visual communication does really have an effect on businesses' Every hypothesis needs to be proved with empirical and statistical data. Or else it remains a postulate for ever. But to measure the impact, the effect, the intensity and the amount of understanding a product has created in the mind of the consumer is a difficult measure to put forward or tabulate as data. In How to Measure Anything: Finding the Value of "Intangibles" in Business, "Anything can be measured" remarks Hubbard. "If a thing can be observed in any way at all. It lends itself to some type of measurement method. No matter how fuzzy the measurement is, it is still a measurement if it told you more than you knew before. And those very things most likely to be seen, as immeasurable are virtually always solved by relatively simple measurement methods. Digits are an impeccable form of communication. They create least miscommunication problems. So an idea or a thought converted into digits is the smartest way to convey business proposals and also to save data of any kind. Hubbard's method delves into a systematic approach to how we can measure the impact made by a particular visual on the viewer. He has established a standardized method of evaluating and assessing the quantities of unseen and untouchable commodities like emotions and psychological effects of a particular shapes, colors and forms used in graphics to make it more target oriented in order to achieve the aimed results. There has been extensive research on the forms, effects of visual design on the viewer. From the angles of different faculties and social sciences as well as the media, visual expressions have gained attention of thinkers and scholars of the professional world. Visual Communication Research Designs discusses the components of graphic design into three different strata of understanding. Production, analysis and effects of visuals. "The lack of sufficient methods to answer theoretical questions attending visual communication. Comments from the review "This resource has been developed in response to the circumstance in which, in many cases, the methodologies for verbal and textual communications are inappropriate or ineffective when applied or adapted for the study of visual communications. Additionally, research articles from ethnography, action research, rhetoric, semiotics, psychology, cultural studies, and critical theory often do not use examples appropriate to visual communication . To address these issues, this book explains in clear and straightforward language key research designs, including new methodologies that are appropriate for scholars and students conducting visual communication research." The discussion elucidates the problems envisaged in reaching a perfect graphical design in a business market with multicultural consumer forum. Once understood that colors and shapes have a distinct appeal to particular people from ethnic backgrounds, it becomes a difficult task to create a graphic visual that would have a magnitude of acceptance beyond geographical boundaries. Informs Kenny in Visual Communication Research Design. The book reviews not only these factors of a visual graphic in business but also details a discussion of the advantages and limitations of each method. "War stories" are provided by experienced researchers, who discuss a particular research project and explain pitfalls to avoid, as well as what to do when problems occur"(Kenny) "The primary audiences are scholars, researchers, and students conducting research on motion pictures, video, television, photographs, illustrations, graphics, typography, political cartoons, comic books, animation, and other media with a visual component. Individuals will use this text whenever they need to conduct research that involves visuals in the media. The book will be a required text for advanced courses in visual culture, seminars on visual communication research, and other research methods courses integrating a visual component. (Kenny) Global media communication demands a language beyond words. Contextual communication without verbal means is a viable medium to reach the masses and individuals also. Compared to the visual forms of communication these methods of interaction are time consuming. They may pose limitations to both, the one who is the target and the other who is the supplier of information in any sectors of communication. Domestic and the business world. Colors, shapes and forms are catchy even though there is a possibility of miss- interpretation of the visual they still achieve more success in attracting attention than any other form of mass communication . At a time when the media is becoming increasingly global, often with the same films, news and television programs shown all over the world; Global Media Discourse provides an accessible, lively introduction into how globalization is changing the language and communicative practices of the media. Integrating a range of approaches, including political economy, discourse analysis and ethnography, this book will be of particular interest to students of media and communication studies, applied linguistics, and (critical) discourse analysis. (Machin and Leeuwen). Intercultural cross section of society needs a different language to unite them. International trade and commerce demand a quick and convenient method of dealings. Interactive tourism and transport must provide a common platform for human understanding for practical convenience and commute. Therefore some kind of an innovative medium of communication gradually transformed itself into a modern form rampantly accepted today - in the name of visual communication. Communication was always an important aspect of human lives. In Language and Interaction Young 'introduces key concepts in language and social interaction Describes how individuals develop skills in social interaction and shows how people create identities through their use of language" No matter what century humans live in, social interaction has been an essence of his life. It is in the modern era that this interaction has transformed into finer modes of communication. Technology has aggravated innovative and creative thoughts and made it possible to create desired effects and illusions through design like never before. Young "brings together essential readings in anthropology, discourse studies and sociology" as a benefit to "researchers of applied linguistics and communication studies". (Young). Essentials of Visual Communication gives an ironic account of the author visiting a Swedish School for the visually impaired to lecture on 'visual communication'. Shunning it aside as a harsh joke he comes back rejuvenated about communication and also the essentials of visual communications from the lecture. The blind had taught him what he could not have learned from those who could see. An insight he got about visual communication after his visit to the school of the blind expresses his anguish "Am I getting my ideas and thoughts across'" "Can people understand when they can't see'" "Seeing and understanding pictures are often symbiotic". The valuable knowledge that he got from those blind children gave him an opportunity to explore into what visual communication could mean to many of those who have the vision but no literacy to understand or communicate with others even in the modern world. In conclusion "what is to be gained from communication becoming more skilful' Firstly their messages to the audience will reach more easily". News and commercial messages are understood, assessed and subjected to detailed consideration which is necessary in a democracy. This expands our understanding of global mechanism, lending impetus to cultural and mercantile exchanges. Serious, urgent, human direct, well designed messages inspire respect in consumers and act as a platform for critical analysis. We all benefit from such messages reassures Bergstram. Visual communication is a skill that always existed in different forms in all parts of the world. But it grew into a separate and distinct form of communication in the recent century. It gained popularity in social, political, business domains as an essential form of communication and today it has become one of the most sought after careers in the creative and ambitious youths of the world. Visual communication has superseded all forms of communication only because awareness about its effects has become evident to the smart minds of the business world that can thrive in business only on the basis of human interaction, psychological influence and mass communication which works faster than any other form of human comprehension. Pictures, forms, figures, shapes, colours, action, speed, animations and illusions created by visual designers will always be the most intriguing entity for humans all over the world. Technology cannot substitute the power of the human mind. But it can work wonders in collaboration with human talents of creativity. Visual communication has integrated the citizens of the world on a common platform of understanding where neither language nor words are required to communicate. It had bonded them together as consumers of the same products and patrons of the same services no matter which geographical terrain they inhabit. The effects of such a universal communication are evident in the form of global businesses flourishing under the very same brand name despite the diversities of culture, race, language, literacy and religion. Visual communication is the universal religion of the commercial and business world. Graphic designers are an epitome of universal language and creators of a supreme form which sustains itself without the barriers of verbal and academic abilities and integrates the whole world in its virtues. Works Cited Barryman, G. Notes on Graphic Design and Visual Communication Bergstr''m, B. Essentials of Visual Communication. Eckerson, Wayne. W. Performance Dashboards: Measuring, Monitoring, and Managing Your Business. O'Reilly Media, Inc, 2006. Egan. A. Initial Lust: The Key To Visual Communication & Brand Marketing. UK. Few. S. Information Dashboard Design: The Effective Visual Communication of Data Hubbard, Douglas. W. How to Measure Anything: Finding the Value of "Intangibles" in Business. Wiley, 2007. Jameison, H. Visual Communication More than Meets the Eye. Kenny. Visual Communication Research Designs. Routledge, 2008. Lester, Martin.P. Visual Communication: Images with Messages. Cengage Learning. 2005. Machin, D, and Theo Van Leeuwen. Global Media Discourse: A Critical Introduction. Routledge, 2007. 9 May 2009 Parmenter, D. Key Performance Indicators: Developing, Implementing, and Using Winning KPIs. Wiley, 2007. History of visual communication. 9 May 2009 Worth, S. Studying Visual Communication. 3933 Walnut Street Philadelphia, PA 19104: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1981. Young, Richard, F. Language and Interaction: An Advanced Resource Book. Routledge, 2008 Read More