Need to communicate your ideas simply so audiences get it?
Need to drive policy makers or stakeholders to action?
Need to avoid a dire death by PowerPoint situation?
THEN STOP WALLOWING IN WORDS.
Lengthy reports, word stuffed PowerPoints and word doc summaries lead to vital information falling on blind eyes and deaf ears due to overwhelm and a lack of clarity.
Visual storytelling is the antidote to this complexity.
Visual storytelling uses the power of pictures to communicate complex ideas simply. It distills important information into its simplest pictorial form - the visual - whilst taking readers on a relatable journey through the content - the story. This journey can be metaphorical - like using an iceberg to represent hidden issues below the obvious answers - or literal - following a character through a common experience.
Here's why it works:
We process visual information quicker than text - 90% of information processed by the brain and 93% of human communication is visual (Pant, 2015). Visual information is allegedly processed 60,000 times more quickly than text, although this figure is up for debate (Lile, 2017)).
We retain visual information better - we are 65% more likely to recall visual content after 3 days than text (Medina, 2018).
It engages audiences effectively - content with visuals (images, videos etc.) gets 94% more traffic online than plain text (Pant, 2015).
Our brains are hard wired to remember stories - stories follow a predictable pattern that is easy for audiences to understand and relate to (Rodriguez, 2017).
Stories evoke emotion and emotion drives us to action (Rodriguez, 2017).
So a visual story is processed more quickly, remembered more easily and drives audiences to action more readily than reams of text. (The irony being that this article is primarily written text, but none of us are above the omnipresent SEO gods ;)).
Well that all sounds great, but how do you use visual storytelling practically?
You could use it to:
Communicate complex ideas simply to an internal team, like a change in strategy, work flows and intricate processes. Here’s an example of how Nifty Fox did this with the University of Leeds to explain their institution wide curriculum change project
Share the recommendations and findings from your research projects to engage policy makers and lay audiences, and drive research impact Here's an example of a visual story we created with Deakin University, Australia, to demonstrate the value of their Counting on U research to financial advisers nationally.
Tell the real life stories of your research participants to demonstrate the real world application of your research findings. Here is an example of how we have done this for the Welfare at a Social Distance Project (Universities of Leeds, Salford, Deakin, LSE, and Kent) that was featured in The Guardian.
Showcase and explain what you do quickly to harness attention through a visual story animation. Here’s Nifty Fox’s latest showreel where we have used animations to: mobilise knowledge to improve research impact, revolutionise medical treatment, and communicated organisation-changing strategies.
Capture important ideas and make new connections between them to solve problems more effectively through live scribing. Here’s an example of how Nifty Fox helped world leaders in health decide how to improve access to respiratory medicine during COVID
Present with impact with PowerPoints that actually make sense and capture your audience’s attention. Here’s an example of one we made for the University of Leeds to communicate their Curriculum Redefined Project.
In sum, visual storytelling:
Uses the power of pictures to make the complex, simple
Works because it engages our brain more quickly and easily than text, and plays on emotions to drive audiences to action
Can be used internally and externally to better communicate key ideas for your business
So, want to make your ideas visual and turn complexity into clarity? Get in touch to tell your story visually, today.