Visual Aids In Reports And Presentations 6j6v2t

Mahenge, W

An Overview   These days it is unimaginable that a technical

report or article can be written without some form of graphic display to the text. With the advent of the digital age incorporating images in a written report is as easy as clicking the mouse a few times

DEFINITIONS A visual/graphic aid refers to a text/figure that

helps you or the reader to better understand the text visually. So features such as tables, charts, timelines, captions, etc.

Visuals arouse reader immediate interest. 

Because many readers are visually oriented, visuals unlock doors of meaning. Readers who place great emphasis on visual thinking will pay special attention to the visuals. Visuals catch the reader’s eye quickly by setting important information apart and by giving them relief from looking at sentences and paragraphs. Because of their size, shape, colour and arrangement, visuals are dramatic and maintain reader interest.

Visuals increase reader understanding by simplifying A visual shows ideas whereas a verbal concepts.

description only tells them. Visuals are especially important and helpful if you have to explain a technical process to a nonspecialist audience. Moreover, visuals can simplify densely packed statistical data, making a complex set of numbers easier to comprehend. Visuals help readers see percentages, trends, comparisons and contrasts.

Cont’d Visuals are especially important for non-

native speakers of a language and multicultural audiences. Visuals speak a universal language and so can readily be understood. Because visuals pose fewer problems in interpretation, they can help reduce ambiguities and misunderstanding.

Cont’d Visuals condense and summarize a large

quantity of information into a relatively small space. The saying, “A picture says a thousand words,” is true. Enormous amounts of statistical or financial data, over many weeks, months, and even years, can be incorporated concisely into one compact visual.

Visuals emphasize key relationships. 

Through their arrangement and form, visuals quickly show contrasts, similarities, growth rates, downward and upward movements and fluctuations in time, money and space. Pie and bar charts, for example, show relationships of parts to the whole, and an organizational chart can graphically display the hierarchy and departments of a company or agency.

Visuals are highly persuasive. Placed in appropriate sections of a document, visuals can capture the essence of ideas to convince a reader to buy our products or services or to accept our points of view. A visual can graphically display, explain, and reinforce the benefits and opportunities of plan we are advocating. Readers are far more likely to recall the visual than they might be a verbal description or summary of it.

Characteristics of Effective Visuals 

Visual aids are useful when selected and presented correctly. Here are suggestions for choosing effective visuals.

Inserting Visuals Appropriately. 

Visuals are best when placed as close as possible to the first mention of them in the text and are most effective at either the top of bottom of a page. If the visual is small enough, it should be inserted directly in the text rather than on a separate page.

Identifying and citing the sources of visuals. Professional visual aids have identifying

elements within a caption (title) that indicated the subject or that explains what the visual illustrates. (e.g. Exhibit 1: Hotel Occupancy January – March 2000). A different typeface and size in the title makes the visuals stand out. Credit to sources of visuals is credited in a simple statement or in in-text citations.

Considering how a specific visual will help What the reader needs to know visually, what readers. type of visual will best meet the readers’

needs, and how the visual can be created (scanned, imported, drawn) help us determine what will be included in visuals.

Inserting Visuals Appropriately. 

Visuals are best when placed as close as possible to the first mention of them in the text and are most effective at either the top of bottom of a page. If the visual is small enough, it should be inserted directly in the text rather than on a separate page.

Identifying and citing the sources of visuals.  Professional visual aids have identifying elements within a caption (title) that indicated the subject or that explains what the visual illustrates. (e.g. Exhibit 1: Hotel Occupancy January – March 2000). A different typeface and size in the title makes the visuals stand out. Credit to sources of visuals is credited in a simple statement or in in-text citations.

Using high quality visuals. Visuals should be clear, easy to read, and relevant. Visuals that are of poor quality (too small, done in pencil, crooked lines) can actually create a poor impression of the report and upon us as professionals.

Helping the reader connect the visuals to By indicating within the text exactly when the the text. reader should look at the visual (usually by the statement “See Fig. 1”, for example), the visual has a greater impact on the reader. Readers should be told where visuals can be found (“below,” “on the following page,” “to the right,” “at the bottom of page 3.”)

Generally Visuals should not be distorted for emphasis

or decoration. They should avoid discrimination and stereotypes (such as using pictures of a workforce that excludes female employees)

When to use graphics? you are using to many words to explain

something you are presenting trends or a lot of numerical data you are doing a comparison over many categories

Graphic/visual aids Graphics can be used to represent the

following elements in your technical writing:

Real things (Objects) - If you want to describe how any piece of

equipment or machinery works, you'll do a much better job if you provide a drawing or diagram. Any explanation will benefit from an illustration of how that particular task is done. Photographs, drawings, diagrams, and schematics are the types of graphics that show objects.

Numbers Tables, bar charts, pie charts, and line graphs

are some of the principal ways to show numerical data. If you're discussing the rising cost of cars in Singapore, you could use a table with the columns for the different time periods; and the rows for different types of cars. You could show the same data in the form of bar charts, pie charts, or line graphs.

Instructions When giving complex instructions or

explaining a process consider using a flowchart. It simplifies the process and the understanding of the instructions

Choices When submitting a proposal,

recommendation, or evaluation report, photographs are a good visual aid to use. For example, if you are recommending a one building site over another, or one machine over another, include photos of the two (or more) alternatives

Descriptions When giving descriptions, you would also

want to use pictures or drawings. Simple drawings (often called line drawings because they use just lines, without other details such as shading) are the most common. They simplify the situation and the objects so that the reader can focus on the key details. This is done by using tools such as shading and depth perspectives.

TYPES Tables

•Graphs •Charts •Drawings •Photographs •Diagrams •Maps

Tables Tables are those rows and columns of numbers and, sometimes, words. They allow rapid access to information and comparison of information. Of course, tables are not necessarily the most vivid or dramatic means of showing trends or relationships between data See example below

Uses for tables. The biggest use of tables is for numerical

data. Imagine that you are comparing different models of coffee makers. All specifications, whether they are price or physical characteristics such as height, depth, length, weight, and so on are perfect for a table. Tables can be simple or complex

Graphs These are Line graphs Bar graphs

Example of a Simple Bar Simple Bar graph to show Electricity Production in Graph Tanzania

 Source:

http://www.tradingeconomics.com/tanzania/electricityproduction-kwh-wb-data.html

Charts A chart is a graphical representation of data, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart

A histogram consists of tabular frequencies, shown as

adjacent rectangles, erected over discrete intervals (bins), with an area equal to the frequency of the observations in the interval. A bar chart is a chart with rectangular bars with lengths proportional to the values that they represent. The bars can be plotted vertically or horizontally. A pie chart shows percentage values as a slice of a pie. A line chart is a two-dimensional scatterplot of ordered observations where the observations are connected following their order

A histogram consists of tabular frequencies, shown as

adjacent rectangles, erected over discrete intervals (bins), with an area equal to the frequency of the observations in the interval. A bar chart is a chart with rectangular bars with lengths proportional to the values that they represent. The bars can be plotted vertically or horizontally. A pie chart shows percentage values as a slice of a pie. A line chart is a two-dimensional scatter plot of ordered observations where the observations are connected following their order

A pie chart A pie chart (or a circle graph) is a circular

chart divided into sectors, illustrating numerical proportion. In a pie chart, the arc length of each sector (and consequently its central angle and area), is proportional to the quantity it represents. While it is named for its resemblance to a pie which has been sliced, there are variations on the way it can be presented.

A pie chart showing the sources of Electricity

in Tanzania

Source:

Drawings

Photographs

diagrams A diagram of a scaford

Maps

 In

Oral Presentations, Visual Aids...

Strengthen the clarity of the speaker’s message Increase the interest of the speaker’s

information Make a speaker’s message easier for listeners to retain Enhance the speaker’s credibility Can improve the speaker’s persuasion Helps combat stage fright

Source: s