Visualization: My Take

It was my first project as an Instructional Designer when I was introduced to the concept of visualization and graphics. "Put on your creative hat. This is the best part of the project. We get to be all creative" said my all-excited Project Lead. My first reaction "Hey, I am not creative and won't be able to come up with graphics." "What do you mean? It is an integral part of what we do." explained the lead. "Let me demonstrate as to how simple it is." he continued picking the script.

The subject was C++. The first key element to be visualized was Class. He read the script and said "Class is a container so let's represent it as a cardboard box." Next, there were two terms Constructor and Destructor. 

"These are simple. Let me show you. See it says Constructor - so what do we use to construct something... maybe you know a chisel. For Destructor, we can represent it using a graphic for a bomb."Do you want to give a shot at visualizing?" he asked with a smile. I, completely annoyed with myself shook my head and said "No. This doesn't make sense to me. You can go ahead and visualize."

I feared visualization for it seemed like everything had to be abstract. "Oh boy, is this job even right for me?" I wondered.

And then a few months later, some of the courses were sent back for various reasons - one of them being "The graphics are too abstract and don't make sense!"

Over the years, I still find that graphics seem to be added onto a page for one of two reasons - the course needs to be attractive and/or there has to be a graphic on every page. 

"So what does make sense? Is creativity not allowed?", I am asked. My response is very simple "You can be creative within the limits of making relevant graphical representation of the content." 

Some key points that I look at when visualizing:

• Understand the content: If you understand what you are writing or trying to teach, you can visualize a lot more effectively and efficiently.
• Keep your audience in mind: The way you visualize in a course for kids is very different from a course for adults. Visualize this: Senior managers who prefer reading text and hardly even use features on Android phones! If a course has a cartoon character jumping from one milestone to another on a highway while talking through the phases. Will it be considered effective visualization?
• Focus on the key message(s) to be delivered: You will always have an objective for each content point. If it is around an application screen, use the screen instead of an abstract graphic. If you are explaining a concept, use smart graphics. 
• Don't force graphics: A picture always speaks more than words. So use it effectively! For example, a flowchart displaying the step-by-step process steps involving multiple roles is a lot more effective than using a random graphic on the corner with on-screen text talking about all the steps. How you represent the process flow chart itself could be the creativity aspect.

And yes, I could have used graphics to make this content more effective :D