Visual Communication: Colour, Shapes, Words for Clear Design

Visual Aid Elements and Purpose

Words + colour + shapes + pictures + whitespace = visual aid used to convey messages graphically.

What Visuals Convey

• Ideas
• Feelings
• Attitudes and values
• Sequences
• Events
• Facts

Core Elements: Words, Letters, and Whitespace

The goal of words and letters is to optimize legibility.

Blank spaces optimize legibility.

Words and letters are the most important graphic elements used to convey information.

Simple Pictures and Colour

Simple pictures facilitate quick comprehension.

Colour is used to grab attention.

Lines direct attention and clarify meaning.

Guidelines When Working with Words and Letters

• The larger the audience, the bigger the print. Use CAPS of 1½ inches in height or 36-point font when appropriate.
• Separation of ideas increases legibility; alternate colours for distinct ideas.
• The shorter the message, the faster the comprehension—use key words only.
• Memory has limited capacity; don't use more than five ideas at a time.
• The whiter the space, the better the legibility and comprehension—use plenty of white space.

Sequence for Using Graphic Elements

Words and letters → shapes and lines → colour → simple pictures → white space

Lines, Shapes, and Layout

Lines

• Separation of chunks of information
• Borders for the document

Geometric Shapes

• Bullets to direct attention so information can be scanned quickly
• Building blocks for simple pictures for faster comprehension

Uses of Colour

Cool Colours

Cool colours: blue, turquoise, purple, brown, dark green, bright green, black — typically used for text.

Hot Colours

Hot colours: fuchsia, orange, red.

Colour and Attention

The hotter and brighter the colour, the more attention it generates. Use hot colours for:

• Emphasis
• One or two key words
• Bullet points
• Special effects

Recognition, Attraction, and Relation

Recognition: Colour coding leads to recognition.

Attraction: More colours can lead to more attraction.

Relation: Similarity implies relation, so relate similar colours by colour coding them.

Use three colours on each page: two cool colours for text and one hot colour for emphasis.

Combining Colours

• Use brown in combo with purple or green and orange for emphasis.
• Use purple in combo with blue or green and red (or fuchsia, pink) for emphasis.
• Use blue in combo with purple or brown and red (fuchsia, pink) for emphasis.
• Use green in combo with blue or brown and orange for emphasis.

Simple Pictures

A picture is worth a thousand words.

Geometric shapes are the graphical alphabet used to create symbolic pictures.