Business Communication Today, 14e (Bovee/Thill)
Chapter 9 Visual Media
1) Compared to poorly written text, badly designed visuals are ________ to be noticed by your
audience.
A) less likely
B) more likely
C) just as likely
D) not likely
2) Which of the following can be used to create a balanced visual that appears dynamic and
engaging?
A) Arrange elements around a central point
B) Arrange elements from smallest to largest
C) Arrange one dominant element against several small, weaker elements
D) Arrange elements by importance
E) Arrange all elements from a central axis
3) All of the following guidelines EXCEPT ________ will help you avoid ethical lapses when
you’re creating visual support for a business message.
A) aggregating data carefully
B) oversimplifying complex situations
C) providing background information
D) avoiding emotional manipulation
4) Which of the following is an advantage of incorporating visual images into a document?
A) Readers will only have to look at the visuals and can skip reading the text
B) Readers are drawn more deeply into the report
C) Visuals take less time to plan and prepare for
D) Visuals reinforce the idea that research was done in support of the document
E) Visuals create connotative meaning where none existed
5) The concept of ________ will help you design visuals that are consistent from one page of a
document to the next.
A) data enrichment
B) visual parallelism
C) graphical distribution
D) visual enhancement
E) dominant elements
6) Consider the statements below. Which one of them is TRUE?
A) Contemporary audiences don’t expect messages to contain visual elements.
B) Today’s video and graphic technology is so complex that only professionals can use it.
C) Visuals can help you communicate your messages to audiences with lower reading skills.
D) Your ability to create and interpret visuals will have little to do with your success in business.
7) Which of the following is reinforced by the visual symbolism of a message?
A) Denotative meaning
B) Numbers
C) Connotative meaning
D) Abstract ideas
E) Integration
8) Clipart cluttering a bar chart is an example of
A) a pictogram.
B) chartjunk.
C) a good way to grab reader interest.
D) convention.
E) balance.
9) Examples of ethical lapses to avoid in business visuals include all of the following EXCEPT
A) including photos that play on racial or gender stereotypes.
B) expanding the detail of a graphic in order to make it more readable.
C) altering photos or graphs to hide information that could make you look bad.
D) distorting the axes on a line chart to make sales look like they have increased significantly
over previous years.
10) Which of the following is the ability to create and interpret images effectively?
A) Production
B) Visual design
C) Integration
D) Visual literacy
E) Visual symbolism
11) As a key business skill, visual literacy involves
A) being conversant with the latest image-editing software.
B) understanding how visual representations have evolved over the ages.
C) the ability to create effective visuals and interpret them correctly.
D) sharing smartphone photos on social media.
E) being able to read and interpret visuals in a document.
12) Business communicators can use visual parallelism to promote ________ among all the
visuals in a document.
A) duality
B) contrast
C) variety
D) consistency
E) gestural additions
13) The term ________ refers to decorative elements that clutter documents without adding any
relevant information.
A) shamming
B) visual variance
C) chartjunk
D) data visualization
E) parallelism
14) Which of the following is the ability to create and interpret images effectively?
A) Production
B) Visual design
C) Integration
D) Visual literacy
E) Visual symbolism
15) Which of the following allows a user to control computers with motion, such as moving their
eyes?
A) Visual symbolism
B) Connotative ability
C) Haptics
D) Visual literacy
E) Gestural computing
16) When working to make something visually appealing, what will visual parallelism help to
achieve?
A) Consistency
B) Contrast
C) Balance
D) Emphasis
E) Simplicity
17) When should differences in color, shape, and size be used to highlight the differences
between quantities in a chart?
A) When you want to show consistency
B) When you need to create contrast
C) When you want to achieve visual balance
D) When you want to balance opposing elements
E) When you want to eliminate chartjunk
18) Poorly planned visuals are often more noticeable than grammatical errors in the text of your
report.
19) According to the concept of visual symbolism, many shapes and colors have the same
meaning, across a wide variety of cultures.
20) In business presentations, maintaining consistency among your visuals is less important than
impressing the audience with a wide range of special effects.
21) The more decorative elements you can add to a graphic, the more interesting and useful it
will be to the audience.
22) Altering the horizontal or vertical scale on a line graph can profoundly influence your
audience’s perception of the data you present.
23) What is “chartjunk”?
24) Define and explain the “visual evolution in business communication.”
25) Discuss the power of visual elements in business communication.
26) How can you be sure that a visual is ethical?
27) Discuss six principles to keep in mind when designing visuals regarding the aesthetic and
symbolic aspects of graphic art.
28) Which of the following is one way a visual can help to make a message more complete?
A) By providing supporting details
B) By adding conciseness
C) By reducing word count
D) By creating a more persuasive message
E) By eliminating cause-and-effect relationships
29) When the purpose of a visual is to impress a reader, how can the visual help create
confidence in the written message?
A) By depicting relationships among elements of a whole
B) By making the information seem more interesting
C) By using the visual to supplement the text
D) By dividing the information into smaller components
E) By conveying authority and precision
30) How can you determine which part of a message needs a visual to improve it?
A) Consider which parts of the message could be made more complex
B) Identify which sections include lively words and phrases
C) Identify which key ideas you want to minimize
D) Consider the message from the audience’s perspective
E) Consider if there is time to create more visuals
31) When a message includes difficult concepts that cannot be conveyed in words, what can a
visual aid add?
A) Completeness
B) Conciseness
C) Connectedness
D) Compelling narrative
E) Clarity
32) Visuals should be used to help the audience understand complex information.
33) What are the “five Cs” to consider when you’re deciding which points to illustrate with
visuals?
34) How can you identify points that are best illustrated with a visual?
35) Which type of visual should be used when you need to present detailed and specific
information?
A) Table
B) Pie chart
C) Drawing
D) Flowchart
E) Diagram
36) When would incorporating a table be most helpful to the reader?
A) When showing trends over time
B) When information is too difficult or tedious to read in the main text
C) When conducting regression analysis
D) When illustrating a process or procedure
E) When signifying spatial relationships
37) If you have a great deal of detailed, specific information to present to allow users to find
specific data point values in decimal form, the best visual to use would be a
A) table.
B) pie chart.
C) diagram.
D) Gantt chart.
E) bar chart.
38) Which of the following should be used if you want to show how the composition of
something has changed over time?
A) Surface chart
B) Line chart
C) Data visualization
D) Infographics
E) Bar charts
39) Use a ________ to show frequency or distribution of parts in a whole.
A) bar chart
B) histogram
C) flowchart
D) pie chart
40) Which type of bar chart will show positive and negative values?
A) Grouped
B) Segmented
C) Deviation
D) Stacking
E) Paired
41) When you need to show processes, transformations, and other activities, the most effective
visual choice would be
A) infographics.
B) flowcharts and diagrams.
C) animations and videos.
D) data visualizations.