Hynes, Managerial Communication 7e
SAGE Publishing, 2019
Chapter 6: Communicating Visually
Test Bank
Multiple choice
1. Which of the following roles do visual elements play in a document?
A. set a tone
B. provide additional information
C. reinforce the text
D. all of these
2. A style of alphabetic and numeric characters is called a ______.
A. typeface
B. font
C. serif
D. black letter
3. If you are writing a single-column document with lines of text that span the width of an
8.5 by 11-inch page, which typographic combination would probably result in an easily
readable document?
A. 10-point type size and narrow (single spaced) leading
B. 10-point type size and wide (double spaced) leading
C. 12-point type size and narrow (single spaced) leading
D. 14-point type size and wide (double spaced) leading
4. When designing a document, how can you create variety while using only one
typeface?
A. change the size of the typeface
Hynes, Managerial Communication 7e
SAGE Publishing, 2019
B. change the weight of the typeface
C. change the color of the typeface
D. all of these
5. Which of the following is an example of weak color contrast?
A. white background with blue characters
B. yellow background with white characters
C. dark green background with yellow characters
D. red background with light pink characters
6. When creating assembly instructions for a piece of equipment, what type of graphic
allows you to show how the components fit together?
A. photograph
B. pictograph
C. exploded view diagram
D. critical path
7. Which technique can help you compose effective images for a slide presentation or
report?
A. Use leading lines in the image to direct the viewer’s attention.
B. Position the focal point in the center of the image.
C. Use the zoom feature to eliminate extraneous features in the background.
D. Position people at the edge of the frame.
8. In spite of many e-mails from human resources, employees continue to make
mistakes when filing expense reports, either by forgetting to attach receipts or
Hynes, Managerial Communication 7e
SAGE Publishing, 2019
forwarding the materials to accounting without the proper signatures. Employees are
also frustrated that many of their expenses are denied reimbursement. What chart
would help them understand how to complete the form correctly?
A. flowchart
B. fishbone chart
C. organizational chart
D. swim lane chart
9. You are planning a project to develop a new social media software application. What
type of chart will help you coordinate the sequence of activities and schedules to
estimate time to completion?
A. Gantt chart
B. PERT chart
C. critical path diagram
D. swim lane chart
10. Imagine you are writing a report that describes the total sales for the northern,
southern, and eastern regions of your company. Next to the text, you add a table that
shows the sales for each of your six product categories for the three regions. Which
relationship between text and graphics are you using?
A. redundant
B. complementary
C. supplementary
D. juxtaposition
11. Which of the following is not an example of categorical data?
A. employee identification number
B. telephone number
C. educational level
D. date of birth
Hynes, Managerial Communication 7e
SAGE Publishing, 2019
12. Which of the following statements is true for table design?
A. Cell contents should be aligned to the left.
B. Cell contents should be aligned to the right.
C. Text should be aligned to the left but numbers should be aligned to the right.
D. You must use your best judgment for aligning text and numbers in tables.
13. Where should tables and charts be placed within your documents?
A. immediately preceding the text that describes them
B. immediately following the text that describes them
C. at the end of the section
D. all of these
14. You work in the sales department of an agricultural firm in Minnesota. You have
been asked to create a visual that demonstrates the percentage of this year’s corn crop
that was raised in Blue Earth County compared to that raised in other counties in
southern Minnesota. Which type of visual should you create?
A. line chart
B. bar chart
C. pie Chart
D. table
15. You work in the human resources department. You have been assigned the task of
documenting the new employee hiring process to identify the offices where paperwork
remains 3 or more days without action. Which visual would be most effective for your
readers?
A. drawing
Hynes, Managerial Communication 7e
SAGE Publishing, 2019
B. organizational chart
C. swim lane chart
D. flowchart
16. You work in the human resources department of a company that has partnered with
a similar company in Brazil on a big contract. You have been asked to create a visual
that will help the sales team understand who their counterparts are in the Brazilian
company. What should you create?
A. flowchart
B. map
C. table
D. organizational chart
17. One of your salespeople was in a car accident recently and now the company is
being sued by the other party in the accident. What type of visual might the legal
counsel ask you to use to document the damage to the car?
A. photograph
B. drawing
C. diagram
D. all of these
18. You manage the sales department of a toy manufacturer. You have been asked to
prepare a visual that will demonstrate the sales trend for the company’s most popular
product, a video game, from 2001 to the present. Which visual should you create?
A. line chart
B. bar chart
C. pie Chart
D. table
Hynes, Managerial Communication 7e
SAGE Publishing, 2019
19. Document layout and design principles help you create attractive and persuasive
presentations and other documents. Which of the following is not a standard layout and
design principle for managerial communication?
A. use as many visuals as you can
B. use design elements to reveal structure, hierarchy, and important ideas
C. help readers find information easily
D. reinforce an organization’s image
20. ______ are titles and subtitles within the body of a document that divide material
into comprehensible segments by highlighting the main topics and signaling topic
changes.
A. Headings
B. Headers
C. Captions
D. Legends
21. Although charts present statistics in a format that is easy to understand, they are
less accurate than ______.
A. photographs
B. tables
C. diagrams
D. text
22. A(n) ______ is useful when your reader needs an impression of an object’s general
appearance.
A. photograph
B. flowchart
C. diagram
Hynes, Managerial Communication 7e
SAGE Publishing, 2019
D. map
23. While returning to the office from a meeting last week, you were involved in a car
accident and now the company is being sued by the other party in the accident. What
type of visual might the legal counsel ask you to create to show the intersection at the
site of the crash?
A. diagram
B. flowchart
C. icon
D. map
24. As the sales manager for a small toy company, you must create a document that
displays the total sales of all of the toys that make up the plush animal division: bears,
dogs, cows, horses, and birds. Which type of visual should you create?
A. table
B. line chart
C. pie chart
D. all of these
25. When using visuals to communicate with international audiences, you can avoid a
potential embarrassment by taking which of the following actions?
A. consult with someone from your intended audience’s country
B. use the colors blue and red
C. render accurate, detailed depictions of human bodies
D. avoid visuals as much as possible
Hynes, Managerial Communication 7e
SAGE Publishing, 2019
True/False
1. When readers open a report, the first thing they see are the words.
2. The visual elements in a document may contradict the text and cause confusion.
3. Design principles are rules about visual communication that are used across many
different jobs.
4. Decorative typefaces are appropriate for promotional documents.
5. Character size is standard across most typeface styles.
6. Choosing red as the main color of a presentation and green as an accent color
creates a pleasing combination with strong contrast that will be visible to most readers.
Hynes, Managerial Communication 7e
SAGE Publishing, 2019
7. Information in larger size characters is usually interpreted as more important than
information in smaller size characters.
8. Negative space suggests sloppy or lazy design and should be filled with text or
graphics.
9. Readers may interpret inconsistent use of design elements to signal emphasis.
10. Repetition means using elements like typefaces or color exactly the same way each
time they appear in your document.
11. When using a small data set, tables and charts may be equally easy for audiences
to interpret.
12. The person writing a report can influence what readers will think, do, or decide
through their choices about how to display data and which data to display.
Hynes, Managerial Communication 7e
SAGE Publishing, 2019
13. A typical word processor document uses a grid to organize the page.
14. Flush right alignment is comfortable to most Western readers because we
encounter it when reading books and other printed materials.
15. Flush right alignment is often an effective emphasis strategy to attract readers’
attention.
16. To create tables that are easy to read, use negative space instead of grid lines.
17. You will get a better-quality photograph by taking a high resolution photo and
cropping it than by taking a photo using the zoom feature on your camera.
18. Icons resemble the objects they represent.
Hynes, Managerial Communication 7e
SAGE Publishing, 2019
19. Alt-Texts are captions for illustrations and charts.
20. Color is a reliable way to signal differences within data in a chart.
Short Answer
1. What are the four factors that courts use to determine whether a copyright violation is
a “fair use”?
2. What are the “building blocks” of document design for managerial communication and
what purpose do they serve in your document?
3. What are four strategies for creating accessible graphics?
Hynes, Managerial Communication 7e
SAGE Publishing, 2019
4. You are preparing a presentation to present a proposal to a potential client. On the
morning of the presentation, you realize the slide deck has too much text and may be
considered boring or overwhelming. You decide to insert some graphics onto your
slides to add some visual interest. What legal and ethical issues must you consider
before you begin searching the Internet for graphics?