4-1
Chapter 4: Communicating with Visuals
Part II: Chapter-by-Chapter Lecture Notes & Exercises
Chapter 4: Communicating with Visuals
Teaching Suggestions
As we look at teaching visuals, the emphasis in a business communication class should be on their proper
use and selection—not on the mechanics of constructing them. This is not to say that mechanics are not
important, but we feel that the students can learn most of the mechanics easily from reading the text and
looking at the text examples. Use and selection of visuals are more complex subjects, which involve a
depth of understanding.
For this reason, we stress that visuals have one main purpose—to help communicate information. We
stress that writers should always seek the best possible means of presenting information visually. These
In summary, we cover the subject matter in two basic ways. We use lecture to review the highlights of use
and construction of visuals. We use problem work to teach the proper design and selection of them.
Connect provides instructors with a variety of ways to customize courses, create assignments, determine
grading policies, and receive student work. One of the tools Connect offers is the ability to select and add
interactive assignments to your course. Explanations of these assignments and how they support the
learning objectives are integrated into the instructor’s manual with the relevant subject areas.
Learning Objectives
LO 4-1 Plan which parts of your document or presentation should be communicated or supported by
visuals.
4-2
Chapter 4: Communicating with Visuals
LO 4-2 Explain the factors that are important in the effective presentation of visuals.
LO 4-3 Select and use textual visuals such as tables, pull quotes, flowcharts, and organizational
charts.
LO 4-4 Select and use visuals such as bar charts, pie charts, line charts, scatter diagrams, pictographs,
and maps.
LO 4-5 Avoid common errors and ethical problems when constructing and using visuals.
LO 4-6 Place and interpret visuals effectively.
Key Terms
Instagram
Flickr
YouTube
LinkedIn SlideShare
visual communication
orientation
portrait
landscape
style and font
rules (lines) and borders
color and cross-hatching
high contrast
title
caption
five Ws
infographic
title case
sentence case
footnotes
source acknowledgment
table
leaderwork
text tabulations
pull quote
bulleted lists
numbered lists
sub-bullets or numbers
organizational chart
flowchart
decision tree
simple bar
column charts
clustered (or multiple) bar chart
legend
bilateral column charts
stacked (subdivided) column chart
pictograph
pie chart
line charts
area
4-3
Chapter 4: Communicating with Visuals
scatter diagrams
statistical maps
physical or geographic maps
combination charts
three-dimensional graphs
diagrams
icons
cartoons
video clips
animation
errors of scale
Text Summary, Lecture Outline
Communicating with Visuals
Slides 4-1, 4-2, 4-3
Understanding how to use visuals in business is essential in today’s media-rich society. In this chapter,
students will learn how to make good choices regarding the visuals they use.
Problem-Solving Challenge
As a sales manager for Green Living Industries, you are tasked with gathering data and preparing it for an
oral and written presentation to upper management. You have a lot of information and several audiences
who will use it. Because you have a lot of raw data, you know you will need to use several charts and
graphs as well as text to communicate all of the information. What kinds of questions do you need to ask
4-4
Chapter 4: Communicating with Visuals
Planning Visuals
Slide 4-4
This slide reviews visuals planning. Plan visuals after you gather and organize the data.
Constructing Visuals
Slides 4-5, 4-6
Slides 4-7, 4-8, 4-9
Size
Content must drive the size of the graphic, not the need to fill space on the page (though a graphic, white
space, and text must always combine to make documents visually appealing to the audience).
Slide 4-10
Orientation
You should determine the orientation of the visual by size and contents. Sometimes a tall orientation
Slide 4-11
Type
You can use this slide to cover the essentials of graphic layout.
Consider both style (bold or italics) and font (serif or sans serif). Varying type and size convey different
4-5
Chapter 4: Communicating with Visuals
Slide 4-12
Check It Out
Slide 4-13
Rules and Borders
You can use this slide to review points for using rules and borders in graphics.
Slide 4-14
Color and Cross-Hatching
You can use this slide to discuss using color and cross-hatching. The example shown here illustrates both,
an effective strategy when some readers interpret better with color and other readers with patterns (cross-
hatching). There are even some online tools now (such as candlestick chart generators) where a color
choice is included for color-blind readers.
Slide 4-15
Background
This slide presents guidelines for using background effectively in a graphic.
Choose background colors, photos, and art carefully. Because colors have emotional and cultural
connotations, writers must be aware of the feelings that colors will evoke on the part of the reader. A
good strategy is to get feedback before making the graphic widely available. Sometimes background
4-6
Chapter 4: Communicating with Visuals
Slide 4-16
Numbering
You can use this slide to cover the guidelines for numbering graphics.
The following visuals do not need to be numbered:
• Pull quotes
• Clip art
• Decorative objects
In addition, if you have only one figure or table in a document, it does not require a number.
Slide 4-17
Titles and Captions
This slide reviews the construction and placement of titles and captions for visuals.
Most visuals will need a title of some kind. Use the 5 Ws and 1 H to construct an appropriate title.
Who: Anderson Company
What: Distribution Costs
Where: Midwest and Eastern Sales Regions
When: 2016–2020
Sometimes it will be preferable to use a shorter title with a subtitle. For example: Anderson Company
Distribution Costs: Comparison of 2016–2020 Costs for Midwest and Eastern Sales Regions.
Slides 4-18, 4-19
You Title It
Either give students a sample document or allow them to quickly create a dummy document within
Microsoft Word. Document should include text and images of some kind (could be charts, graphs,
figures, etc.). Challenge students to number and caption (or title) each visual within the document. Then
ask them to insert a new image or chart into the document and caption that as well. They will learn how
4-7
Chapter 4: Communicating with Visuals
4-8
Chapter 4: Communicating with Visuals
Slide 4-24
Textual Visuals: Pull Quotes
Slide 4-25
You Make the Call
Slide 4-26
Textual Visuals: Charts
Business professionals use a variety of specialized charts in their work. Perhaps the most common of
these is the organizational chart (see Exhibit 4–4 in the textbook). Flowcharts are also fairly common—
Selecting and Using Other Visuals
Connect Assignment 4-3: Selecting Visuals
Learning Objectives: 4-03, 4-04
Difficulty: Medium
AACSB: Knowledge Application
Blooms: Understand
Slide 4-27
Visuals: Bar and Column Charts
In this section, we’ll consider the use of visuals such as various kinds of charts, diagrams, pictographs,
Simple bar charts and column charts compare differences in quantities using differences in the lengths
of the bars.
4-9
Chapter 4: Communicating with Visuals
Slide 4-28
Clustered Bar Charts
Clustered (or multiple) bar charts combine up to three kinds of quantities in one chart. Color and/or
Slide 4-29
Bilateral Column Charts
Bilateral column charts are especially good for showing percentage changes, but they can be used for
Slide 4-30
Pictographs
Pictographs are column or bar charts that use columns or bars made of pictures. In this example (also
shown in Exhibit 4-11 in your textbook), each picture represents ten women.
Consider these things when constructing a pictograph:
• Follow procedures for constructing column and bar charts.
Encourage students to check out the From the Tech Desk box titled “Using Pictures to Chart Data in
Excel,” which describes how Excel allows you to use pictures as data points in charts to make the charts
more visually interesting and meaningful.
Slide 4-31
Pie Charts
Pie charts show the whole of information as a pie (circle) and parts of the pie as slices. A good rule to
follow is to begin with the largest slice at the 12 o’clock position and then place the other slices in
descending order, moving clockwise around the circle.
4-10
Chapter 4: Communicating with Visuals
Slide 4-32
Line Charts
Line charts show changes in information over time.
Changes in a series are shown on the vertical (y) axis and time is placed on the horizontal (x) axis.
Several series on the same chart may be shown. Generally, the maximum number is three to five, but use
Slide 4-33
Scatter Diagrams
Scatter diagrams and area charts are variations of line charts. The area chart can only show information
from one series. See Exhibit 4-14 in the textbook for an example of an area chart.
In a scatter diagram, data is plotted on the x- and y-axes, but the points or clusters of points reveal the
information rather than a line drawn through them. The clustering of the points reveals information about
Slide 4-34
Maps
Maps communicate quantitative as well as physical information. Some of the most common formatting
techniques for statistical maps include
• Showing different areas with color, shading, or cross-hatching. If this technique is used, a legend
Remind students that one caution to using maps with different shades of the same color (as this one does)
is that some people may find those differences in shades hard to differentiate. Also, if the report is meant
to be printed, you may want to consider the contrast levels of the colors or using patterns and cross-
hatching in order to make the distinctions stand out if printed in black and white.
Connect Assignment 4-1 (a–e): Choosing a Visual for Allied Distribution
4-11
Chapter 4: Communicating with Visuals
Summary: Students will use what they know about the effective use and presentation of visuals to select
an option for presenting the data in the case and to defend their choices.
4-1a, 4-1b, 4-1c
Learning Objective: 4-04
4-1d
Learning Objective: 4-02
Difficulty: Medium
AACSB: Knowledge Application
Blooms: Apply
4-1e
Learning Objective: 4-02
Difficulty: Medium
AACSB: Analytical Thinking
Blooms: Apply
Slide 4-35
Three-Dimensional Visuals
Combination charts allow people to see relationships of different kinds of data. (You can see an example
of such a chart in Exhibit 4-18.)
Three-dimensional graphs also can be very effective in presenting multiple pieces of information. Three–
Slide 4-36
Photos and Other Visuals: Considerations
Various kinds of photographs, clip art, illustrations, diagrams, cartoons, or icons can be useful to show
aspects of products, processes, or services in a business report or presentation. However, there are some
4-12
Chapter 4: Communicating with Visuals
may have copyrights attached to them and so may require a permission request to be made before you can
use them. Make sure you know your company’s policy on image use before you finalize your project.
Icons are visuals that can easily capture a concept: a green light to mean continue to next section, an
arrow to draw attention, a big exclamation point to indicate something that is important to note, etc. Try
to select simple icons that have easily recognized meanings and will not clutter your report.
Slide 4-37
You Make the Call
Let students discuss. Students should remember that clip art may require permission (even when it is
provided within a software program), that it may not be acceptable to their company’s policies, and that it
Slide 4-38
Visual Integrity: Identify the Problem
You can use this slide and the next one to discuss some of the common errors in constructing graphics.
You may even want to add some slides of your own here that provide discussion of these errors.
Business writers are ethically bound to present data in ways their readers can extract meaning easily and
accurately.
Taking care to avoid three common errors is important:
• Errors of scale—size, distortion, and zero points.
Ask students to consider the images presented on the slides and decide what error is being represented.
Slide 4-39
Visual Integrity: Identify the Problem