Written By: Amy Townson

Book Covers and Visual Management

I read. A lot. On an average workday, after all the household chores are finished, I average 300 pages a night. Every night. Like everyone, I’ve heard the adage “don’t judge a book by its cover.” But, that’s precisely what I do – it’s what we all do.

We make first impressions based on visuals all the time – it’s just part of being human. Many people have embraced visual representations of their data – visual management – to share their findings. Visual management, then, can be a powerful tool.

In a world where data has become vitally important to organizations, presenting that data has become just as crucial. Your audience judges your visual management in the same way they judge a book cover. Does your image catch their attention? Do they stop to read and absorb it? Do they have the same takeaways you did? Do they get it?

Catching Their Attention

We process visual information in the blink of an eye (literally, according to MIT researchers) and make judgments about what we see. Does your visual management catch your viewer’s attention?

It should be eye-catching and visually appealing. If you are presenting multiple data points, such as with a visual management board or an infographic, the overall visual should flow and lead your reader’s eyes in the direction they want to go. You want people to stop, look at, and understand the information you are presenting. This may mean narrowing the data down to the most salient points or offering lead-ins that entice viewers to click through and learn more.

One of the quickest ways to turn me off to a potentially good book or another source of information is the overall presentation. You want to garner proper attention. It should go without saying, but you should take the same care with visual management that you would with a full report. Visuals should look professional, contain accurate information, and be free of errors or typos.

Match Their Expectations

If I see a book cover with a spaceship on it, I automatically assume the book is science fiction. If the book then turns out to be a western, I’m surprised (and probably disappointed, especially if I was looking for science fiction). Similarly, your graphics need to match your reader’s expectations.

Do the pictures match your message? One of the mantras I use when preparing documents and briefings for clients is that there should be no surprises. The title should give a hint to the contents. The graphics should give a hint to the contents. The executive summary should give a hint to the contents. By the time I deliver the actual data, I want them to expect it – especially if it’s not what they wanted or hoped to hear.

With visuals, these rules hold true but have additional nuances you need to be aware of. Generally, red indicates a warning or an alert. If a project is going poorly, it’s typically given a red indicator. If my bank balance is in the negative, it’s “in the red.” Similarly, green usually indicates growth and positive movement. Are you using these, and other, colors appropriately in your visual management? Color psychology and the correct use of color is a fascinating topic and well worth looking into!

If you see a cover for Stephen King’s latest book, you assume its genre. Just as crucial as matching the content to their expectations, you need to be sure it matches their expectations of you as a company. The data you present visually should be data that’s important to your organization. If the information you select doesn’t match, there’s a strategic disconnect, and the visualization won’t carry the same weight.

Tell a Good Story

A good book cover tells you several things about the book – its name, the author, and so on. Does your visual management share information? Does it tell your viewers about the topic? Does it increase their understanding of the metrics?

Visual management is not merely an illustration. It’s a graphical representation of your data. That data needs to be informative and comfortable for your viewer to understand. Are you providing information in a way that it can best be absorbed? There are dozens of ways to present data, from simple pie charts to heat maps to complex graphs. Images should be chosen carefully to ensure they are shown in their purest form. Simple pictures and diagrams help convey the information more easily.

Does your visual management tell the story you want it to? Are you merely presenting the facts, or are you helping your viewers conclude from the facts? For example, key performance indicators are beautiful things, but they are more meaningful when presented as evidence that something is changing.

Don’t expect your viewers to interpret data the same way that you do. Provide that interpretation for them. What conclusions can you draw from your data? Consider visualizing those conclusions rather than the data itself.

Call to Action

A good book cover should encourage me to read it. What do you want your viewers to do with the information? What action do you want based on the news?

The visual representation may need to change over time to match the response action. A graph showing how close you are to reaching a target can be very inspiring and help people improve their efforts to reach the goal. Contrarily, if you just started and they see how far it is to reach the goal, the same graph can be disheartening. Don’t let your visual management stagnate – they should grow, change, and improve over time.

Answering these questions can help you focus on what’s really important to your organization. You don’t want to overload viewers with data and facts. You want to share a story with your data, using the images and graphics to catch their attention and enhance their understanding. At the end of the day, visual management can be a handy tool. With some careful consideration, you can generate visuals that wow your audience and concisely convey data to your viewers.