Chapter 14 - Visual Representation of Risks
This chapter was about when visual representation of risks can be used and why they can be so affective in communicating risks. The chapter describes ways to represent risk related information visually, by using pictures, illustrations, graphs, and etc. Visuals can be used to give information about: the nature of the risk and its effects, the size and the significance of the risk, the likelihood of the risk and the likelihood that it will affect certain people, the changes of the risk over time, and alternatives to the risk with benefits and dangers of those alternatives. It was a useful chapter in outlining detailed information about visual representation and how it can be applied to different situations.
The chapter argues that visuals help audiences understand and recall the content of risk better. Information can be forgotten, but people have stronger visual memories and tend to remember things they have seen in picture form better. This reminded me of something that I had experienced when I was ten and still impresses me when I think about it.
Me and my younger brother were staying at my grandmother’s. While we were sitting in the living room with my grandmother, my brother went into the kitchen and then came screaming, calling us to the kitchen. My grandmother had left the gas oven on and gas had leaked everywhere. I still remember how strong that smell and feeling was, it made you feel fatigued immediately. However, my younger brother who was around 7 at the time opened the windows of the house, and then took a broom and started to push the air inside the kitchen outside with the broom. He also stopped us from turning on the lights. Even today, when I think about what he did I am still impressed with him.
After he did all of these and the house was cleaned, he told us that he had seen a brochure about what to do in case there is a gas leak. He remembered the picture he had seen: the cross sign on the electric switch which meant you were not supposed to turn anything on, opening all the windows of the house, and using a broom to clean the air and push the gas outside. A seven year old saved our lives due to pictures he had seen!
Visuals are helpful in clarifying abstract concepts. For example a gas leak is abstract if you have not lived through one. No matter how much you read about it, seeing pictures of what to do step-by-step may be easier to recall during the event. Visuals can be powerful tools to explain various aspects of risks and they enhance understanding about the risks.
When you designing a certain visual for a specific use, you need to consider the audience’s information needs. Most of the time, you want to cover what people want to know in a certain risk situation, but you will also need to carefully determine and place information about what people may need to know.
Another important factor you need to keep in mind when designing visuals is where and how they will be used. If you are designing something for elementary school children, you need to determine what will be attractive and interesting to them, and what will they remember easily. Mental models might be important at the design point of visual risk communication materials since how people perceive something will also be a result of what they have in their minds. If you can incorporate what people already have in mind with what they need to know, that visual will be attractive, easy to understand and also easy to recall.
A major point emphasized towards the end of the chapter is the need to pretest your visuals with people you plan to use them for. Feedback might be important for you to determine what else you can include to make it more understandable, or even address some misconceptions or missing information they will benefit from learning.
The chapter argues that visuals help audiences understand and recall the content of risk better. Information can be forgotten, but people have stronger visual memories and tend to remember things they have seen in picture form better. This reminded me of something that I had experienced when I was ten and still impresses me when I think about it.
Me and my younger brother were staying at my grandmother’s. While we were sitting in the living room with my grandmother, my brother went into the kitchen and then came screaming, calling us to the kitchen. My grandmother had left the gas oven on and gas had leaked everywhere. I still remember how strong that smell and feeling was, it made you feel fatigued immediately. However, my younger brother who was around 7 at the time opened the windows of the house, and then took a broom and started to push the air inside the kitchen outside with the broom. He also stopped us from turning on the lights. Even today, when I think about what he did I am still impressed with him. After he did all of these and the house was cleaned, he told us that he had seen a brochure about what to do in case there is a gas leak. He remembered the picture he had seen: the cross sign on the electric switch which meant you were not supposed to turn anything on, opening all the windows of the house, and using a broom to clean the air and push the gas outside. A seven year old saved our lives due to pictures he had seen!Visuals are helpful in clarifying abstract concepts. For example a gas leak is abstract if you have not lived through one. No matter how much you read about it, seeing pictures of what to do step-by-step may be easier to recall during the event. Visuals can be powerful tools to explain various aspects of risks and they enhance understanding about the risks.
When you designing a certain visual for a specific use, you need to consider the audience’s information needs. Most of the time, you want to cover what people want to know in a certain risk situation, but you will also need to carefully determine and place information about what people may need to know.
Another important factor you need to keep in mind when designing visuals is where and how they will be used. If you are designing something for elementary school children, you need to determine what will be attractive and interesting to them, and what will they remember easily. Mental models might be important at the design point of visual risk communication materials since how people perceive something will also be a result of what they have in their minds. If you can incorporate what people already have in mind with what they need to know, that visual will be attractive, easy to understand and also easy to recall.
A major point emphasized towards the end of the chapter is the need to pretest your visuals with people you plan to use them for. Feedback might be important for you to determine what else you can include to make it more understandable, or even address some misconceptions or missing information they will benefit from learning.
posted by emelo at
2/10/2007 04:56:00 PM
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