The power of visuals

Here’s an example of how powerful visual communication can be.

The Wall Street Journal reported that months before Russia invaded Ukraine, U.S. intelligence agencies shared with our allies satellite maps detailing Russian troop locations and movements – but the administration had to tread a fine line between sending a warning and coming off as alarmist.

The article says that “one version of the map made public in early December had bright red arrows pointing from Russian military encampments into Ukraine, showing where troops would breach the border.”

Apparently, senior officials realized that such a depiction might erroneously suggest a Russian invasion was imminent (remember this was months before the invasion happened), so they replaced it with a map that denoted the location of Russian units with circles instead of arrows.

The lesson? Consider the meaning your visuals will create in the audience’s minds.