The Workplace Improver Blog Improving Workplace Safety, Performance and Training through Video

The Importance of Using Visuals in your Training Materials

farm_signsIn a recent AFRBoss article, it was cited that an important trend over the next decade will be the shift from words to images in communication.

Rather than bombard people with an avalanche of reading material, people will prefer visual representation of data.

This isn’t a surprise given our time-poor, attention-scarce, give-it-to-me-now lifestyle.

So to future-proof and update training materials, now more than ever, there is growing importance for companies to use visuals to aid in learning.

After all, we remember:

  • 10% of what we read
  • 20% of what we hear
  • 30% of what we see
  • 50% of what we both hear and see

In fact, studies by educational researchers found that 83% of human learning occurs visually.   Visually rich training materials keep the eyes busy and therefore, the brain more alert and active to learn information.

Yet, I often get amazed when I go through company training manuals how so few of them include pictures or even colour for that matter.  And of course, very few of them use video as part of training.

“Something is happening. We are becoming a visually mediated society. For many, understanding of the world is being accomplished, not through words, but by reading images.”

Paul Martin Lester, “Syntactic Theory of Visual Communication”

What can you do to start making your training materials more visually appealing?

n
FacebookLinkedInDiggDeliciousShare

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

3 Responses to The Importance of Using Visuals in your Training Materials
  1. Nadia Habib-Coelho
    April 13, 2010 | 5:27 pm

    I am quite interested in reading the AFRBoss article that you refer to regarding the trend in visual communications. Any chance you can let me know the title of the article? Thanks

Trackbacks/Pingbacks
  1. 7 Tips to Improve Induction Training Materials | The Workplace Improver Blog
  2. Story telling - an effective way to improve food safety training
Leave a Reply


Wanting to leave an <em>phasis on your comment?

Trackback URL http://www.digicast.com.au/blog/the-importance-of-using-visuals-in-your-training-materials/trackback
About
The Workplace Improver blog is all about providing the latest staff training information for a safer, more productive workforce.

It is written by Marie-Claire Ross from Digicast Productions.

Better Tag Cloud