3 minute read
Grow your business with visual storytelling
HOW TO … Grow your business with visual storytelling
By Natalia Talkowska, Imperial College London Storytelling Expert-in-Residence
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Natalia Talkowska is the founder of Natalka Design: visual communications specialists delivering visual content, event live scribing and creative strategy.
Having established the company in 2012 in East London, Natalia now leads a 50+ team of strategic visual thinkers who have been helping companies achieve their business goals through visual communication. She has worked with FTSE 100 brands, tech giants and governments around the world.
Natalia is also the founder of Doodleledo, a creative doodle events company for teams, private groups and the public which has expanded to over 25 countries in a year.
Natalia is passionate about effective communication and problem solving via the illustrative power of visual storytelling. She is a six-time international TEDx speaker and a published illustrator, having featured in The Courier and Ackroyd’s Ark – Two by Two – a book by actor Sir Timothy Ackroyd.
Natalia has also launched two podcasts – DrawPod and #resisttheusual. She is a guest lecturer at University of the Arts London – Central Saint Martins and an Expert-in-Residence at Imperial College London.
Human beings are incredibly visual creatures. As hunter gatherers, we needed to be alert and visually minded in order to catch our prey and ensure we were not being hunted.
Visuals have always been an important sensory tool. In fact, most people will process visual information 60,000 times faster than written or auditory data. This allows information to pass through teams more quickly and be understood more easily, avoiding language barriers.
The fact that our brains are visually wired is substantiated by how we process and remember information. We absorb about 10 per cent of what we hear, 20 per cent of what we read and an astounding 80 per cent of what we see. To back this up, consider how many memories you have that are purely visual.
Being visually minded doesn’t mean we should discount words entirely, though. The use of words combined with visuals allows people to recall up to 65 per cent of the information they see.
As the human attention span shrinks, it’s far easier to grab people’s attention. Current data shows that visual content in social media is 40 times more likely than any other form of media to be shared. Visuals really are becoming increasingly important in the online space.
Show, don’t tell
There are many different types of visuals available to use when growing your business, including infographics, animations, GIFs; and more. You need to find what works best for you, your brand and your business.
One of the best ways to do this is to experiment by using social media platforms like Instagram. Find a hashtag or trend that happens to be going viral. Hop on it in your own special way. And don't be afraid to play around with doodles by drawing on top of your images in a creative way. Whether you create with Adobe or free software like Gimp or Canva, have a play around and see what you come up with.
Once you’ve found what works for you, be sure to stick to it. Experimentation when you have your rhythm is always good, but as the old saying goes, ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’.
Pack a visual punch
Infographics are the fourth most popular form of content on the internet and are a great way to highlight your business information in a creative, visual way. They are incredibly useful tools, as you can take almost any form of data and represent it in small, bite-sized pieces. Presenting written facts next to visuals will help reinforce the information and make it easier to remember. Why not get creative? Yours could be a pie chart that looks like an actual pie or even a simple bar chart in the shape of an ascending rollercoaster to visually show the data increasing.
Get visually creative
Visuals are one of our oldest forms of communication and an incredibly versatile form of communication that breaks down language barriers. These are just a few neat ways you can use visuals to help grow your business.
If you’d like to learn more about Natalia and her business, check out:
Biolink with more on Natalka Design here:
bio.link/natalkadesign
Natalia’s Masterclass on visual storytelling in collaboration with mmhmm here: www.youtube.com/
ch?v=ON_1zybm3WQ&t= 10s
Natalka Design YouTube Channel for videos on business, inspiration, travel and creativity:
