Visual Communication and Design, Now with Audio!

Podcast: Matching visuals and presentation style to your information

Information is communicated not only by words in a message, but also in the way the message looks and the style of how it’s delivered. If these aspects don’t all work together, the message loses effectiveness.

Listen to the episode
Duration: 15:05
Size: 13.82 MB

The article that inspired this episode:

The Extreme Presentation(tm) Method blog post:
http://extremepresentation.typepad.com/blog/2008/01/ballroom-vs-con.html

For articles about using visuals effectively and other topics, free downloads, and more information, visit http://office.com/.

Create an office layout? Let Clarity show you how

Check out the first episode in our series that demonstrates the “film noir” side of Visio (and some helpful tips, too).

(We’d also like to thank Tom Johnson, technical writing guru, for mentioning these on his blog, I’d Rather Be Writing.)

Stay tuned for the continuing adventures of Harrison Clarity!

- Eric S.

Podcast: Deconstructing a new video series – what works and what doesn’t?

This episode captures a meeting where two writers and their manager deconstruct their new video series called Top Templates (edited for time – who wants to sit through a whole meeting?). Take a few minutes and watch some episodes of the show so you know what they’re referring to; they’re shorter than two minutes each and they’re even entertaining:

Gift Certificates episode
Ocean Letterhead episode

The discussion touches on how the information is organized and delivered, and how effective the interactions and the visuals are for the video series.

Listen to the episode
Duration: 25:06
Size: 17.2 MB

For articles about using visuals effectively and other topics, free downloads, and more information, visit http://office.com/.

Podcast: Office Offline and comics in communication

David Salaguinto joins us to talk about his comic Office Offline. David creates Office Offline to get people thinking, talking, and sharing in a way they never would with short text blog entries about the same subjects. He gives us some insight into his goals and inspiration with the comic format.

Listen to the episode
Duration: 16:24
Size: 11.2 MB

Some resources we used in this episode:

Office Offline comic at http://blogs.msdn.com/officeoffline

David Salaguinto’s twitter feed at http://twitter.com/Salaguinto

For articles about using visuals effectively and other topics, free downloads, and more information, visit http://office.com/.

Podcast: Is familiarity or novelty a better strategy in visual design?

People get bored of seeing the same old things all the time. But they also don’t like things that are different. So what do you do when you’re planning how to back up your communication with effective visuals – go for novelty or familiarity?

Listen to the episode
Duration: 16:07
Size: 11.08 MB

Some resources we used in this episode:

Familiarity and learnability from 8164.org

Familiarity and Innovation in User Interface Design from Web Standards Group

For articles about using visuals effectively and other topics, free downloads, and more information, visit http://office.com/.

TC4D: Make Better Videos with Less Rework by Using Storyboards

Storyboards help you plan your video shot by shot. That way, you can make sure your video is at least as interesting as the audio, and you have a list of all the most important shots. If you just make a text-only script, it can be easy to overlook sections where visuals would be a big help, but they weren’t obvious on the day of the shoot.

I use Visio for storyboarding my videos. I made a template with panels for the pictures, and text boxes beneath each panel for the dialog or voice over. To draw the visuals, I just drag shapes onto the page, or insert pictures, screenshots, or clip art into the panels.

For information about Visio, visit http://www.visio.com/.

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Podcast: Should I think about design or is clear communication enough?

When you create a document or a presentation, is the information all that’s important? Is it worth spending time to make it look nicer, when there’s already barely enough time to finish? The answer may surprise you! Although probably not. And there isn’t really an answer that covers every situation. But still, it’s something you should think about and it makes an interesting discussion.

Listen to the episode
Duration: 21:26
Size: 14.7 MB

Some resources we used in this episode:

Before and After Graphics for Business by John McWade (publisher’s site)

The Non-Designer’s Design Book by Robin Williams (publisher’s site)

Does Design Matter? on the Speaking about Presenting blog

For articles about using visuals effectively and other topics, free downloads, and more information, visit Office Online at http://office.microsoft.com/.

Podcast: Video in Social Media

Video has become an integral part of social media. Especially for younger people who are growing up with it, in some cases it’s easier to talk into the camera on the computer and upload it to Facebook, where all their friends will see it, than to write something out. What effect does this have on peoples’ expectations of your communication with them?

Listen to the episode
Duration: 16:25
Size: 11.5 MB

During the conversation Doug talks about this video clip. It’s almost an hour long, but it’s worth watching if you’re interested in video and social media (in fact, more than that, it’s required watching!):
An anthropological introduction to YouTube

For articles about using visuals effectively and other topics, free downloads, and more information, visit Office Online at http://office.microsoft.com/.

Podcast: Using Visual Space Dynamically

Visuals are usually created with the display space in mind. If the display area is a certain size, you make your visuals fit in that space by shrinking things, rearranging them, leaving things out, or breaking them up into related spaces. But in the digital domain, only the window is generally fixed – the visuals can extend indefinitely, like the outdoors or outer space. You just need a way to show people what you want them to see, or give them a way to navigate where they want to go.

Listen to the episode
Duration: 15:22
Size: 10.5 MB

An example of an artwork that uses this principle is Civilization, by Marco Brambilla, which is an installation at The Standard Hotel in New York. You can see a video of this work here:

http://motionographer.com/theater/marco-brambilla-civilization/

For articles about using visuals effectively and other topics, free downloads, and more information, visit Office Online at http://office.microsoft.com/.

Podcast: Office Casual and the success of directness

Office Casual is one of the most successful video series created by Microsoft content producers. Doug Thomas, the person behind it, talks about how it got its direct, no-frills look (and why the show keeps that look).

Listen to the episode
Duration: 15:59
Size: 10.9 MB

Watch episodes of Office Casual at the Inside Office Online blog.

For articles about increasing your Office skills, free downloads, and more information, visit Office Online at http://office.microsoft.com/.

TC4D: Guiding viewers through complex information

Complex information is usually easier to understand when it’s presented in a graphic format, such as a process flowchart or workflow diagram. But even those can be confusing at first glance, and look more complicated than they actually are. Well, here’s a way to make it easier for your audience to digest that kind of complexity – lead them through it with some animation eye-candy! Eric Schmidt, a writer for PowerPoint, shows how he takes Visio diagrams and animates the path through them in PowerPoint, which helps viewers focus on the important and most relevant information.

For information about PowerPoint and Visio, see http://office.microsoft.com. 

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Podcast: Eye candy and aesthetics make things work better

Research has indicated that attractive things are easier to use and work better than purely functional equivalents.

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Duration: 14:48
Size: 10.4 MB

We know it’s more fun to use tools and software and kitchen appliances that are not only well designed for use, but that are pretty too. In this episode, we discuss an article by Stephen P. Anderson, “In Defense of Eye Candy,” about how aesthetics affects usability, success, and basic enjoyment while doing tasks.

“In Defense of Eye Candy” by Stephen P. Anderson
http://www.alistapart.com/articles/indefenseofeyecandy

For more articles, free downloads, and more information, visit Office Online at http://office.microsoft.com/.

TC4D: Preparing for a media-centered future

Well, the title of the presentation I saw was "Preparing for a Media-Centered Future", but the interesting content was mostly about preparing your media (video in particular) for effective distribution. I talked with one of the presenters, Travis Petershagen, about how he does this as part of Microsoft Studios.

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TC4D: Technical Communication in the 4th Dimension

TC4D is my video blog about technical communication in the fourth dimension. In episode 1, I talk about the fourth dimension and ways to use it.

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Podcast: Leading visual content teams

Where does Jonathan want to take content for the visual tools PowerPoint, Office Graphics, and Visio in the future?

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Duration: 14:23
Size: 9.88 MB

Harry and Jonathan talk about trends in Web video, what Office is doing, and why it's important to teach soft skills and not just features.

For more articles, free downloads, and more information, visit Office Online at http://office.microsoft.com/.