The Value of Visual Volunteering in a Digital Age Conference

Break-Out session

September 2012

Outreach Officers, Communities 2.0 at the George Ewart Evans Centre for Storytelling,

University of Glamorgan

Communication is about words, right?

Visual Communication is communication through visual aid, and is described as the conveyance of ideas and information in forms that can be read or looked upon

Visual Communication It’s nothing new, it’s just not niche anymore… Photography, typography, illustration, animation, infographics, moving image…

Why does it matter?

We’re in the ‘Information Age’.

Think about how you behave online… Do you “Look around feverishly for anything that is interesting or vaguely resembles what you are looking for, and is clickable”? Steve Krug

Why does it matter?

When viewing a website, it takes users less than two tenths of a second to form a first impression http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120216094726.htm

How can I achieve better visual communication?

Breakout activities Participatory media means that photography, animation, film-making etc. need now only cost us time and ideas Involve your volunteers / service users in making of your content, and watch it spread!

Breakout activities These activities should help you realise that many types of effective visual communication can be free and easy to produce.

3…2…1…GO!