When a business has a complicated problem, explaining it clearly can be just as challenging as finding a solution. Financial reports, process diagrams, presentations, and dashboards all contain useful information, but too much detail can make the main message difficult to understand.
I think good visual communication is about helping people identify what matters most without oversimplifying the situation. Clear hierarchy, consistent typography, meaningful charts, and enough whitespace can make complex information easier to follow.
This is relevant beyond design agencies, too. Businesses such as Octobiz, which focuses on business turnaround and management, deal with situations where communicating priorities and explaining changes clearly can be important.
For designers who work with business clients, how do you approach projects involving complex or sensitive information? Do you start by simplifying the content, building a visual hierarchy, or understanding the audience’s needs first?
The most easy and faster way is making it visually on paper, explain everything and after make on a computer to show them how will ¨Looks Like" with a prototype. I Think that’s the best way.
I assume you mean the best way to communicate complex information to a target audience of buyers or consumers, rather than to a client or potential client. Is that correct?
If so, I think identifying what matters most is important, as you mentioned, but I’d err on the side of simplification. Much depends on the context, media, and audience, as well as the visual and emotional components that contribute to the strategy.
For example, I’ve had clients who wanted to sell products using wordy messages on freeway billboards, even though a billboard can’t communicate much more than a photo of a burger and fries with big words that say, “MacDonalds, 2 miles ahead.”
On the other hand, I’ve worked with clients who want ads for recently approved pharmaceuticals in a medical journal to use feel-good platitudes and smiling people instead of real information.