Killer Visual Strategies: Engage Any Audience, Improve Comprehension, And Get Amazing Results Using Visual Communication

242 Pages·2020·67.641 MB·English

by  Amy Balliett, Guy Kawasaki

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KILLER
VISUAL
STRATEGIES
Engage Any Audience,
Improve Comprehension,
and Get Amazing Results
Using Visual Communication
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Copyright © 2020 by ReelRandom LLC. All rights reserved.
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.
Published simultaneously in Canada.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is Available:
ISBN 9781119680222 (Paperback)
ISBN 9781119680321 (ePDF)
ISBN 9781119680260 (ePub)
Cover and Interior Design: Killer Visual Strategies
Cover Illustration: Killer Visual Strategies
Author Photo: Jennifer Findlay
Printed in the United States of America
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KILLER
VISUAL
STRATEGIES
Engage Any Audience,
Improve Comprehension,
and Get Amazing Results
Using Visual Communication
Amy Balliett
Foreword by Guy Kawasaki
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
FOREWORD.............................................................................................................................VII
INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................1
HOW TO READ THIS BOOK......................................................................................................3
THE ACCIDENTAL AGENCY......................................................................................................7
PART ONE: VISUAL CONTENT IS KING..............................................................................15
CHAPTER 1 ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCES AND THE RISE OF VISUAL CONTENT.....................................17
CHAPTER 2 VISUAL CONTENT AND HUMAN NATURE....................................................................................27
CHAPTER 3 QUALITY VISUAL CONTENT REIGNS SUPREME...........................................................................35
PART TWO: 8 RULES OF VISUAL COMMUNICATION.......................................................43
CHAPTER 4 RULE 1: ALWAYS THINK ABOUT CON-TEXT.................................................................................47
CHAPTER 5 RULE 2: SMALL VISUAL CUES HAVE A LARGE IMPACT...............................................................53
CHAPTER 6 RULE 3: THERE’S NO GOLD AT THE END OF THAT RAINBOW...................................................59
CHAPTER 7 RULE 4: GOOD VISUAL STRATEGISTS ASK “WTF?!”.....................................................................67
CHAPTER 8 RULE 5: AVOID THE STIGMA OF STOCK.......................................................................................81
CHAPTER 9 RULE 6: STAND OUT AT THE COCKTAIL PARTY...........................................................................89
CHAPTER 10 RULE 7: USE PROPER DATA VIZ THROUGHOUT........................................................................97
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CHAPTER 11 RULE 8: COMMIT TO THE TRUTH AND PROVE IT.................................................................113
CHAPTER 12 RULES ARE MEANT TO BE BROKEN........................................................................................125
PART THREE: YOUR VISUAL STRATEGY..........................................................................143
CHAPTER 13 YOU CAN’T CREATE GREAT CONTENT WITHOUT A GREAT TEAM AND PROCESS............147
CHAPTER 14 GOING THE FREELANCE ROUTE.............................................................................................155
CHAPTER 15 BUILDING AN IN-HOUSE TEAM..............................................................................................161
POST-SCRIPT.......................................................................................................................167
APPENDIX A: TERMS AND DEFINITIONS..........................................................................171
APPENDIX B: TOOLS...........................................................................................................175
APPENDIX C: PRODUCTION TIME ESTIMATES................................................................181
APPENDIX D: A TIMELINE OF VISUAL COMMUNICATION............................................185
RESOURCES.........................................................................................................................199
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.......................................................................................................211
ABOUT THE AUTHOR..........................................................................................................215
INDEX...................................................................................................................................217
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FOREWORD
vii
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viii KILLER VISUAL STRATEGIES
I first came across Killer Visual Strategies, the visual
communication agency founded by Amy Balliett, in
2011. That year represented a critical juncture—not
just for the fledgling Seattle company, which was just
getting their footing in the market, but in the history
of visual communication. Smartphone usage was
rapidly expanding. A social media platform called
Instagram was fresh on the scene. More and more of
our information came from nontraditional sources
like Facebook and YouTube. And the content we were
sharing was overwhelmingly visual.
Amy had launched her company, then called Killer
Infographics, to meet a fast-growing demand for
infographics from organizations in just about every
industry. In fact, Killer first came to my attention
when they designed an infographic—now a classic
in marketing circles—that pitted me against fellow
marketing guru Seth Godin in a tongue-in-cheek
standoff (Figures F.1 and F.2). The way in which
this and other pieces of visual content—including
a motion graphic adaptation of the infographic in
2012—spread virally across the web piqued my
interest. These new types of visual content were
perfectly suited for posting and sharing on emerging
platforms. And people were engaging with them
much more than they were with text.
Our world is transforming faster than ever, and visual
communication is at the heart of that transformation.
Ever since I worked for Steve Jobs as an evangelist
for Macintosh, and later for Apple, I knew that good
design was fundamental to business success. It wasn’t
Figure F.1 [ ]
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