about a post box
In the UK they are typically RED in colour and they
are often an eye‑catching shape. They usually
stand alone, often towards the kerbside of the
pavement where they are easy to spot.
They have a white rectangular sticker with the
collection times in black, bold enlarged text,
and the sticker is usually displayed in the same
place; centrally placed below the letter slot. All of
these decisions, used consistently, help us visually
identify a letter box when we pass it. The Royal
Mail is visually communicating with us, to help
and encourage us to post letters. I’m sure this also
applies if you don’t live in the UK — post boxes
the world over tend to be distinctive and uniform
within a country.
Once you’ve started to pay attention to
the visual clues around you, take it one step
further. I want you to start to identify visuals that
are trying to get us to behave in a certain way or are
trying to help us understand how something works.
Think about a fire exit sign. In the UK they are often
green and use the words FIRE-EXIT alongside
a simple picture of a person exiting a door, or a
directional arrow. All of the elements:
colour + words + image
combine to give us a clear and easy‑to‑understand
message.
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treasure hunt
Grab your camera or phone and have a
wander around your home, your office, or
outside in your community.
Keep a look out for visual communications:
instructions, messages, directions or simple
announcements that use visuals (sometimes
with words alongside) to communicate.
Now in this exercise I’m not looking for logos
that represent a brand, but for images or
icons that are trying to communicate, inform
or instruct us.
Once you start looking you’ll see they are
everywhere. On the cereal packet, on the
coffee machine, on the fire extinguisher, on
the USB cable, outside on the utility boxes and
telegraph poles on your street.
Take photos of the ones that you find effective.
Start to notice all the forms of visual
communication around you every day, and
when you see a good example take a snap
of it. What makes some more effective than
others? Is it the image they’ve used? The
words? The colour?
Also, and perhaps more importantly, have
a think about what makes some not work as
successfully.
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thinking
Visual thinking means using images, shapes and
colour, along with text, to help you think, process
and communicate more effectively.
Let me give you an example. I recently spent a day
with Hollywood screenwriting consultant, Bobette
Buster.
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She talked me through some story‑telling
universal truths script writers use.
I loved the idea of visualizing them to help people
better understand their own storyline.
I met with Emma, who was a consultant and had
spent three years delivering a multi‑million project
for a global client. She didn’t want to head into
another project, but was anxious about changing
direction. I asked Emma to tell me her story. As we
talked, I visually captured the plateaus, the times
of free‑fall such as redundancy, and the periods
in the wilderness where she had, in the past,
successfully worked out what to do next.
By the end, Emma felt confident about her ability to
change direction, and to map out her next steps.
The conversation
