Communicate Clearly and Stand Out
Communication is an important skill in almost every type of work. Technical reports and business proposals frequently include data to support findings or recommendations. Most people struggle to communicate visually compelling stories from data. You can stand out from the crowd if you learn to convey complex information in a meaningful way. Nancy Duarte‘s book Slide:ology offers clear, actionable steps to transform your illustrations and improve the way you communicate.
Putting Slide:ology into Practice
Reading Slide:ology, by Nancy Duarte helped me improve my design and communicate more clearly.
Background Information
These graphics are based on the work of a user support team I managed. We started with a number of disparate processes that were impossible to measure. Our solution was to centralize our intake through a call center with issue-tracking software.
Communication Goals
The goal of this presentation was to highlight our significant improvements to customer service. The data was on our side, but we still had some vocal critics of the new process.
Specifically, we needed to:
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- Show that we were resolving 80% of issues within two days.
- Give customers a clear reason to contact us by phone rather than by email
Before: This version shows our service level, but fails to reinforce our call-to-action. 
After: This version calls out the disparity in effective service levels between calls and online tickets. - Show that we were using the data we collected to improve the process over time
Before: Lots of “Chart Junk,” as Edward Tufte would say. 
After: Does this tell the same story more simply, or did I go too far? - Demonstrate that we understood confusion around our communication processes
Before: Poorly organized data loses its meaning. 
After: By combining categories with similar results, the problem we need to address becomes clearer.
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