PICTURE WORTH 1000 WORDS

This wrongly translated Chinese proverb produces eyerolls from many who believe it to be a gross exaggeration. They counter by saying that a picture is really worth only a picture. Well, a thousand words are a lot of words, and ten thousand words, which was the actual number in the proverb's literal translation, are a lot more. It’s pretty hard for a single picture to hold up under all that pressure. Still, there is no denying how an image can captivate. Certainly, images add dimension and powerful meaning to text. Illustrations, icons, charts, graphs—the visual world is rich with examples of how these elements summarize or elaborate upon co-existing text, sometimes even replacing the text entirely.

If you look at the toolbar on your computer screen, you’ll see any number of icons that replace words, and most of us (at least those who are computer literate) have no problem comprehending their meaning. Because they are widely understood, icons can be used to great effect in advertising. On the Windows homepage, for example, Microsoft skillfully uses four of their common icons to introduce Windows Vista.

Graphs and charts are frequently used to provide financial data, usually supplementing and clarifying the figures contained on balance sheets and such. But here, on the website of a Philadelphia-based non-profit organization, we find posted a 2005 annual report that uses only pie charts to show revenue and expenses—perfectly appropriate for an audience that may not be interested in scrutinizing all the little financial details. (You’ll find the charts on page 6 of the pdf).

In advertising and for other purposes, illustrations are often used in conjunction with or in lieu of actual photographs of products. Why use a photo of dish soap when an illustration might offer a more interesting visual representation of a common household item? The Skippy website, for example, uses illustrations as well as sound to create a feeling of child-like fun and exuberance. Images such as those on their Trail Mix page would be impossible to create as photos, and they would probably not be as entertaining. Throughout Skippy's website, we have many crayon-like illustrations and also photos and games, all geared for kids (but great for adults, too)! The only pages without images are the more serious ones, i.e., the allergy information and FAQ pages. (There are just a few peanuts on the latter)!

In a world where people are mainly scanning documents or websites for what they need or want, words alone may often be overlooked. Add a great illustration, and you may at least catch their attention and possibly even say a lot more, if not 1000 words. Let’s not get carried away!