Visual Aids

A quick and dirty primer

 Visual Aids
• Audience Advantages
– Add clarity
– Indicate what’s important
– Reinforce key points
– Increase interest
– Reach different learning styles
– Aid retention
 Visual Aids
• Speaker Advantages
– Show preparedness
– Add credibility
– Help reduce fright
– Add confidence
 Visual Aids
• Simple
• Large
• Clear
• Consistent

(An oil slick – get it?)

 Visual Aids
• Not…
Visual Aids

Not Simple
 Visual Aids
• Visual Aids allow you to reach students of
different learning styles because it adds a
• Not Simple
visual element to your oral presentation.
This is especially important because today’s
students seem to be more visual than other
generations.
• It helps reinforce the key information in your
presentation and keeps student interest
focused on the front of the room.
• It allows you to give students clear prompts
for their assignments, especially in-class
assignments. They can always look up to
refocus their attention to the assigned task.
• Visual Aids can be used over and over again
and can be electronically moved directly to a
web site so that students can look at it again
after class and as many times as they want.
• It serves as Ockham’s razor by helping you
structure your thoughts.
 Visual Aids
• Not Large
Visual Aids

Not Large
Visual Aids
Visual Aids

Not Clear
 Visual Aids
• Not Consistent
Visual Aids
Not Consistent
 Visual Aids
• Use me for hard copy (with serif)

• Use me for projection (sans serif)

 Visual Aids
• If using text
– in general
• Six words per line
• Six lines per page
 Visual Aids
• DON’T USE ALL CAPS…

– It’s easier to read this...

– …THAN THIS!
 Visual Aids
• Color is important
– Yellow
– Brown
– Green
– Blue
– Red
– White
 Visual Aids
• And so is intensity…
– Green
– Green
– Green
– Green
– Green
– Green
 Visual Aids

A is
worth
Visual Aids
 Visual Aids
• But…

…don’t
over
do it!
Visual Aids
 Visual Aids
• What about displaying data?
 Visual Aids
• Graphs
– Give life to data
– Make data more interesting
– Show trends, patterns, and relationships
 Visual Aids
• The type of graph
– Depends on the kind and amount of data
– Depends on what story you want to tell
 Visual Aids
• Constructing a graph
– Requires using your whole brain (just like
mind mapping)
 Visual Aids
– Aesthetic thinking is needed to:
• Insure the visual look and feel is appropriate

– Analytical thinking is needed to:

• Select the right graph type
• Insure the graph is complete & accurate
 Visual Aids Birth and Death Rates for the World's Wealthiest
and Poorest Countries

50
45
2003 Death Rate (est.)
40
Rate 2003 Birth Rate (est.)

• Graph Types
35
per
30
1,000
Pop. 25
20
15
10
Top-Selling Vehicles in the US 2005 5
0

es

nb y
rg
xe wa
at

i tz ino
1,000,000

nd
ou
901463

St

Lu or

ar

ia
la
d

di
M

al
er

o
te

on

un
m

or
Ea ong
n
ni

Le
Source: www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0883578.html

Sa

So
900,000

m
ur
U

Sw

Ti
B
ra

of
er

st
Si

.
ep
800,000 705891
Relationship between GDPWealthiest
& Electric

R
Countries Poorest Countries
Mean Lake Michigan Water Level by 700,000
Decade, 1920 - 2000
Consumption for Calendar Year 2002 Source: CIA World Factbook
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html
600,000
433703 Selected Western European Countries
177.00 400453
500,000
176.75 369293
176.69 308415
176.80 400,000 600
Meters Above Sea Level

255371
176.47 246481 245861
176.60 176.40 244150
300,000

Annual Electricity Consumption in

176.30
176.40
176.17 500 Germany
200,000
176.08
176.20
175.95
175.89 100,000
176.00 France
400

Billions of kWh
0
175.80
Ford F- Toyota Honda Nissan Chevrolet
United Kingdom
175.60 Series Camry Accord Altima Malibu
300 Italy
175.40
Value of Principal Vegetables for Fresh Market
1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000Top Producing States 1992 - 1997
Five
Source: US Army Corps of Engineers * Spain
http://www.lre.usace.army.mil/index.cfm?chn_ID=1383&lake_id=2
$7,000,000,000 * through 2002
200

$6,000,000,000
100 Netherlands
$5,000,000,000
New York Austria
Arizona Switzerland
$4,000,000,000 Texas Portugal
0
$3,000,000,000
Florida
XIX Winter Olympic Games
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500
California
$2,000,000,000
Top Medal Winners Gross Domestic Product in Millions of US $(2002 est.)
Salt Lake City, USA, February 2002
Source: The World Factbook http://cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html
$1,000,000,000

$0 40
1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 35
Source: USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service 30
http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/usda/reports/general/sb/b9460199.txt 25
20 Gold
15 Silver
10 Bronze
5
0
Germany United Norway Canada Russia
States
Source: Fact Monster from Inform ation Please
What is the home page on your web browser? http://w w w .factm onster.com /ipka/A0900268 .html
Thursday Lecture F2005

23%

UVM Webpage

Yahoo

MSN
51%
Google

Other
19%

2%
5%
 Visual Aids
• Line Graphs
– Shows changes in data over time
 Visual Aids
Mean Lake Michigan Water Level by
Decade, 1920 - 2000

177.00
176.75
176.69
176.80
Meters Above Sea Level

176.47
176.60 176.40
176.30
176.40
176.17
176.08
176.20
175.95
175.89
176.00

175.80

175.60

175.40
1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000
Source: US Army Corps of Engineers *
http://www.lre.usace.army.mil/index.cfm?chn_ID=1383&lake_id=2 * through 2002
 Visual Aids
• Area Graph
– Variation on basic line graph
– Shows the contribution of a set of data to the
whole
 Visual Aids
Value of Principal Vegetables for Fresh Market
Five Top Producing States 1992 - 1997

$7,000,000,000

$6,000,000,000
New York
$5,000,000,000
Arizona
$4,000,000,000 Texas
Florida
$3,000,000,000
California
$2,000,000,000

$1,000,000,000

$0
1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997
Source: USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service
http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/usda/reports/general/sb/b9460199.txt
 Visual Aids
• Bar Graph
– Each column represents a particular category
at one point in time
– Compares related data
– Almost always sorted
 Visual Aids
Top-Selling Vehicles in the US 2005

1,000,000 901463

900,000 Source: www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0883578.html

705891
800,000
700,000
600,000 433703
400453
500,000 369293
308415
400,000 255371 246481
245861 244150
300,000

200,000
100,000

a
m

c
rd
ry
s

u
la
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r
vi
rie

Ra

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Do
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Ho

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vr
Ho

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vr

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vr

Ch
Ch

vr
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e
Ch
• Stacked Bar Graph
– Variation of the bar graph
– Shows contributions of sub-sections to the
whole
– At given point of time
 Visual Aids
XIX Winter Olympic Games
Top Medal Winners
Salt Lake City, USA, February 2002

40
35
30
25
20 Gold
15 Silver
10 Bronze
5
0
Germany United Norway Canada Russia
States
Source: Fact Monster from Inform ation Please
http://w w w .factm onster.com /ipka/A0900268 .html
 Visual Aids
• 3D Bar Graph
– Another variation of the bar graph
– Places one row of bars in front of another
– Highlights comparisons
– Again, at one given point in time
 Visual Aids
Birth and Death Rates for the World's Wealthiest
and Poorest Countries

50
45
2003 Death Rate (est.)
40
Rate 2003 Birth Rate (est.)
35
per
30
1,000
Pop. 25
20
15
10
5
0
es

y
rg
xe wa
at

i tz ino

nd
Sa b ou
St

Lu or

ar

ia
la
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di
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Ea ong
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ni

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So

m
ur
U

Sw

fC

Ti
B
ra
er

st
.o
Si

ep
R

Wealthiest Countries Poorest Countries

Source: CIA World Factbook
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html
 Visual Aids
• Pie Graph
– Compares the components of a set to each
other
– Shows percentage proportion of two or more
values to a meaningful whole
 Visual Aids
What is the home page on your web browser?
Thursday Lecture F2005

23%

UVM Webpage

Yahoo

MSN
51%
Google

Other
19%

2%
5%
 Visual Aids
• X-Y Graph
– Also called Scatterplots
– Shows correlation or relationship between two
different sets of data
– Data often have different scales of
measurement
– Best fit line shows type and degree of
relationship
 Visual Aids
Relationship between GDP & Electric
Consumption for Calendar Year 2002
Selected Western European Countries

600
Annual Electricity Consumption in

500 Germany

France
400
Billions of kWh

United Kingdom
300 Italy

Spain
200

100 Netherlands
Austria
Switzerland
Portugal
0
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500
Gross Domestic Product in Millions of US $(2002 est.)
Source: The World Factbook http://cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html
 Animations
• “Appear” works well
• Allows focus on each point
• Avoids audience reading ahead
• But don’t get carried away
• That goes for sound as well