Page 38 - Experience Based Co-design - a toolkit for Australia

VISUAL COMMUNICATION
WHAT
Visual communication is a way of conveying ideas to people using aids such as pictures, diagrams and colours rather than just words.
WHY
The purpose of visual communication is to help create accessible, tangible ways of talking about and designing better service experiences. Visual communication is useful for making abstract things – such as needs, issues, ideas, processes and outcomes – tangible, and can help span the different perspectives of patients, staff and other stakeholders. This tool can also capture complex interactions between people, processes, and ideas.
WHEN
You can use visual communication at any time during your project when you need to express key concepts in simple and practical ways. For example, you may want to use a visual map to explain a patient’s journey through a health service.
HOW
1. Identify the topic
Do this as clearly as possible, focusing on defining what you mean and what you don’t mean.
2. Identify who the communication is from (usually your organisation) and who it is for (usually patients)
Distinguish between how the organisation and the patients think and speak about the topic. Focus on the patients’ point of view including:
Things they might understand already, and the ways they typically talk about them
Things they can agree with easily
Questions they might ask
Things they might by confused by and/or disagree with.
3. Explore similes and metaphors for communicating the topic
For example, patients often say their journey is ‘like a roller coaster’ (a simile) or a staff member ‘has become a rock’ (a metaphor).
Select a few options you think will work well in communicating the topic. Note that you may need to balance accuracy (in relation to service processes or clinical diagnoses) with the views, existing knowledge and needs of your audience.
Adapted with permission from healthcodesign.org.nz