Avoid Visual Clichés

When your CFO announces at an all-staff meeting that the company’s financials are “right on target,” does he treat you and your colleagues to the all-too-familiar image of a bull’s-eye?

Nothing gets eyes a-glazing like a visual cliché. If you want your presentation to stand out (in a good way) from the others your audience has seen, throw out the first visual concepts that come to mind. They’re the ones that occur to everyone else, too. Brainstorm several ideas for each concept you want to illustrate—and you’ll work your way toward fresh, surprising images.

Table 5–1 gives some examples of visual clichés and more-creative ways to illustrate the same concepts.