Visual Language for Designers: Principles for Creating Graphics That People Understand
By Connie Malamed
This is a great read for those of us who are harnessing the power of visuals to highlight our content.
Within every picture is a hidden language that conveys a message, whether it is intended or not. This language is based on the ways people perceive and process visual information.
By understanding visual language as the interface between a graphic and a viewer, designers and illustrators can learn to inform with accuracy and power.
In a time of unprecedented competition for audience attention and with an increasing demand for complex graphics, “Visual Language for Designers” explains how to achieve quick and effective communications.
New in paperback, this book presents ways to design for the strengths of our innate mental capacities and to compensate for our cognitive limitations.
“Visual Language for Designers” includes:
–How to organize graphics for quick perception
–How to direct the eyes to essential information
–How to use visual shorthand for efficient communication
–How to make abstract ideas concrete
–How to best express visual complexity
–How to charge a graphic with energy and emotion
About the author: Connie Malamed has a background in art and cognitive psychology, with a B.S. in Art Education and an M.A. in Instructional Design and Technology. She is a consultant based in the Washington, D.C. area in the fields of e-learning, visual communication, media design, and information design. http://www.malamedconsulting.com
The book is available from Book Depository, Fishpond, The Nile and Amazon
I had the pleasure of contributing to this compilation. And I have to say I love the format which makes it so easy for you to pick up tips on speaking… particularly now that I have remembered to click on full screen rather than squinting at it!!
Thank You for Arguing is your master class in the art of persuasion, taught by professors ranging from Bart Simpson to Winston Churchill.
The time-tested secrets this book discloses include Cicero’s three-step strategy for moving an audience to action—as well as Honest Abe’s Shameless Trick of lowering an audience’s expectations by pretending to be unpolished. But it’s also replete with contemporary techniques such as politicians’ use of “code” language to appeal to specific groups and an eye-opening assortment of popular-culture dodges—including The Yoda Technique, The Belushi Paradigm, and The Eddie Haskell Ploy.
Whether you’re an inveterate lover of language books or just want to win a lot more anger-free arguments on the page, at the podium, or over a beer, Thank You for Arguing is for you. Written by one of today’s most popular language mavens, it’s warm, witty, erudite, and truly enlightening. It not only teaches you how to recognize a paralipsis and a chiasmus when you hear them, but also how to wield such handy and persuasive weapons the next time you really, really want to get your own way.
JAY HEINRICHS spent 25 years as a journalist and publishing executive before becoming a fulltime advocate for the lost art of rhetoric. Since then he’s taught persuasion to Fortune 500 companies, Ivy League universities, NASA, and the Pentagon. He is also the author of “Word Hero: A Fiendishly Clever Guide to Crafting the Lines that Get Laughs, Go Viral, and Live Forever.”
I passed the television in the morning last week. And try as I might I cannot find a record of the program, though I think it was ABC.
I was drawn to stop and watch an interview with a representative of the Children’s Book Council of Australia regarding Book Week – she spoke well.
The host of the program began the final part of the segment commenting on an author he and his children liked. His female counterpart remarked that there was not much children’s reading happening in her household because her child was only 7 months.
Oh dear.
How sad.
Why?
I wonder when she will start sharing books and stories with the child?
At 2 months they can listen and look at books.
There are plastic books for the bath.
There are board books that will stand being chewed and taken to bed and dragged around the house.
There are any number of opportunities to share the sound of the beautiful rhymes and rhythms of stories and poems and books.
Beautiful bonding happens over books way before 7 months.
Children learn to look at pictures as reading cues way before 7 months.
They learn the rhythm of turning pages and the anticipation of what comes next – way before 7 months.
They hear rhyme and rhythm way before 7 months.
They hear a parent’s love of reading, appreciation of the story, love of the humour way before 7 months.
Does she talk to her child, I wonder, or is she waiting till the child can talk back?
So sad!
But thank you for the reminder of just what a beautiful, joyful, deep connection and person-raising opportunity there is in reading to little babies.
Speak Up for Your Business: Presentation Secrets for Entrepreneurs Ready to Tell, Sell, and Compel
Dr. Michelle Mazur
ISBN 9781936984459
Format Paperback
Publisher Difference Press
Published 25th April 2014
Do you love your business but don’t know how to talk about it with others?
Is the fear of public speaking keeping you from taking your business to the next level?
You know public speaking is a great way to establish your credibility, create buzz about your business, and attract your perfect client, but you have no idea what to talk about or why anyone should listen to you.
Or are there a million ideas swirling in your head but you don’t know the presentation secrets of crafting a message that resonates? Do you fear that people won’t like you or want to do business with you because of something you said-or didn’t say?
Fear public speaking no more.
Professional public speaking expert Michelle Mazur is here to help.
With a Ph.D. in Communication and hundreds of speeches under her belt, Michelle knows exactly the presentations skills you need to engage your audience, persuade people to believe in your message, and ultimately, get the sale or business relationship you desire.
In Speak Up for Your Business, Michelle reveals how you can:
Develop your presentation skills so that you persuade and motivate your audience
Stop feeling sleazy about selling with this one presentation secret
Create a strategy to cope with your fear of public speaking
Embrace your Inner F-Bomb (it’s not what you think)
Organize your presentation in a sexy way
Give your audience real value
Create an experience through story with four essential ingredients
Begin your presentation with a win & close with a bang
Adapt your presentation on the fly
Handle those wing-nut questions that threaten to derail your speech
Land more speaking gigs
About the Author: As a Speech Designer and Idea Architect, Dr. Michelle Mazur guides introverted business professionals and entrepreneurs to ignite the smoldering fires within them so they can speak up, speak out, and make their impact-one compelling presentation at a time. Her passion is helping super smart people get their ideas communicated to the people who need to hear it most. Michelle earned a Ph.D. in Communication from the University of Oklahoma, and as a professor, she inspired university students to find their voices and share their messages for more than ten years. She is the author of Speak Up for Your Business and contributing author to the Amazon Best Seller Ted: ology: Presentation Secrets of TED Talks and Master Presenter: Lessons from the World’s Top Experts on Becoming a More Influential Speaker. Her writing has appeared on 12 Most, PR Daily, Ragan.com, SOLD Magazine, PR Europe, and Business2Community. Her blog, Relationally Speaking, was listed at #11 of the 101 best online resources for public speaking. She resides in Seattle, Washington with her loving fiance, two obsessive felines, and a huge collection of Duran Duran memorabilia.”
Power Cues: The Subtle Science of Leading Groups, Persuading Others, and Maximizing Your Personal Impact
Nick Morgan
ISBN 978-1422193501
Format Hardcover
Publisher Harvard Business Review Press
Published 2014-05-13
Take control of your communications — before someone else does
What if someone told you that your behavior was controlled by a powerful, invisible force? Most of us would be skeptical of such a claim—but it’s largely true. Our brains are constantly transmitting and receiving signals of which we are unaware. Studies show that these constant inputs drive the great majority of our decisions about what to do next—and we become conscious of the decisions only after we start acting on them. Many may find that disturbing. But the implications for leadership are profound.
In this provocative yet practical book, renowned speaking coach and communication expert Nick Morgan highlights recent research that shows how humans are programmed to respond to the nonverbal cues of others—subtle gestures, sounds, and signals—that elicit emotion. He then provides a clear, useful framework of seven “power cues” that will be essential for any leader in business, the public sector, or almost any context. You’ll learn crucial skills, from measuring nonverbal signs of confidence, to the art and practice of gestures and vocal tones, to figuring out what your gut is really telling you.
This concise and engaging guide will help leaders and aspiring leaders of all stripes to connect powerfully, communicate more effectively, and command influence.
About the Author: Nick Morgan, founder of Public Words Inc., is one of America’s top communication and speech coaches. He is a former Fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, where he was affiliated with the school’s Center for Public Leadership. From 1998 to 2003, he served as editor of the Harvard Management Communication Letter. He is the author of the acclaimed book, Working the Room, reprinted in paperback as Give Your Speech, Change the World.
We’ve all been there: an Excel spreadsheet smeared across a projector screen as someone on stage mumbles into a microphone while you sneakily check your email on your phone just to stay awake. It’s presentation hell, and we’ve all been there before. But it doesn’t have to be this way, especially when you’re the one delivering the presentation.
As founder of presentation design firm Ethos3, Scott Schwertly knows the difference between a great presentation and a great reason for an audience to take a nap. In How to Be a Presentation God, Schwertly begins to right the multitude of wrongs we have endured at the hands of dull speakers and poorly crafted presentations.
| ISBN | 978-0470915844 |
| Format | Hardcover |
| Publisher | John Wiley and Sons Ltd |
| Published | United Kingdom, 2011-03-08 |
Focuses on content, design, and delivery
Build, design, and deliver a fire-breathing, wing-flapping, roar-bellowing behemoth of a presentation. Unlike most presentation books that say the same things regarding presentation design and delivery (less is more, get rid of bullets and use images, emulate Steve Jobs, and so on), “How to Be a Presentation God” actually divulges step-by-step secrets for how to build, design, and deliver blockbuster presentations. By providing entertaining and clever presentation insights, veteran presenter Scott Schwertly gives you the in’s and out’s for presenting yourself, your business, and your cause with an easy-to-implement approach.
Have your audience praising the heavens and hanging on your every word. You’ll find proven and effective step-by-step secrets for delivering transcendent presentations with an easy-to-implement approach focused on engaging content, personal storytelling, and effective design elements—the holy trinity that leads to godly delivery.
As a presenter, your job is to move people, and anything less is merely wasted time. Presentations matter. We use them to convince others to do more, think differently, or invest in our ideas. Yet most of us can’t seem to muster the forethought, passion, and execution that our ideas deserve. If you’ve got a presentation to deliver, it’s probably important to you. So treat it that way.
How to Be a Presentation God gives you the tools you need to deliver when it matters and fulfill your own passion and vision for what can and should be. When people take time out of their day to sit and listen to you speak, not boring them to death is the least you can do. Packed with examples and lessons from great presenters—from Abraham Lincoln to Steve Jobs—this book shows you how to beat the boredom, flip your script, and start changing the world . . . one presentation at a time.
About the Author
SCOTT SCHWERTLY is founder of Ethos3 Communications, a presentation design and training firm with a client list that includes companies like Google and Pepsi, as well as successful speakers like Guy Kawasaki. And it’s no wonder, since Ethos3 placed first in the business category at SlideShare’s World’s Best Presentation contest. Learn more at www.ethos3.com.
I have a huge amount of respect for Carmine Gallo because of the quality of the research he conducts and how he manages to distill that research down into really useful insights into speaking …
Talk Like TED
by Carmine Gallo
Public speaking coach and bestselling author of The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs, Carmine Gallo has broken down hundreds of TED talks and interviewed the most popular TED presenters as well as the top researchers in the fields of psychology, communications, and neuroscience to get their cutting-edge insights and to reveal the nine secrets of all successful TED presentations. From “Unleash the Master Within” and “Deliver Jaw-Dropping Moments” to “Stick to the 18-minute Rule,” Gallo provides a step-by-step method that makes it possible for anyone to create, design, and deliver a TED-style presentation that is engaging, persuasive, and memorable.
http://bit.ly/1g24w65
“We’ve all committed the 11 deadly presentation sins on the way up in our careers. This insightful book will help make sure that your way up doesn’t become the way down!”
– Dr. Nick Morgan, author of Give Your Speech, Change the World
11 Deadly Presentation Sins is the perfect book for public speakers, business presenters, PowerPoint users and anyone who has to get up and talk in front of an audience.
Few skills are more important in business or in life than the ability to present your ideas in clear and compelling terms. A solid presentation can help you:
* Close a sale with a customer
* Earn a raise
* Get a job
* Boost your reputation in the marketplace
* And much more …
Escape From PowerPoint Hell …
More Than 100 Practical Tips …
Did We Mention Fun?
My review
Want to avoid killing your audiences with boredom? Are you killing your career, your business, your chances of winning that pitch with murderous presentations? Sin no more. Resurrect your speaking success with Rob Biesenbach’s new book.
Rob brings skills as an actor, a speaker and a PR pro to this book; and not just skills but the entertaining, engaging communication style that made him a success there.
If you want to build your own success as a speaker, use this book. I don’t like books that tell you what NOT to do, and I feared that “deadly presentation sins” might do just that. I was mistaken, and happily so. The book is incredibly positive and encouraging. Rob provides the theory and the fundamentals of presentation success from energy to engagement, from storytelling to structure, from focus to visuals and much, much more.
I enjoyed his conversational style, his humour and his turn of phrase. Especially I enjoyed his humility. These all add up to an encouraging, easy read. He uses examples from other experts. He also uses copious examples from his own experience, so I felt that this was guidance from an expert. More importantly, though, these examples give Rob’s readers a multitude of practical ways to implement the strategies he has listed. This is what takes the book beyond being just another basic read about presentation skills.
Implement the guidance here and yes you will stand out – confident, comfortable and more engaging.
This is indeed the path to redemption!
You can get all the details (and where to buy the book) here https://amzn.to/3aXiE6l
(Yes that is an affiliate link and I will earn a few cents if you buy from Amazon. Thank you!)
ARE YOU READY TO MAKE MONEY – WITH YOUR MOUTH? Inside these pages, discover: 21 specific descriptions that show you exactly how to make money, Exactly what you can expect to be paid as a professional speaker in various settings, The fastest, easiest way to be prepared to speak at a moment’s notice, and more! These sometimes small, but impactful steps will bring you an inner peace and allow you to breathe this holiday season. Start your holidays off right and stress-free with the strategies in this book!
http://bit.ly/1ccxCk1