A Communication Process Model

design is visual communication What is Design?
Design is the art of encoding a message visually to communicate the intended message of our client to our client's customers. In it's most simplest form, Design is the encoding step of how we all communicate to one another, as shown in this basic communication model below.

As this model shows, the art of communication is not a pure science; at best it is a struggle to minimize noise in the system and to try and ensure that the message decoded by the receiver is as close as possible to the intended message that was encoded by the sender.

Most design firms come in at the encoding part of a communication project, and can offer many wonderfully attractive solutions that look good. However, the most effective, impactful design solutions can only be realised if consideration is given to the overall context in which the design work is being sent and received. In other words, it needs to not just look good, but work well.

Noise?
The concept of noise may seem complicated but it isn't. When I say 'dog' We both probably don't picture the same thing. When I say 'orange', was I referring to the color or the fruit? Is that piece of text on that website a button or isn't it? What language does your viewer speak? These are simple examples of how what you may be intending to say could be interpreted very differently by your audience. Noise.

Visual Communications - what Concentrated Studios does - is try to reduce that noise.

How do you know that the audience 'gets' the message that you sent?

In most face-to-face communication settings, there is another step to the communcation process: feedback. This feedback is an attempt by the receiver to let the sender know that the message has been received and understood. Wether it is a nod of the head or even simple eye contact, there is some feedback given to the sender to let them know that the message has been received.

This vital feedback stage often does not occur in corporate communication settings; especially not on the web.

The better grasp that our clients have of how communication really works, and how thier project can be interpreted as a communications exercise, the easier it is to move that project forward with all participants and involved parties staying on the same page during development.

Let's take a closer look at the stage where a designer or - visual communicator - is usually brought into the process: the encoding stage.