VISUAL LANGUAGE
The Plastique Alphabet by Vasarely
In March 2019, I visited the fascinating Vasarely exhibition in the Pompidou Center in Paris.[1]
I loved it and discovered the Alphabet Plastique that Vasarely conceived from 1960s.
"The plastic unit used “consists of two geometric elements that fit one into the other, that come together, that switch places“.Using these bicolor units with solid or contrasting colors, the artist invents the Alphabet Plastique which breathes new life into an idea which dates back to the beginning of the century among abstract artists – the search for a method to create a universal language understandable by all.” [2]
It is :
Bright
Colourful
Unforgettable
I loved it. It is art but was already innovative. Today, it is translated into branding.
Figure 1: Zoom on a Vasarely painting [3]
PMI® Brand Refresh
The new PMI® brand refresh and symbols are an example of a new degisn language. I love it.
It is :
Bright
Colourful
Unforgettable
Figure 2: PMI® Brand Refresh
This new visual identity transmits the values of a worldwide community and as all languages, it needs to be learnt and practised.
Colourful visuals in the corporate world
As a professional, eye-catching visuals reinforce a message and serve a more effective communication: they replace the unwritten words, focus the audience’s attention and creates a connection if well used. A picture is worth a thousand words.
Do you need to be an art expert to use visuals in corporate presentations? No.
Do you need to be a communication expert to create more impactful presentations? Absolutely not.
Do you need to write much text in business presentations? Certainly not.
To gain confidence, I recommend the excellent graphic design course by University Boulder Colorado in Coursera [4]:
It gives:
Guidelines.
Some actionable tips.
A framework to analyze a composition.
Being gifted or not shall not prevent you from trying and learning and making efforts to design better corporate presentations. Practice makes perfect.
You can find some other resources to help you:
Microsoft Smartart functionalities ease the development of esthetic visuals, automatically resized,
Some firms have a branded corporate database/library with photos or pictograms.
And observing the world of visual communication around us.
Learning and Growing
Visual language is not devoted to art or marketing. The first step is to go beyond your own prejudices: 'I'm not an artist', 'I'm not creative enough'.Gaining some knowledge will help you to feel more confident to design more visual presentations with a thoughtful intent.
More importantly it will open the doors to new learning territories to see the world through another lens.
“When we’re in the midst of a creative process, we lose sense of ourselves, of our problems and anxieties, even of our goals: we find flow, and in that flow, we grow.” [5]
For me, that is the main outcome.
#PMI #VisualLanguage #Coursera #ProfQuentinMcAndrew #Leadership #Communication #KnowledgeSharing #ContinuousLearning #GenderBalance #WritingLetters
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References
The ideas expressed in this article are personal ideas.
[2] https://www.fondationvasarely.org/architectonic-center/victor-vasarely/?lang=en
[3] Zoom on a Vasarely picture of the exhibition at The Pompidou Center. Taken by myself.
[4] https://www.coursera.org/specializations/effective-business-communication.
[5] ]https://hbr.org/2019/07/jony-ive-and-the-myth-that-only-certain-people-can-design
