Anyone looking for the power of visual language needs to look no further than emojis. From social media to messaging apps, they are rapidly becoming part of the grammar we use. Just like it’s important to get the commas and full-stops in the right place, our choice of smiley face and its place in the sentence can change how we read it completely. And do we need to talk about the amount of emojis that have picked up double meanings?
It can be funny or shocking to see what was written as a perfectly reasonable message taken in a dramatic new direction by the unknowingly wrong choice of emoji and this is the perfect example of the communication power that visual metaphors have. Whilst the business world can have mixed emotions towards emojis, there is still an important role for visual metaphors and the meaning and storytelling they deliver.
What is a visual metaphor and why should you use one?
"Visual metaphors make the unfamiliar familiar"
- Andrew Park, founder of Cognitive and creator of the RSA Animates series
Whilst emojis can be very basic examples of visual metaphors, the power, complexity and richness of visual metaphors goes a whole lot further. Visual metaphors are an important part of visual storytelling, in essence they are images used to explain or communicate something in a more relatable way. They use the power of our own experiences (also known as prior knowledge) to make new ideas, messages and information feel familiar and understandable.
Like the unassuming character in a movie who blossoms from humble beginnings into royalty, visual metaphors are able to wield visual storytelling at its finest. By combining visual thinking with our own prior knowledge, visual metaphors are a very effective tool for businesses in advertising and in communications. In particular, they allow you to:
make complex subjects easier to understand
frame less exciting subjects in a more entertaining form
inject your personality and brand into your communications
make all your messages more memorable and engaging
What are the key visual metaphor considerations?
Like the selection process for the emoji we’ll use in that text to our nan, our choice of visual metaphor comes with some careful considerations. Some of these focus on how your metaphor relates to what you’re trying to explain, while others relate to how the metaphors fit with your brand and your audience. Your finished visual metaphor will be a careful balance of all three.
The subject itself
This is the ground floor of your visual metaphor. It’s crucial that the imagery you choose is able to explain your idea or message in a way which is accessible and understandable. Whether you’re talking about something complicated or creating engagement around something not normally seen as entertaining, your visual metaphor needs to pass this first test - explaining the information in a way which draws on someone’s prior knowledge without being too complicated itself.
Your visual metaphor and your brand
A visual metaphor can be a great way to include your brand and personality, which we cover in more detail here. Your choice of imagery, colours and tone can draw on the hard work you’ve put into creating your brand and even draw on it to explain your message to people. Thinking about your brand when you consider your visual metaphor also allows you to work out what images not to use. Would that metaphor fit with or damage your brand? Does it make sense for your company or industry?
How do you create a visual metaphor?
That covers the things to consider, but what about actually creating your own visual metaphor? We would suggest starting off with some questions:
what are you trying to explain?
who are you trying to explain it to?
and as you begin to have some ideas, are they relatable?
are you keeping things as simple as possible?
This last point is relative to the ideas you’re explaining, a complex idea could well require a complex metaphor to capture the essence of what is being explained. But simplicity is a good principle to keep in mind as you think about your metaphor - the more simple it is, the more instant and wide-reaching its impact will be.
Depending on your audience, we recommend drawing on popular culture, society and everyday experiences to make the most of visual storytelling’s explainer and communication powers. Adding charm or humour will also help to increase the impact of visual metaphor and make it memorable. We would also recommend testing your ideas, whether it’s with colleagues, friends or the person sitting at the next table in the coffeeshop.
It’s a slightly different story if you’re working with a studio. In the process of creating your whiteboard video they will have written a script (unless you provided one for them to use). They will base their visual thinking on this and create several ideas. As professionals, they will have experience working for a range of clients in a range of industries, and alongside a creative meeting where you’ve explained what you want, all this will feed in to their creative process.
No one knows your idea, business and brand like you do however, and during the feedback process you will be able to have your say on what the creative team has come up with.
Visual metaphors: the research
From the research we do on our whiteboard animations for clients to the research we do on the genre of whiteboard animation itself, we are always happy when we find an academic paper. So, we were very happy to see that the Complutense University of Madrid's Management and Marketing Department has recently conducted research into the use of visual metaphors in advertising.
Their research assessed consumer neurophysiological responses to print advertisements that included visual metaphors, using neuroscience-based techniques and the study included 43 participants. It was great to read that adverts that used metaphors received a more positive response than those that didn’t use them.
It shows the power of using visual metaphors in advertising to engage audiences. Based on their findings, the authors of the study also highlighted the need to carefully consider your audience and the level of complexity you put in to your metaphors. In the study, metaphors of medium complexity had the most positive impact on purchase decisions.
These findings are taken from the research by the Chinese University of Hong Kong’s findings.
Visual metaphors are an important part of visual storytelling, and research by The Chinese University of Hong Kong showed how effective this visual storytelling could be. Their study on the use of whiteboard animations in science education found that:
87.4% of the students said that the animations had raised their interest in the issues discussed in the tutorial classes
92.1% of students who watched the animations said they were helpful in gaining knowledge
92.7% of students said the animations were helpful in understanding texts and clarifying concepts
The findings of both universities are mirrored in our research. We were delighted to work with Professor Richard Wiseman, Professor of the Public Understanding of Psychology at the University of Hertfordshire, on a piece of research which compared ‘talking head’ videos with whiteboard videos. We found that that the whiteboard animation was:
66% more likely to be shared
resulted in a 15% increase in information retention
was 33% more entertaining
Visual metaphor examples
The best metaphors are always bespoke and created just for the idea or message you want to explain. The uniqueness of your metaphor does more than express your idea in the best possible way, it also allows you to stand out from the crowd and make sure your metaphor and its design fits perfectly with your brand and audience.
We’ve looked through our back catalogue and found some visual metaphor examples from our previous work. Our creative team work hard to create visual metaphors and visual storytelling that make ideas accessible while capturing the essence and personality of a client or brief.
We worked with Big Yellow Self Storage to bring to life the nightmare many of us face when it comes to working out how to deal with clutter as we navigate life changes like moving house. We turned a monster of a situation into actual monsters.
Visual metaphors were an essential tool for us when we worked with Professor Stephen Hawking. While the whiteboard animation we created needed to balance these metaphors with accurate scientific illustration, metaphors like Einstein weaving space and time together and black holes having haircuts were essential in explaining the Supertranslations theory.
While working with ProxyAddress, simple metaphors like bridges and signposts allowed us to emphasise points in the voiceover and add in additional information.
When visualising how the world’s oceans can capture carbon from the air for CEA Consulting, visual metaphors again played an important role. We used them to explain processes such as the diffusion of carbon dioxide from the air to the ocean and the mechanisms involved.
Visual metaphors supercharge the way we can explain ideas and messages, whether it’s around public health, a new sales tool or the nature of black holes. A big part of visual storytelling, they come with lots of added benefits. We hope you’ve found this post and the business metaphor examples helpful. We’d love to hear from you if you have a story that you want to share through a whiteboard video using considered, unique and well design visual metaphors. Book a discovery call!
At We Are Cognitive, we’ve pioneered whiteboard animation videos and established them as the communication tool they are today.