 Lecture 32, As-Salaam-Alaikum. Welcome to the virtual university's course on business and technical communication. In the last lecture, I had given you a general overview of visual aids. Today, we are going to look at creating 12 types of visual aids. In this lecture today, you will learn how to construct tables, bar graphs, pictographs, line graphs, pie charts, photographs, drawings, diagrams, flow charts, organizational charts, schedule charts and budget statements. We will look at them. We will talk about how they are constructed, where they are appropriate, in what kind of communication they are appropriate and what purpose they fulfill. Let us have a look at tables. The table is one of the most versatile and widely used visual aids, especially in business and technical communication. Tables are used so often because they can help writers achieve several common objectives. For example, they are an excellent tool for groups of detailed facts in a concise and readable form. The most commonly used visual aids in communication are tables and that is why we are first and foremost talking about them. Tables are widely used because they are so popular that if there is a lot of data and information, they can be expressed in a very concise way. It is also easy to read them. Tables are very readable. Tables also help readers to find particular facts quickly, such as the total amount of money spent in a particular column, etc. The superiority of the table would be even more evident if you try to find and compare two or more facts, for instance, in comparing amounts spent on healthcare in different years. Tables can also be just as effective in presenting information in words as in numbers and this is one other key element of tables which is very useful. In most other visual aids, in a lot of other visual aids, you can only represent numbers and in a lot of visual aids you can only represent words or information that would not be so easily accessible through numbers. However, in tables you can use both with the same ease. For example, tables are often used in reports and advertising to compare the features of competing products or processes. In that you could either use figures to show the superiority of one product over another, maybe by comparing sales figures or you could use words to show the key qualities of one product as opposed to or as compared to another product. Tables are also often used to display information in the troubleshooting sections of instructions manuals. So, tables are most frequently used in such troubleshooting sections where you have only reported problems and the corresponding in one column and the corresponding column talks about how to remedy those problems. Let us have a look at an example of a table where the information is displayed in words rather than figures. Now, how will you construct a table? To create a table, you systematically arrange information in rows and columns. You should adjust the basic structure as needed according to the information that you need to put in and also according to what your readers will find easy to understand. For example, if your table is crowded, you can separate columns or groups of columns with vertical lines and help your readers to read across rows. You can place horizontal lines or leave a blank row after every five lines or so. So, these are some of the strategies that you can use to make sure that your table looks more readable and more video friendly. Basically, if you have a lot of information in one column, you can divide that column into two or three columns or you can also group columns according to your distinctions. And if you feel that it is difficult to read rows in one row and you have a lot of information in one row, then you can also divide rows and you can also do this so that you can leave a blank row after a few rows so that the distinctions are more clear. Of course, if you are creating a table where the rows are grouped logically where all things dealing with a particular area are grouped together in some rows and then another area is grouped together in other rows, then you can insert the blank line between logical groupings rather than at arbitrary fixed intervals. That would make much more sense. If your table has too many columns to fit legibly and attractively onto one page, then you can turn the table sideways or you can turn the page sideways and have the table in such a way that the bottom faces to the right or if you are making the table on a computer, you can use the landscape option when you are setting your page rather than the portrait option. Note that the fancy variations of the basic design may be used where attractiveness is especially important as in advertising brochures and annual reports to stockholders etc. When deciding how to display your information within the framework of your table, you have several basic decisions to make. You need to decide how to order the rows and columns. You need to decide which labels to use for columns and which labels to use for rows, basically the headings that you will use for columns and for rows. You also need to decide how to align entries within the columns and where to place special notes if you have any special notes, if you have any special comments to make about the entries. Sometimes you can create tables that are much simpler than what we just talked about. These informal tables are useful where the sentences that precede the table provide the reader with all the information that they need to interpret the table or if the interpretation is otherwise obvious. Sometimes when you are writing the pros of the table, the pros tell you what is in the table. Then the tables are very simple. Basically, tables can be either formal or informal depending on the purpose where you are using them with your pros. Now, like a table, a bar graph can represent numerical quantities which is done using rectangles called bars. The greater the quantity, the longer the bar. Some uses of the bar graph are as follows. You can use a bar graph to compare quantities at a glance. You can use a bar graph to show trends or to indicate the composition of a whole. Now, how will you construct a bar graph? You can use a bar graph to show trends or to indicate the composition of a whole. Now, how will you construct a bar graph? You will begin by drawing your axis so that your graph will be roughly square along one axis. You will place tick marks at regular intervals to indicate quantities. For example, 5 million, 10 million, etc. You will place the tick mark so that the longest bar will extend nearly to the end of its parallel axis. You will draw the bar as if the longest bar is parallel to the axis. Because the quantities you are writing are at the axis, then the bar will go along the axis and correlate with the quantities. Now this axis may be the vertical axis or the horizontal axis. You may extend the bars vertically or horizontally. Vertical bars are often used for height and depth whereas horizontal bars are often used for distance, length and time. When vertical bars are used for height and depth, horizontal bars are used for time, space and length. Generally, readers will find it easier to use labels placed next to the bars than to use labels provided in a separate key. You may have seen that there is a separate key box on the side with charts. Shades are given and it is written that this is the design. But in bar charts, it is generally more useful to place the labels alongside the bars rather than to place them in a separate key. One exception to this rule however is when you use the same groups of bars repeatedly. If the same bars are repeated again and again in a bar graph, then you will place the labels in a bar graph. When you are repeating groups of bars, you will use distinctive hatching, shading or colouring different designs. To distinguish each repeating category within the groups of bars and then provide a key to those categories. Let us have a look at a sample bar graph where the particular groups are repeated. As you can see, there are distinct patterns or colours that are used for each bar and then those bars are repeated to show difference over time. And the key is given in the top right hand corner of the graph. Very frequently it happens that when people are using Vajranads specifically bar graphs, they tend to put information down in such a way that it is not very clear to the audience. In fact, they run the risk of misleading the readers. One current mistake that results in accidentally misleading the readers is to omit the zero point on the axis that shows the quantity. There are many times that we do not write zero quantity on the axis and due to that the values that are changed are mislead. So, the axis on which you are showing the quantity is zero and the next quantity is zero. Also, sometimes it happens that people cannot put all the entire quantity scale onto one axis and therefore they skip out some chunks. This however misleads the reader. You need to indicate this fact to your readers. If you are missing out any quantity then you need to indicate to your reader perhaps by using hash marks to signal a break in the quantity axis or in the bars themselves. So, basically if you have any quantities in your quantity that you are skipping because you think they are irrelevant or because of including them your axis is very long or your information is not fit on that axis. So, then you tell your readers that you have skipped some information or missed out. You can just tell them that you can use hash marks or dashes so that the reader can get the quantity or some figures that you have taken out. We are going to have a look at some misleading biographs. In the first biograph A, that is absolutely correct. That is an accurate version. The visual relationships reflect the numerical relationships. However, graphs B and C are overstated and understated respectively. Bar B is overstated because Z shows dramatic growth in relation to X and bar C is understated because X, Y and Z hardly show any change. So, you need to make sure that whatever biograph you are using, whatever values you are including actually show accurate relationships and the relationships are actually visible to the reader as well. Because if the difference amongst the bars is too little then it won't have any impact on the reader and if the differences are too exaggerated then they obviously give a very wrong picture of what the actual results are. Another way to avoid misleading your readers is to make all the bars the same width. This is also a mistake that people make that the width of the bars is not equal and because of that the readers are misled. If you vary the width, readers may compare either the widths or the areas of the bars rather than just their lengths and thereby they can draw incorrect conclusions about the quantities that they are comparing. Remember that in a bar graph you have to compare the length of the bars, the width of the bars or the area that is covering the bars. If you don't keep the width of the bars equal then the readers may start comparing the widths rather than the height of the bars. Another form of visual aids is pictographs. Pictographs are a special kind of bar graph in which the bars are replaced by drawings that represent the things that are being described. The chief advantage of the pictograph is that it uses drawings to symbolize concretely the quantities that you are talking about in your graph. You will find pictographs especially useful where you want to do one or both of the following. They are useful when you want to either emphasize the practical consequences of the data represented and or they are also useful when you want to make your data visually interesting and memorable. The procedure for creating a pictograph is nearly identical to that of creating a bar chart. The difference is that you draw pictures instead of rectangles to represent quantities. In a bar graph you are also representing quantities and in a pictograph you are also representing quantities. But in a bar graph you have to make rectangles that are a little different. In a pictograph you make interesting pictures that represent the things that you are comparing. Like bar graphs, pictographs can also mislead the reader if they are not drawn properly. When using pictographs you can avoid misleading your readers if you keep all of your pictures the same size and use all of them to represent greater quantities. As you can see in this graph on your screen, if you make different sizes of pictures then you will get distorted information. But if you keep all the pictures the same size then the information is correct and if you want to show quantities then increase the number of pictures instead of increasing their size. Just like we said earlier that when you draw a bar chart you will not increase the size of the bars, you will increase the height. Similarly pictures that are not of the same size, you will increase the size of the bars. You will stack them up in height using more than one picture. Now coming to another type of graph which is a line graph. A line graph shows how one quantity changes as a function changes in another quantity. You can use line graphs in many ways including to show trends and cycles. When you want to show a pattern of change over time, line graphs can be very helpful especially when compared to a table. In a table you cannot show a trend with time but you can easily show a changing trend over time. You can also use line graphs very effectively to compare trends. If you want to show readers how to or no trends compare with one another then line graphs are very effective. If you are comparing more than one thing over the same amount of time or over the same kind of time period then you use line graphs. You must have seen frequently in cricket matches that when two different teams are showing progress, then they show it in line graphs and when they are comparing then they also compare in line graphs that the speed of the wickets or the speed of the runs etc. There are two lines and both teams are comparing the performance. You can also use line graphs to show how two or more variables interact. Line graphs are very well suited to display interaction amongst variables. Let's have a look at a line graph that shows trends. As you can see the x-axis has the names of the months of a year and the y-axis has different quantities and the trend is shown over time. This graph that you see in front of you now shows a comparison of trends. Here you have more than one line that is going across the x-axis. Again the x-axis has months, the y-axis has the quantities but they are for more than one county. This third line graph shows the interaction of different variables. As you can see on the x-axis you have years, on the y-axis you have quantities in dollars and the three different lines are looking at three different variables. Balance on goods and services and income, balance on current account and merchandise trade balance and all these three are then compared. How will you create a line graph? In a line graph you generally show how variation in one thing called the dependent variable is affected by variation in another thing called the independent variable. So you have a dependent variable and an independent variable and you show the relationship of the two. The dependent variable is affected by the independent variable. Line graphs almost always show the dependent variable on the vertical axis and the independent variable on the horizontal axis. Time is usually treated as an independent variable. Time comes on the horizontal axis because it has an independent variable. And any other quantity that is being looked at goes on the vertical axis. Now when you have your different variables then and you have decided what goes on which axis. As I said on the horizontal axis there will be generally time, the second quantity, the second variable will be on the vertical axis. Now after this you will mark on your axis, on both the axis, in regular intervals, you will mark to show the changes. In some situations your readers may find it easier to read your line graph if you extend the tick marks all the way across the graph to form a grid. If you do this you will make the grid with a thinner line than you use to represent the quantities you are describing so that your data stands out. Just like in the last graph I had seen on the screen. All the quantities written on x axis and y axis are on regular intervals and then a graph is plotted on them. Many times it is said that you put the ticks on the entire graph till the end and then make a grid so that it is easier to understand the graph in reading it. But for that grid you will use a thin line because the line you have used for the variables will be as much as the line for the grid and the line for the variables. Generally the vertical axis should indicate a zero point. Otherwise readers can be misled about the proportions of change shown in the graph. Just like we talked about graphs that it is very important to include a zero point. Similarly on the line graphs the vertical axis is very important to show a zero point zero quantity. Generally there are a few situations where you do not need a zero quantity if you have the same amount of quantities but generally you will use zero quantity. If you do not begin the vertical axis at zero, alert your users to that by using hash marks or similar symbols to indicate that the scale is not continuous from zero. You will have to tell your readers by using hash marks or any other scale that you are not starting from zero and your quantities are starting from a bigger number. Where you need to indicate some negative quantities such as losses use both positive and negative values on whichever of the axis needs them. If you want to show negative values on x axis or y axis such as losses then you will show both positive and negative values. Remember to label the plotted lines on your graph preferably immediately next to the lines. Whatever you gave the labels was given along with the lines. Now coming to pie charts. Pie charts are unsurpassed in their ability to depict the composition of a whole. There is no other type of visual aid that has a complete composition or different parts of it that is so effective. For example, you can use a pie chart to show how much each of several food sources contributes to the total amount of dietary fat consumed by the average American. Whatever you are showing as an average American diet you can show it in this video. Different food sources contribute to the amount of fat consumed. There are many different parts of a pie chart to show how much each of the food sources contributes to the amount of dietary fat consumed by the average American. You can also use a pie chart to show how much each of the food sources contributes to the amount of fat consumed by the average American. a pie chart, you draw a circle and then draw lines that slice that circle into wedges. Each wedge occupies a portion of the circle's circumference proportional to the amount of the total pie that the wedge represents, and then we will arrange the wedges in a way that helps your readers determine the rank order of the wedges and compare the relative sizes of particular wedges as well. If you will draw a small slice, then a small slice, then a small slice, then a small slice, and you will draw a circle that is proportional to the circumference, then that will cause confusion for your audience. If you draw a circle that is larger than the circle, then a bigger slice will come, and then the biggest slice will come, and then it will be easier for your readers to see and compare all those sections. You can start the largest wedge at the 12 o'clock position on a clock and then measure clockwise. Generally, this works very well and this helps in making the comparisons clear. In some situations, of course, you may need to arrange your slices in some other way to make your point effectively or to achieve a visually pleasing design. But those will be exceptions. Generally, this design where you have the largest slice first and then you go into a descending order is very attractive and also very legible. Now, it is said that you will arrange the slices in a way that you also need to label each wedge or each slice, and you will label it with its type. We are looking at percentages in the pie chart. We are looking at how much or how much is more proportional to the other slices. So, we will tell that in the percentages. Depending on the size of the wedge, you might place the labels inside or outside the circle. Obviously, if it is a very small wedge, then the label cannot fit inside the wedge. So, then you will place it outside. Each wedge typically has a different color, shade or pattern to help you readers clearly distinguish each portion. If you have the same pattern or color of each slice, then obviously, they will not see each other. So, you will have to give each wedge a different design or pattern and then label them. You will label them inside or outside the circle so that you can find out which design or pattern is signifying which thing. Let's have a look at a sample pie chart which shows college expenses of a student. These pie charts also show college expenses and they are just shown differently. They are just different models of pie charts and how the same thing can be expressed differently. In pie chart A, you see college expenses referred to in terms of total quantities in numbers and in pie chart B, the college expenses are expressed as percentages of a whole. But in either case, both the pie charts talk of different quantities, different sections of a whole. Another very effective visual aid is photographs. We use photographs in our normal life as well. We know that they are very pleasing to the eye and that they are very effective. But how do we use them in business communication? How do we use them in technical communications? With photographs, you can show your readers exactly what they would see if they were personally looking at the object that you are showing them. If they were physically there or they were personally looking at the object, that is what you depict in a photograph. Photographs can help you achieve a variety of communication purposes. One such purpose is to show the readers something that they have never seen before. This could include a new product or the inside of the human heart. Another purpose could be to show the condition of something. For example, the result of a skin treatment. You can see a lot of places in Ishtahara that it was like this before the hair and after the hair, etc. Or another purpose could be to help the readers recognize something. For example, in a lab manual, you might include photographs that would enable your readers to identify the imperfections they might encounter in a sheet steel, for example. Or to help readers find something. You can use photographs very effectively to help your readers find something. For example, you could show parts of a machinery in an instruction manual. How will you create a photograph? When you are taking a photograph, obviously you are taking a photograph from a camera, but you need to choose an appropriate angle of view, preferably the same angle that the readers would take when they would be looking at that object. The angle that the readers would look at the object, if it is physically looking at it, you can also try to eliminate unnecessary or distracting detail in the photograph. You can even crop or trim away the extra material that would take your readers' attention away from the object that you want them to see. If you feel that you have a photograph in which this amount of material is included, which is distracting your audience's attention, then you can cut the photograph from the sides and only include the things that you want your audience to focus on. Also, you need to ensure that all the relevant parts show clearly. Don't let important parts be hidden or half hidden behind other parts. Try to make sure that all the things that you are looking at are clearly visible so that the important parts are hidden behind something else. When you are giving a photograph in your communication, provide whatever labels your audience will need. Similarly, you can label other visual aids. Similarly, you can label photographs as well. And make your labels stand out sufficiently from the background of the photograph. A photograph's background will be very dark. Your charts, bar charts, live graphs, etc. don't have to have a background that is dark. But in photographs, there will be something coming in the background as well. So, try to give whatever labels that you are looking at to make sure that they are clearly visible in the background. Another visual aid that we can use in business communication is diagrams. A diagram is very much like a drawing, except that drawings accurately convey the actual appearance of things. Diagrams depict subjects more abstractly. Drawings are shown in the same way. Diagrams are not shown so accurately. They are shown in some abstract ways. But diagrams can convey complex information, such as the system used for industrial processing and fruits without actually showing the actual machinery. It is not necessary that the machine that has the fruit processing is shown, but a diagram can show that process. Now, how will you create a diagram? First of all, you will have to decide what you want to show exactly. That is the first thing that you need to consider. You need to decide exactly what you want to show. Then you will create an appropriate means to represent your subject with geometric shapes or perhaps sketches that suggest their appearance. You will provide the explanations that people need in order to understand your diagram as a separate key in the title or as part of the diagram itself. It is not necessary that the diagrams are shown in the form. Let us look at a sample diagram. As you can see, it is very clearly labeled, so that the different elements, different paths and the relationships become clear to the reader. Another very commonly used visual aid is flow charts. Flow charts are excellent means of representing the succession of events in a process or procedure. The simplest flow charts use rectangles, circles, diamonds or other geometric shapes to represent events and arrows to show the progress from one event to another. Now, let us look at a sample diagram. Let us look at a sample diagram. It shows the progress from one event to another. Now, how will you create a flow chart? A few conventions govern the creation of flow charts and we need to keep these in mind when we are creating flow charts. The labels that identify the activities are placed inside the boxes that represent those activities. Now, let us look at some other things. For example, in the pie chart, you can write the labels outside the pie chart. But in the flow chart, it is important that the labels that are in the boxes, in the geometric shape, are written inside. Also, the boxes are arranged so that the activity flows from left to right or from top to bottom or both. Flow chart means that whatever things are flowing, whether they are left to right or top to bottom or both are flowing. In this flow chart, you can see that things are flowing from top to bottom and some things are also flowing sideways. Another important visual aid is organizational charts. An organizational chart uses rectangles and lines to represent the arrangement of people and departments in an organization. It reveals the organization's structure, hierarchy, indicating how the smaller units are combined to create larger units. It also indicates who reports to home and who gives direction to home. An organizational chart tells the structure of an organization. Let us have a look at an organizational chart. Here, as you see, the board of directors is at the top and then the president and then we have a cluster of people who report to the president and then different people who are reporting to the respective heads of their departments. Now, how will you create an organizational chart? Because of the hierarchical nature of most business organizations, organizational charts are usually pyramids. This means that organizational charts are usually in a pyramid shape where more boxes are at the bottom and more people are at the top. In an organization where more people are working, seniority-wise, more people are at the top. The president is at the top and vice-president is at the top and vice-managers are at the top and so on. You do not need to show every part of the organization only those relevant to your readers. Sometimes you may need to represent more than one kind of relationship by using different lines for the different relationships as well. Now, we are coming to schedule charts. A schedule chart identifies the major steps in a project and tells when they will be performed. We talked a few words earlier about the progress reports. In the progress reports, schedule charts are used a lot because you can tell what things will be used in it. You can use schedule charts in proposals as well because in the proposal, you can tell the readers what schedule will be useful. Now, how will you create a schedule chart? One of the principal considerations in creating a schedule chart is deciding how much detail to include which depends on the audience's needs and expectations. Whatever you are including, you will keep in mind what the audience is expecting from that schedule chart. Tasks are always listed along the vertical axis with indentations which are used to distinguish sub-tasks from major tasks. On the vertical axis, you will write tasks along the height of the task. You will divide the sub-tasks with indentations. That is, you will write them a little inside as we have seen in the last schedule chart. Also, the intervals, weeks and months are usually marked off with vertical lines to help the reader. You will make columns and show the intervals. Now, coming to budget statements. Budget statements are also used frequently in business writing. Obviously, in every business, you have to make budget statements. A budget statement is a table that shows how money will be gained or spent. A budget statement may be very simple or very elaborate depending on the reader's needs. Many times, you will see what kind of budget you have to make for your readers. You have to give a detailed budget as per its simplicity or complexity. On the job, you can use budget statements in situations like where you have to explain the expenses involved with the project purchase to summarize the savings to be realized by following the recommendations that you are making. Or to report the costs that have been incurred by a project for which you have responsibility or to explain the source of revenue associated with some project or activity. If you are working on it, where is the revenue coming from to give a detailed budget statement. Briefly about some steps which will enable you to prepare simple, informative budget statements. First of all, you will divide your page into two vertical columns. In the left-hand column, you will list the major categories of expenses. In the right-hand column, you will show the income and align these along decimal points. Then, you will clearly indicate the total. If you want to show income, you will also follow the same steps. In this lecture, we have learnt how to construct different types of visual aids which included tables, biographs, pictographs, line graphs, pie charts, photographs, drawings, diagrams, schedule charts and budget statements. I hope you can easily integrate these into your business communication. If you have any problems, please feel free to email us the addresses englishatvu.edu.pk Until next time, Allah Hafiz.