Why visual imagery and design help us understand and remember, and how lawyers can learn to use design principles to craft clearer, more compelling presentations.

1. Visual Persuasion
How to explain & engage with pictures
Ernie Svenson

3. 1 hour
Schedule of Presentation
Why visuals
‣ Pictures are primary
‣ Pictures and graphics
help us understand and
remember
‣ Pictures are “Brain
Rule” friendly
4:00 – 5:00 pm

4. Why visuals
‣ Pictures are primary
‣ Pictures and graphics
help us understand and
remember
‣ Pictures are “Brain
Rule” friendly
Visual grammar
‣ Effective visuals help
combat information
overload
‣ Data needs to be put in
context, and a visual
context is best
‣ What design principles
do we need to know?
4:00 – 5:00 pm
Part 2: Visual Grammar

5. Basics & Ethics In practice
‣ Pictures are primary
‣ Pictures and graphics
help us understand and
remember
‣ Pictures are “Brain
Rule” friendly
Visual grammar
‣ Effective visuals help
combat information
overload
‣ Data needs to be put in
context, and a visual
context is best
‣ What design principles
do we need to know?
‣ Typography is a good
place to start
‣ Words need to be
balanced too
‣ Trial Display: how to do
it right
‣ Use visuals in
mediations too.
Part 3: Putting visuals in practice

6. – Guy Kawasaki

8. 10-20-30 Rule
‣10 Slides or less
‣20 Minutes or less
‣30 pt Type or larger(this is 30 pt type)

9. Gettysburg Address
(what if Lincoln had used Powerpoint?)

14. US Military Powerpoint

15. Why visuals
‣ Pictures are primary for
humans
‣ Pictures and graphics
help us understand and
remember
‣ Pictures are “Brain
Rule” friendly
4:00 – 5:00 pm
Part 1: Why visuals matter

16. Picturesare primary

17. Bison picture:Altamira Cave
25k years old
Altamira Cave (Cir. 25,000 B.C.)

18. Another bison picture from Altamira caves

19. DaVinci - working out human form dimensions
Leonardo da Vinci - 1500 A.D.

20. daVinci head drawing: working out dimensions
Leonardo da Vinci - 1500 A.D.

21. daVinci’s notebook: thinking in pictures
Leonardo da Vinci - 1500 A.D.

22. modern icons: we know the
fundamental
language is pictures
Modern iconography

23. This is because half our brain stores
information this way
Verbal / Visual

24. We learned to read
faster with pictures
Learned to read words with pictures

25. Brain Rules

26. Brain Rules book

27. 2
Boring
We don’t pay attention to boring things. We
like emotional engagement: fear, sex, pattern
matching stimuli work best.

28. 2
Repeat
Repetition helps us remember. Memories are
volatile, and to keep them we need to
reinforce them (or have them reinforced)

29. 2
Visuals
Vision trumps all the other senses. Your
brain wants to see, and it likes to gather
information in the form of a story.

30. 3
Multi-sensory
The more senses you stimulate the faster
our audience understands and remembers.

31. Back of the Napkin book
Helps us relearn how to
“Think visually” even with stick
figures
Back of the Napkin
– Dan Roam

32. Napkin example of stick figures
Key Point: try to reactivate
your right side to help you
learn to communicate better
with visuals (doesn’t require
fancy computer equipment)
Drawing stick figures is good enough

33. The Mind Map Book
– Tony Buzan

35. Picture: Firehose
drinking

36. Informationmanagement

37. Info Anxiety - another good book
to use to start activating your “right side”
Information Anxiety
– Richard Saul Wurman

38. Data > Information > Knowledge > Wisdom

39. First, you have to pay attention

41. Gorilla hidden in plain sight
(if it doesn’t get our attention
we don’t even have a chance to learn)
How could you miss the gorilla?

42. Why visuals
‣ Pictures are primary for
humans
‣ Pictures and graphics
help us understand and
remember
‣ Pictures are “Brain
Rule” friendly
Visual grammar
‣ Information overload is
a problem; effective
visual communication is
an answer
‣ Data needs to be put in
context, and a visual
context is best
‣ What design principles
do we need to know?
4:00 – 5:00 pm
Part 2: Visual Grammar

43. Design Rules

44. 2 Books:
Universal Principles of Design
Graphics for Business

45. Clutter

46. Stimulating but not in a good way

47. Shuttle Challenger & Data Obfuscation
Challenger

48. Example of actual data Shuttle engineers looked at
NASA engineers notes re: O ring problems

49. ‘O’ Ring Problems
Flight Date Temp °F Erosion Blow-by Damage Index
1 Apr. 1981 66° 0
2 Nov. 1981 70° 1 4
3 Mar. 1982 69° 0
5 Nov. 1982 68° 0
6 Apr. 1983 67° 0
41-B Feb. 1984 57° 1 4
41-C Apr. 1984 63° 1 2
51-A Nov. 1984 67° 0
51-C Jan. 1985 53° 3 2 11
51-D Apr. 1985 67° 0
61-C Jan. 1986 58° 1 4
sort by date

50. ‘O’ Ring Problems
Flight Date Temp °F Erosion Blow-by Damage Index
2 Nov. 1981 70° 1 4
3 Mar. 1982 69° 0
5 Nov. 1982 68° 0
6 Apr. 1983 67° 0
51-A Nov. 1984 67° 0
51-D Apr. 1985 67° 0
1 Apr. 1981 66° 0
41-C Apr. 1984 63° 1 2
61-C Jan. 1986 58° 1 4
41-B Feb. 1984 57° 1 4
51-C Jan. 1985 53° 3 2 11
sort by temperature

51. ‘O’ Ring Problems
0
3
6
9
12
15
70° 69° 68° 67° 66° 63° 58° 57° 53°
Erosion
Damage
Temp °F

52. Charts

53. Example #1 - Bad Chart

54. Example #2 - Better Chart

55. Example #3 - Event Better Chart

56. Example #4 - Advanced Chart Design

57. Example #5 - Another Advanced design

58. Bad Pie Chart / Good Pie Chart

59. Bad Table Chart / Good Table Chart

60. Resonance

63. picture of ad with disfigured
woman who wasn’t killed by a
drunk driver

65. Color

66. Various color palettes

67. Balance

68. Golden Ratio

69. Rule of Thirds

70. Ali Fighting picture

71. Coherence

72. Avoid Incoherence:
Picture of red check
and green stop icon

73. Hippo picture
matches the
name
of the dance
studio (Hip)
and helps
reinforce the
memory of the
name

74. Leading the Eye

75. Sushi symmetrically placed

76. Sushi asymmetrically placed to right

78. Dominance

79. 2 girls: one with red
dress (which tends to
make
people perceive her as
more attractive) and
other
in blue dress.With men
red is dominance.

80. Basics & Ethics In practice
‣ Pictures are primary for
humans
‣ Pictures and graphics
help us understand and
remember
‣ Pictures are “Brain
Rule” friendly
Visual grammar
‣ Information overload is
a problem; effective
visual communication is
an answer
‣ Data needs to be put in
context, and a visual
context is best
‣ What design principles
do we need to know?
‣ Typography is a good
place to start
‣ Words need to be
balanced too
‣ Trial Display: how to do
it right
‣ Use visuals in mediation
too
Part 3: Putting visuals in practice

81. Typography

82. The Mac is not a Typewriter
– Robin Williams

83. AboutType

84. Serif

85. Sans
Serif

88. Sizematters

89. Can you read this?
64 Point
48 Point
36 Point
24 Point

90. Size affects reading comprehension

91. Quotes
The typographer must analyze
and reveal the inner order
of the text, as a musician must reveal
the inner order of the music he
performs.”
“
Robert Bringhurst

92. Quotes
The typographer must analyze and
reveal the inner order of the text,
as a musician must reveal the inner
order of the music he performs.”
“
Robert Bringhurst

93. White Space
Less is more

94. picture of oriental woman with minimal
text

95. Another slide with minimal text
and lots of white space

96. for Lawyers
Typography

97. Documents
Typography for Lawyers
– Matthew Butterick
– Website: www.typographyforlawyers.com
– Book: $25 on Amazon
– Principles of design for legal documents
– How to create a proper caption
– Effective letterhead design

100. Trial

101. $695
~$600
Trial Presentation Software
1
2

102. Recommend
Scott Newnam
Evidence Mgt

103. $89

104. When
Opening statement
Witness testimony
Closing statement

105. The Smith Contract
Plaintiff shall give
written notice...
within 10 days

106. Proof
Contract
Timely notice
Damages

107. 4
3

110. Mediation

112. Image of priest consoling (use
this to say “I’m sorry” but I’m done)

113. Image: Empty toilet roll (“it’s over”)

115. Ernie Svenson - ernie@paperlesschase.com

116. email: ernie@paperlesschase.com
materials: http://bit.ly/WgTMan