The Easy, Simple Loaded Arrow
Posted on Thursday, October 30, 2014 at 2:46 PM
Using arrows to convey your message.
By Jan White
Don't be upset if it
is difficult for you to find a symbol with which to "illustrate" an
idea. Nobody thinks it easy except cartoonists. It does not mean you are
a bad artist. You may well be a lousy artist, but being an artist has
nothing to do with it. You need no magic, no artistic talent -- just
clear, analytical thought. Visuals only catapult information off the
page into the viewer's mind if they are loaded with significant
meaning. Therefore, you must first define the heart of the idea so
that you can then focus on what is worthy of visualization.
Once
you know the point of the message, you can start searching for its
cogent image. Forget being "creative." You are not looking for a florid
visual with which to make a splash -- there are too many meaningless
visual splashes all around as it is, and who is swayed by such
efflorescence? Instead, you are searching for something that will make
the point of the message startling, understandable, memorable,
persuasive.
It is so hard to know where to start thinking -- let
alone choosing -- the right image because they are infinite. Relax. The
simpler and more forthright, the better. Because its success depends on
the interpretation that your target will draw from it, that point must
be obvious and understandable at first glance.
To Trigger Your
Visual Thinking
Arrows are the easiest shapes to handle, and
they have infinite meanings. Imagine in your mind a bunch of simple
arrows: UP, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT. They are obvious primitive direction
signs. So what? So that is the nub of the idea! Just the nub. Now
imagine arrows going IN and OUT. More difficult because you have to
create a context of background. Plain left and right is cheating. Don't
you realize that you understand the symbols without even thinking? That
is rich communication! That obvious symbolic "THIS WAY" shape has
marvelous possibilities of interpretation when you just think about it.
Just draw an arrow and try.
The flat shape is obvious. Consider
the flat shape some other way: like a tube, or as if it were folded, or
it could be built up and three-dimensionalized. The fundamental
direction would tell the basic fact, but the tubing or the folding or
the lumping give contextual meaning. Enrichment of meaning. Here are a
handful of variations on the basic arrow shape.
Study them slowly to define the meanings. When you've figured out a
dozen or so, you'll realize that you can think about all this the other
way: the content could well represent the arrow, if you have twisted it
the right way.
Jan V. White is author of the classic
Editing by Design, Third Edition (Allworth Press, available on
Amazon). Eight of his other books are now in the public domain and
available for free at http://openlibrary.org/books.
He may be reached at janvw2@aol.com.
Add
your comment.