How the Human Mind Processes the ‘Information Jungle’

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Do people need help navigating making sense of the information they encounter on a day to day basis? David McCandless, an award winning designer featured in publications such as Wired and The Guardian believes so, and shared some of his ideas in his recent TED talk.
A journalist by trade, McCandless expounds on the idea that most people exist in a state of information overload. Even hard data and figures are not free from blame, as without context they can create very different impressions on the user. As a designer, McCandless makes it his job to connect data in meaningful ways to inform the user as much as possible with the least amount of effort.

The diagram above is an infographic by McCandless representing the effective “bandwidth” of various sensory channels in the brain, based on research by Danish physicist Tor Norretanders . It’s easy to see that sight is by and large the fastest component of information processing. To effectively present information visually is to reach one’s target as fast as possible
What does this mean for your business?
For marketing and sales, the more one can integrate into visual channels, the faster and more accurately a message can be delivered. Text has a very limited capacity for processing, reading speed is limited to an average of 200 words per minute. In an age where new information is being introduced from all angles, making your information the easiest to process can make the difference between whether your core message is transmitted or not.
With video, the rate at which information can be process is expanded exponentially. Static images can be scanned over and forgotten, but engaging video content not only draws attention but directs the flow of visual information in a structured manner. To control how your information is presented is to be able to communicate your value proposition more effectively with potential customers, which at the end of the day is what effective marketing is all about.

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