What’s the essential element of visual communication? It may surprise you, but it’s not color, line, or design. In fact, it’s not something visual at all!

This week, we tackle a question from John, a SOLO reader: “How do I reduce the complexity in my messaging?”

John’s question leads us to a critical aspect of creating effective messages and claiming visual authority: the clarity of your message.

But how do you achieve this? The answer lies in stripping back the unnecessary and focusing on the core message. It’s about reducing noise and enhancing clarity.

This can seem daunting, but by following a few guidelines, you can create visual communications that resonate and are easily understood.

Here are three things to keep in mind:

1. Find a single thread.

Before you begin designing, consider the singular message you want to convey. Avoid meandering or trying to fit in multiple ideas or action steps. Ask yourself, “What is the one thing I want my audience to learn, remember, or do?”

This doesn’t mean you should ignore other details, but they should all support this central theme. Simplifying your message to one core idea ensures that all your visual elements are aligned with your communication goals.

To implement this: Start by writing a clear and concise statement of your key message. Review all your content and visuals to ensure they directly support this statement. If they don’t, consider removing or revising them.

2. Adopt ELI5.

ELI5 is a popular online acronym that translates to “Explain Like I’m 5.” It encourages simplicity and clarity, ensuring that your message is accessible to a wide audience.

This doesn’t mean dumbing down your content. Rather, it’s about making it universally understandable. By avoiding jargon, technical terms, and complex language, you make your message more relatable and easier to grasp.

To implement this: Pretend you’re explaining your concept to a child. Use simple language and analogies they would understand. Once you’ve simplified the message, translate that back into a design that reflects this clarity. Ensure that your visuals are straightforward and support the simplified message.

3. Strip it down to context → outcome.

Every message should be a journey from where your audience is now (context) to where you want them to be (outcome).

By framing your communication around these two elements, you create a narrative that is engaging and easy to follow.

The context addresses the audience’s current situation, problems, and needs, making the message relevant to them. The outcome clearly illustrates the benefits and solutions you provide, giving them a reason to care.

To implement this: Identify the starting point (context) of your audience and the endpoint (outcome) you want them to reach. Use visuals that depict this journey. Graphs, before-and-after images, and simple diagrams can effectively represent the transition from problem to solution.

Lean on these key points to sharpen your visual communication skills and make your messages not only more authoritative but also more engaging.

My favorite visual delights ❤️

Here are a few visual gems from around the Web this week:

🧠 Nine Types of Intelligence​
This infographic by Mark Vital is worth a look on two fronts: first for its content, and also for what you can learn about structure, layout, and color. Note how much info is featured without it feeling cramped. Also notice how the colors subtly align with the categories (Naturalist is outdoors green, Existential is spiritual purple, Bodily-Kinesthetic is active red, etc.).

🌲 Tree.fm - Tune Into Forests from Around the World​
Looking to escape into nature, right from the confines of your digital device? This site presents recordings of woodlands and forests from around the world, curated by an English collective called Wild Rumpus. Click through images of lush forests and hear native environmental sounds in this open source project.

💡 Four Ways to Write a CTA​
Here's a brilliant example of an entire article reduced to simple graphics on a single page. Discover four different approaches to writing an effective call-to-action button on your website or landing page.

If you have a suggestion for this section, let me know. I'm always looking for inspiring items to share.

Thanks again for being a SOLO reader and coming along on this journey of visual exploration,