Introduction

You will have to brace yourselves for this — not because it is difficult to understand, but because it is absolutely ridiculous: All we do is draw little arrows on a piece of paper — that's all!

Think back: the last time you needed to understand a complicated new topic, or discuss a design with a coworker, what's one of the first tools you reached for? For many people, the answer will be pen and paper, or chalk and blackboard, marker and whiteboard. We use words in spoken and written form, of course, but often the central focus comes back again and again to the ad hoc illustrations we make, the "little arrows on a piece of paper" we draw.

We are incredibly visual creatures by nature. Well before the invention of reading and writing, we were scratching pictures and symbols into rock surfaces, cave walls, and presumably anything else we could get our hands on. Illustration is baked into our DNA as deeply as anything, perhaps more so even than written language.

Even the symbolic notation seen in mathematics was reinvented independently, time and time again, as a means to overcome the verbosity and imprecision of written and spoken language. As a tool for getting a point across, symbols and diagrams are nearly unmatched.

Why, then, are the diagrams in the work we produce so often treated as auxiliary content, rather than the main event? First, let's look at why and how we tend to communicate in written works.

Purpose in communication

"Say it once, say it well" is a well-meaning but misdirected piece of advice often given to those looking to improve their writing. Especially if the content is technical or complex, repeating things more than once can greatly improve how educational and effective your writing is.

Perhaps a better piece of advice would be to say it with purpose. It is fine, and even sometimes beneficial, to say things more than once, so long as the content of what's being said has clear purpose for being there at all. The need for clear purpose is true for all methods of communication, whether for the text you write, the words you speak, or the illustrations you draw.

The purpose of text

There is good reason that effective works of communication are usually a combination of text and visuals, not one or the other alone: there is no substitute for written language when it comes to capturing an author's intent. A diagram can't explain why it's there; words certainly can.

Written language is fascinating in the sense that a small, fixed alphabet of symbols can be combined to express an infinite amount of meaningful data, an infinite number of concepts. It's also not a closed system: new words can be invented at will, and their context alone will define them.

It's easy to go overboard, however. Anyone who has suffered through a book or article that drags on with endless metaphors, asides, or unnecessarily flowery writing can attest to its wearing effect on the reader's attention.

And unfortunately, it is just as easy to not say enough. Dense or extremely terse text with little to no elaboration or repetition can be worse than useless. It can confuse, frustrate, and deter the reader from continuing. While appropriate in some scenarios, such as technical notes intended solely for subject-matter experts, too-terse text often will miss your communication goals.

The purpose of text, then, is to explain intent, perspective, and reason. The challenge is to strike the right balance of verbosity, clarity, and interest.

The purpose of diagrams

Visual aids like figures, charts, and illustrations are indispensable in communication. A well-crafted diagram will capture interest, draw attention to important concepts, and allow the reader to learn in their own words. A tool that does all three of those things at once shouldn't be overlooked.

Similarly to text, a diagram should have a clear purpose for existing. One such purpose is to quickly grab your audience's interest, and prime them for engaging with the rest of your work. When glancing at your paper, poster, blog article, documentation page, etc, there is great opportunity to draw your audience in simply by having a clear, purposeful diagram in a prominent spot.

Diagrams can also serve as a means to draw a reader's attention to particularly important concepts. Not only do they serve as repetition in a different form, they also visually stand out and implicitly state that the author thought the concept critical enough to illustrate. As an added bonus, a reader will often experience the switch from reading text to studying a diagram as a mental breath of fresh air, engaging a different part of the brain. For important points, this combination can be extremely effective.

Last but not least, a diagram offers a reader the unique chance to learn in their own words. An author's written words capture concepts and ideas in the author's own understanding. Reading their words is hearing their voice. A diagram, by contrast, is consumed by a reader in their own mental voice, often jumping back and forth, retracing the flow, and putting words to it themselves, rather than reading someone else's. This process can have an enormous impact on the amount, and quality, of information that the reader is able to take away.

Why diagrams are overlooked

Allowing purpose to guide editorial decisions, both in text and in diagrams, is not a new concept. It's also not controversial to state that documents or other works of communication are more appealing and effective if they contain a balance of both text and visuals.

Unfortunately though, even if we can readily understand the value of diagrams and the critical role they can play, we too often relegate them to a back seat. There are two reasons why diagrams are so often overlooked: (1) diagramming is difficult, and (2) we don't allow ourselves the same amount of time to develop the skill as we do for writing.

Illustration is hard. Illustration and diagramming are skills in their own right. To the novice, good visual design can seem to come from some indefinable place of taste and intrinsic talent. It can seem so out of reach that we may decide ahead of time that we are not good at illustration, and not even try to develop the skill for its own sake. Challenge these thoughts when you have them, and ask if illustration is hard because you lack something intrinsic, or if you simply haven't developed the skill yet.

We don't practice it enough. Most of us think in words and other fragments of language. It's not surprising then, when putting thoughts to paper, we reach for language first. In itself, this is a good first step. But communication shouldn't stop there. Because we have so much more practice expressing ourselves in language than we do in diagrams and visuals, a self-defeating feedback loop forms: Illustration is difficult, so we do less of it, so it stays difficult, so we continue to avoid it. It's important to learn to recognize this loop when it happens, and work to develop the skill through practice anyway.

There is good news! Like any other skill, diagramming can be practiced and developed, if only we give it our priority and attention.

The main point: take care

Many of us may treat diagrams as an afterthought. Or, we may carry the vague notion that our work needs a diagram for some reason, so we throw one in because we think we need it, not because it serves a purpose. By leaving such an expressive communication channel unused, we are doing our own work, and our readers, a disservice.

Producing good diagrams, just like producing good prose, is a skill that takes deliberate practice. And, due to the mistaken notion that diagrams are somehow secondary to the prose, we often don't get as much practice as we should, or spend as much time on them as they deserve.

Some of us may feel we are not good at illustration. Perhaps we find the available tools frustrating, failing to capture our vision and wasting our time as added insult. Or we may believe that so long as sufficient text is present, the quality of our diagrams doesn't matter.

Don't fall victim to these self-sabotaging statements! Going forward, take care in your diagramming. Spend time polishing and refining them. Practice the use of diagrams as first-class members of your work. Your effort will pay off: the work you produce will be of greater quality, clarity, and appeal. Your audience will thank you too — and who else are we communicating to, after all, if not our audience?

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We humbly submit that Vexlio can be the tool that enables you to start drawing better diagrams. Give it a try now, for free, right in your browser: click to open app.