Sights and sounds we experience every day can become commonplace to us and take on a background position. We often see and react to situations without even being aware we are doing it. Look around your everyday work station, do you spot anything that you have conscientiously been avoiding? Such as wet areas around the coffee station, or extensions across the floor? We get accustomed to our environment and just learn to deal with issues. We see but we do not observe.
Visual communication takes a closer look at the way everyday information is presented to us and how we interpret and act automatically. We have been taught from birth to look at and interpret visuals "objects" and at the same time we have associated aural sounds with those images that we call language.
We learn to react to certain visuals the same as we do aural sounds. A fire engine with lights blazing means the same to a deaf person as the sirens blaring to a blind person. Danger! Holding up an apple to be seen will mean the same to a Spanish speaking person as someone who speaks French.
Participants in a team gain insight into the mechanism of the visual information presented to them in their work environment and learn how to properly react. A Team Leader must learn how to create visual instructions for their team members that anyone of any language can see and understand - and more importantly - perform the required task as expected.
But as the picture shows, visual communication is not as simple as it would seem.