I regularly discuss the value in applying visuals – photos, infographics and even charticles – to storytelling in business communications.
At last count a picture was worth 1,000 words, so it stands to reason that an infographic could top the 10,000-word mark.
Some of the best ideas on visual storytelling can be “borrowed” from media properties which focus on this area 24×7.
Which brings me to Om Malik’s kumbaya post on Michael Arrington cashing out TechCrunch and selling to AOL.
Rather than transform a walk down nostalgia lane into long-form journalism, Malik marries the company timeline with the infographic which you can see below:
It really does tell the five-year story of TechCrunch in a way that is visually appealing and can be consumed by the reader in a couple minutes. (Hopefully all the boys sitting around the campfire during the first TechCrunch meet-up at Arrington’s house signed model releases.)
This same concept can easily be transferred to the company timeline which typically languishes in a boring if not downright unreadable format.
The vast majority of company timelines resemble the same form as the one from Cartesia Dx.
Not good.
Plus, you’ve got to tilt your head 45 degrees to read the headings.
Compare this to GigaOm’s interpretation of TechCrunch’s five-year history which zeroes in on 14 events.
If you’ve seen other examples of marrying the infographic to the company timeline, send them my way and I’ll add the information to this post.
Comments
Sarmishta Ramesh
Good one. Thanks for the post. Milestones like these should be leveraged even by corporate Wikipedias and corporate fact sheets. Say good bye to “Amazon” style chronological droning.