A visualisation diagram is a pre-production document that shows what a finished media product will look like. It is a sketch of an idea rather than the finished product, so it does not need to be produced to the same polished standard — rough outlines and quick notes do the job.
It shows the layout of the product, so everyone can see where each element will sit, and it records the colour scheme and the typography — the fonts, sizes and whether text is in capitals — so the designer knows exactly what to use. Because those choices are written on the sketch, the diagram holds enough key information for a graphic designer to produce the final item from it.
It also lets the client and the rest of the design team see the idea before any production work begins, while changes are still cheap. In advertising, the diagram is reviewed with the client to check that every point in the brief has been met before production starts.
For example, you are planning a leaflet for a school summer fair. A quick sketch puts the event name in bold rounded letters across the top, a sketched photograph of a bouncy castle in the middle, and the times and ticket prices bottom right, with a note saying the background should be pale yellow. A designer could build the leaflet from that.
Visualisation diagrams suit static, visual products: printed adverts, posters, magazine and book covers, leaflets and brochures, packaging, catalogues, banners, tickets, promotional and email marketing material, comic pages, web pages, and game screens, characters or environments. They are not appropriate where movement, sound or interaction over time is the main feature, because a still sketch cannot show these — a storyboard is the better choice there.
Even when the diagram is made in the same software as the final product, it takes far less time to produce, because writing an instruction such as “change the title to dark blue” is quicker than carrying the change out yourself. The designer still understands the note, so the idea is agreed before any of the slow, detailed work begins.
A visualisation diagram is a pre-production sketch that shows the components of a media product and explains how they should look. It is a plan, not the finished item, so images, photographs and graphics are shown as quick sketches rather than polished assets.
The layout and positioning of every element are shown, so the designer can see where each item will sit on the product. A poster for a school book swap might show the headline across the top, a sketched stack of books in the centre and the event details at the bottom.
Annotation is written notes on the diagram that explain the colours, the images and other details the designer needs. For example, an arrow to the background could say “pale yellow, flat colour” or a note beside the book sketch could say “show children’s books, bright spines”. Annotations are instructions for whoever makes the final product, so a change described in an annotation does not have to be carried out on the sketch itself.
Typography information records the font style, the font size and whether text is in capitals. The actual text is written onto the diagram, such as the title, slogan or headline, instead of leaving an empty labelled box. Writing “Book Swap Saturday” shows the designer the real words and how much space they need.
Extra components depend on the product. A diagram may need a logo; a film rating or classification with key credits; a price, barcode, publication date or issue number; an ISBN; or cover lines giving short descriptive text about features.
In a digital diagram, images may be ones the client already owns or stock images used before a licence is bought. Stock images often carry a watermark at this stage, and a licence for the high-resolution version is bought for the final product.
A visualisation diagram is a sketch showing how a finished media product will look. It is more detailed than a wireframe layout, which marks images with crossed boxes; on a visualisation diagram you sketch the actual image content.
Your drawing does not have to be perfect, but it still needs to make clear what the finished product will look like. A rectangle with the word “lantern” written inside is not enough — draw the lantern’s shape, handle and glow. For a poster advertising a community lantern parade, sketch a row of lanterns and a small crowd rather than labelling an empty box “crowd”.
Do not attach final high-resolution photographs, bespoke artwork made for the finished product, or physical materials collected for inspiration. The diagram is a planning sketch, so those final assets are added later. Backgrounds need not be filled in completely: a few quick shading strokes plus an annotation such as “night sky: dark blue” can indicate the background colour.
Make the diagram neat. Use a ruler where appropriate, for example for a border or straight text lines, and make sure every annotation and piece of text is legible. The graphic designer must be able to read your instructions without asking what they mean.
In industry, sketches are often rough and quick so that designers can produce lots of ideas. An early, rough sketch of an idea is called a scamp; you might produce three different lantern-parade scamps before selecting one. A hand-drawn diagram can use sketching, or assets that are cut out and stuck onto the page — for example, a simple paper lantern shape glued in position while you decide where it should sit.
Non-electronic drawing materials are physical tools used to plan work by hand. They include pens, pencils, rulers and paper. Because they are physical objects you can touch and use to create pre-production documents, they count as hardware too, even though they do not plug in or use power.
You can use these materials to sketch a layout, write short notes or arrange early ideas. A ruler helps you draw straight edges for a rough page plan, while a pencil lets you rub out and change a line without starting again. The paper becomes the working surface for the document.
Storyboards, visualisation diagrams, mind maps and mood boards are often created on paper or board. Drawing by hand can be easier when you do not have a graphics tablet, because you can pick up a pencil and start straight away. Paper also lets you sketch quickly and annotate ideas in the margin without opening software or saving a file.
This makes non-electronic materials especially useful in the early stages of planning, when ideas are changing fast. For example, you might sketch four rough storyboard frames for an animation club film in pencil, then rub out the weakest one and redraw it in a new position once you have settled on the order.
A hand-made document can later be digitised if it needs to be shared or edited on a computer, but the first planning work can still be done with simple drawing materials.
The best hardware depends on the document you are making and the situation you are making it in. A keyboard, a pointing device and a display are the common set for almost every digital pre-production document, because together they let you type, select and see what you are creating.
For a script, the keyboard does the main job: you type dialogue, character names and stage directions. The display lets you view the script and check its layout, such as whether scene headings line up on the left. A mouse is used to select, cut and paste sections when a scene needs moving. Writing a two-minute radio advert script, you would type it, then drag the mouse to move the closing lines so the advert ends on the price.
A graphics tablet is not a good choice for a script, because a script is a typed document. A stylus is clumsy for placing a cursor between two words, while a mouse selects and moves text precisely.
For a visualisation diagram, the keyboard is used for text and annotation labels, a mouse selects and moves objects around the design, a graphics tablet is used for sketching the layout, and the display shows the work in progress. A visualisation diagram of an arcade game's start screen needs both sketched graphics and typed notes explaining which button does what.
| Document | Main job | Hardware that suits it |
|---|---|---|
| Script | Typing and editing text | Keyboard, mouse, display |
| Visualisation diagram | Sketching plus annotation | Keyboard, mouse, graphics tablet, display |
A trackpad or trackball does the same job as a mouse, and a touchscreen used with a stylus acts as both graphics tablet and display, because the drawing goes straight onto the screen. That is why scripts, storyboards and visualisation diagrams often share the same hardware, with a graphics tablet or stylus added for the drawn ones.
Match the hardware to the job: typed documents need a keyboard and pointing device, drawn or laid-out ones may need a stylus as well, and a paper sketch must be digitised before it can be shared.
A graphics tablet is an input device used for drawing. You draw on the tablet with a stylus, and the tablet copies what you draw onto the computer screen.
The stylus behaves like a mouse. Moving it over the tablet moves the pointer on screen, and resting the stylus tip on the tablet is like pressing the left mouse button: keep the tip down and drag to draw a line, or lift it to stop. This means you can sketch shapes and lines, annotate an image with notes and arrows, and select items in software. Tapping the surface selects an item, just as clicking once with a mouse would.
Some styluses have pressure sensitivity. In brush-based software, pressing harder can make a brush stroke thicker, while a lighter touch makes it thinner. This gives more natural-looking lines, especially when sketching. For example, when sketching a poster layout for your school's book swap, you could use light strokes for thin guides and press harder to make the title stand out.
A graphics tablet suits pre-production documents that need drawing or annotation, such as visualisation diagrams, storyboards and digital mood boards. It is not the best tool for a script, because a script is a typed document and a keyboard is more suitable for entering text.
The stylus and graphics tablet are not the same device: the stylus is the pen-like tool, and the graphics tablet is the surface you use it on.
Digitisation is turning a paper or board document into a digital file so it can be shared with others. For example, a handwritten recipe from a food technology lesson could be photographed and emailed home instead of the paper being lost.
Scanners and digital cameras mainly digitise existing documents; they do not create a new document from scratch.
A flat-bed scanner has a glass surface where you lay the page flat. Some scanners are built into another device, so you may already have one. A sheet feeder pulls through and scans many pages automatically, saving time. A scanner lights the page evenly, so you avoid shadows or poor lighting, and it can capture images and photographs at high resolution.
A digital camera is a quick way to digitise a document. A professional camera gives more control over image quality, aperture and focus, while a camera already to hand may be good enough for a simple note. A camera beats a scanner when the item is very large, three-dimensional, textured or cannot be scanned easily. For example, a scale model of a stage set can be photographed from several angles so the director can see each scene from the audience; a flat scan could not show that.
A graphics tablet is a flat pad used with a stylus. Whatever you draw on the pad appears on screen, so a game character can be created and saved as a digital file straight away. You can also place a pencil sketch on the tablet and draw over its lines with the stylus, turning the paper drawing into a digital file. Scripts are rarely handwritten, so a script is unlikely to need digitising; it is normally typed and saved digitally from the start.
Digital documents are generally easier to share than physical ones. A physical document can still be digitised with a scanner, digital camera or graphics tablet before it is shared.
A storyboard is a sequence of sketched frames showing what happens shot by shot. You can make one by hand, often on a printed template of empty frames, or digitally on a computer or tablet by drawing with a graphics tablet and stylus, or with a touchscreen (often with a stylus).
You do not need special software to make a storyboard digitally. Presentation software works well because each slide can hold one frame and the slides are already in order. Image editing software and desktop publishing (DTP) software can also be used, while a dedicated storyboard application is built only for storyboarding and may add extra tools.
Useful features save time and keep frames consistent:
For example, in a storyboard for a 30-second advert about a rescue dog, you could paste the same kennel background into six frames, change only the dog's position, then drag frame five before frame four.
A visualisation diagram is a rough plan of what a finished product will look like, such as a recipe booklet cover. You can create one with image editing software, presentation software or DTP software. Professional designers often favour desktop publishing or image editing tools for this work because they offer stronger design controls, including accurate positioning of text and pictures.
In image editing software, you can insert photographs and images directly from image libraries into a digital diagram. A digital diagram is easier to edit, move items around in, and share than a physical diagram, which must be digitised first.
A visualisation diagram is a planning document used by the client and the production team to agree what a media product will look like before any production work starts. Its users are the people who turn the first idea into the finished product, plus the client paying for it. They are not the people who will eventually buy or view the product.
Client: the company or individual commissioning the work. Imagine a small games publisher wants a box cover for a new family board game. The client looks at the sketched cover and either approves it or asks for changes before any artwork is produced. This is why the diagram matters: it is much cheaper to change a sketch than to redo finished artwork.
| User | What they use the diagram for |
|---|---|
| Graphic designer, graphic artist or illustrator | Uses the layout, colours and sketches to plan and then produce the final artwork for the box cover. |
| Art director or creative director | Checks that the style, images and typography fit the brief and keep the whole creative team consistent. |
| Photographer | Sees where photographs of the game pieces will go and what they need to show, such as a close-up of the dice. |
| Editor | Checks the wording, such as the title and tagline, and makes sure the text is clear and correct. |
The general public and the target audience do not see the visualisation diagram. They only see the finished product, such as the box on a shop shelf. The diagram is a working document for the client and the production team, so it can be rough and full of notes, including annotations describing changes the client has asked for.
A visualisation diagram is effective when it does the job it was made for: it meets the client brief, matches the purpose of the product and is drawn at the right format and dimensions for where the product will be used. A diagram for a 300 by 400 mm poster is a completely different shape from one for a narrow phone banner.
It must also show what the final product will really look like — where every item sits and which colours are used — and the drawings should get the key ideas for the artwork across at a glance. Annotation then fills in what a sketch cannot show, such as the typography, which images to use and the colours, so a designer can make the final product without guessing.
Never suggest a change without saying how it helps. “Sketching the splashing milk instead of writing ‘image’ in a box tells the designer which photograph to take or buy, and shows the client that the serving suggestion backs up the claim that it makes a quick, healthy breakfast, so the brief is met with fewer redrafts.”