Purpose and Suitability of a Visualisation Diagram

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.

What it is for

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.

When it is suitable

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.

Why it is quicker

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.