Killer Visual Strategies: Engage Any Audience, Improve Comprehension, and Get Amazing Results Using Visual Communication

I've been in the field of visual communication design for 20 years now, so you can bet that I've followed both Edward Tufte and Amy Balliett over the years. While Tufte pioneered the science of viz com, his books are kind of like watching him speak: a slow-slog to the point, over complicated, and somewhat pretentious. But as a Seattle-native, I've been able to see Balliett speak a few times now and have always left her lectures energized and empowered... and this book is no different!I received the book on Thursday and finished it this morning (Sunday) because it's surprisingly a page turner. While Tufte laid a foundation for visual communication in a pre-Internet world, Balliett picks up where he left off and provides tried and true tactics for the modern age. The book is broken into 3 parts that build off of each other.Part 1: This is basically a thorough deep dive into the demand and value for visual content and the science behind visual communication. If you're a designer looking to prove your worth to your employer, holy cow this will give you the ammo you need. If you're not a designer, this section is still so important because it shows you how to look at visual content in a way that ensures the content you put out is a success.Part 2: I love this section. It consists of 8 actionable rules of visual communication - I feel like I learned more here than all 3 of Tufte's books combined! It's written so that you can skim it for key takeaways, do the exercises to test your skills, or simply gain context to build your content strategy. I feel like I can better speak to clients with this information and align the higher ups at my company when they try to push bad design decisions. I also want the CMO at my company to read this section because I think he'll get a better understanding of how to manage our creative team.Part 3: This part felt more like it was for my employer or a non-design team than myself as a designer, but I still found it important. I don't freelance anymore, but if you are a freelancer you should get this book just for this section because it tells you exactly what you should charge for your time based on different services like animation, report design, infographics, and more.All in all, I think this book is going to be a go-to resource for me for years to come (or until Balliett writes a second volume). My Tufte books have been placed in storage... this is all I need at my desk.

I've been a front end designer, engineer, product manager, and advocate for users for over 20 years. In that time, I've bought dozens of books to help me throughout my career. Most of the time I get one or two useful nuggets out of them before they begin collecting dust for the rest of their days.Killer Visual Strategies upends that history entirely. Amy Balliett eloquently articulates her life's passion in ways that are not only easy to digest, but are backed up with actual use cases. Having walked hundreds of miles in a similar pair shoes, I'm absolutely in awe of her ability to break down her entire business model in this book. Not even joking. After reading this book, if you've got a laptop, Adobe Creative Suite or even Sketch ... you'll have the tools you need to take your career to another level.There's an honesty, candidness, and authenticity that permeates this book. It hits you when your fingers touch the cover. I WANTED to hold it. I was sad to put it down because it felt so great in my hand as I continued flipping through the pages.Amy threaded a needle of "yes, and" and "refined design" in this master work. It reads as a gift to those who will come after her so that they won't fall into the same potholes she did. It truly showcases her passion for an industry that she was incredibly influential in creating ... but with that care and humility needed to really trust her. Again, that's a needle that's hard to thread when distilling your life's work into 229 pages.I wish I'd had this book 20 years ago. That said, I'm honored to have it now.

I've recently been trying to help my sister create content for her side hustle-- creating worksheets for her students and to sell. "Killer Visual Strategies" by Amy Balliett was really helpful in helping me to realize that it takes using real tools to create meaningful and beautiful content. We can get away using PowerPoint for now, but at some point we are going to have to invest in ourselves and our company if we want to be successful. Adobe tools, classes and training will help us stand out above the overs.I loved the infographic that states that "1 minute of video is worth 1.8 million words." I've added it to my board to remember that creating something meaningful and beautiful matters. The way we consume media has forever changed and readers/viewers/consumers are looking for something they connect with for long-term engagement.I loved how Balliett doesn't shy away from admitting her shortcomings, acknowledging luck and sharing her secrets to success.I've printed out the color chart from Rule 3 and the Font Guidelines and will be doing my best to remember to refer to them in the future. Thank you!Overall, this book has a wealth of information in a digestible format... with beautiful graphics. I wish she had touched on Instagram content which seems to forever be changing, but will be referring to this for years to come.

So many interesting information in one book. Thank you

È un libro che potrebbe andare bene a chi è completamente a digiuno di qualsiasi tipo di nozione sulla comunicazione visuale. Le prime 30-40 pagine sono dedicate alla storia di internet e del ruolo che ha giocato la comunicazione visuale. Pochissimi esempi rilevanti, si occupa di un po' di tutto ma in modo assai superficiale.