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Do you ever struggle to find the perfect description

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when trying to convey an idea?

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Like a foggy picture,

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adjectives and modifiers fail to depict

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what's in your mind.

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Illustrators often face a similar challenge,

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especially when attempting to explain

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complex and difficult concepts.

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Sometimes the imagery is intangible

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or way too complicated to explain with a picture.

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Although complex information could be relayed

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using charts and stats,

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this could get pretty boring.

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Instead, just like when writing an essay

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to describe, for example, emotions,

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illustrators can use visual metaphors

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to bring to life difficult concepts.

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Just as a written metaphor is a description

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that relates one object to another,

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a visual metaphor uses imagery to suggest

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a particular association or point of similarity.

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Our lesson "Big Data" is a great example

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of a situation where visual metaphors

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played a huge role in explaining the concept.

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What is Big Data in the first place?

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Good question!

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Big Data is a huge amount of digital information

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produced worldwide on a daily basis,

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challenging us to find solutions

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for storing,

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analyzing,

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and also imagining it visually.

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Quite an elusive concept!

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How should we depict this?

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Let's take a look at our "Big Data" script.

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We start with smaller computer servers

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that branch out into bigger networks

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to produce data,

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then even bigger networks

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and production of even more data.

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You see where we're going with this --

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an object growing and branching out in many directions

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and producing something as a result?

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Does that remind you of something?

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Just like those computer networks,

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a tree grows and branches out

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to produce more leaves each year.

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And every year, just as the data accumulates

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and faces us with a challenge

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to find storage solutions,

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it gets harder to collect those piles of leaves

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when they fall off the tree.

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Aha! There's our visual metaphor!

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Okay, so we have the script,

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audio,

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and a visual metaphor.

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The next step in visual development

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is to design the characters

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and environments of the animation.

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To do so, we think

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of an appropriate and appealing style

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to illustrate the ideas

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and help the viewer better understand

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what they're hearing.

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Let's go back to the script

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and see if we can find any clues there.

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Our story starts in the 1960s

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when the first computer networks were built.

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This decade will serve as a good point

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to make the stylistic choice for our animation

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as it will allow us to refer to artwork

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from that era.

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You may want to start

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by looking at some art books

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(design, illustrations, cartoons, etc.)

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from that era

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and find a style that may our own purpose.

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Look closely,

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study the material,

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and try to understand the choices

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artists of that time made and why.

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For example, the 1960s minimalist animation style

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was a significant departure

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from the cinematic realism

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that was popular in animated films at the time.

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The choice to use limited animation techniques

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was originally made for budgetary reasons,

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but it became a signature style

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that influenced many future generations of animators.

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In this stylistic approach,

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the simplified characters,

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flat backgrounds,

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and angular shapes come together

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to create new interpretations of reality,

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which also sounds like a good place

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to begin visualizing our own Big Data.

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Well, let's try an experiment.

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"In the 1980s islands of similar networks

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speaking different dialects

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sprung up all over Europe and the States,

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making remote access possible but tortuous."

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Is this better?

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"In the 1980s islands of similar networks

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speaking different dialects

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sprung up all over Europe and the States,

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making remote access possible but tortuous.

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To make it easy for our physicists across the world

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to access the ever-expanding Big Data

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stored at CERN without traveling,

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the networks needed to be talking

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with the same language."

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As you probably observed,

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graphic representations are a great way

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to capture the interest of your audience.

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By depicting what you want to present and explain

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with strong, memorable visuals,

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you can communicate your idea more effectively.

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So, now, challenge yourself.

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Think of an abstract concept

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that cannot be explained with simple words.

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Go ahead and try your hand

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at visually developing that idea.