| Because of the increased presence of technology
in the compilation of documents, there are no barriers to placing sophisticated and
professional-looking visuals into reports. But rather than getting caught up in the
gimmickry of producing visuals for your reports, you should strive to use well-designed
and appropriately-placed graphics, ones that add to your message. Visuals can simplify
complex information and they can help make reports more visually appealing. It is
important to choose the appropriate place for visual reinforcement of your message, as
well as choosing the visual that is best suited to information you want to communicate to
the reader.
Visuals should always be well labelled and referred to in the text of the report. At
the very least, visuals should have a title, an identifying numerical label and a short
description. |
Tables |
One of the easiest and most common visuals added to a report
is the table. Tables generally provide the reader with raw data. But tables of raw data
should not be thrown into the text for no apparent reason. Much of the raw data collected
for a report is kept as an attachment or placed in the Appendix. What appears in the
report is a summarized or explained version of the raw data so that the reader can easily
make sense of the information. Sometimes you will want to reinforce your explanation with
proof from the data. A table can do this for you quickly, without making your report too
long. Even though tables should be self explanatory, they should be properly labelled
and columns and rows should be properly identified. The use of tables is so wide-spread
that many word processing software packages have functions in them that will automatically
create a table for you. |
Graphs |
Graphs are commonly used in tables to visually describe
information. Graphs can show trends or make comparisons. They are generally a graphic
representation of data that is found in tables. The rules for constructing graphs are
fairly similar to tables. A report writer must choose the appropriate place for graphs,
and must be careful that the information provided in a graph is clear and accurate. If
more than one line is being depicted in a graph, it is important to clearly identify each
line. If the lines in a graph look confusing, the report writer is better off using a
different strategy to present the information.
Click here to return to Outline for Report Design |
2. Charts
There are number of charts that you can use to transform data into visual information.
Many computer programs, once the appropriate information has been entered, can easily
generate various types of charts that are appropriate for the circumstances. |
Pie Charts |
Pie Charts are used to show the relationship between the
parts and the whole. They are particularly good for information that is presented as
percentages. They work best when there aren't too many divisions: numerous divisions make
each wedge of a pie chart too slim. By shading a wedge or separating it slightly from the
pie, you can draw the readers attention to a particular point you may wish to emphasize. |
Bar Charts |
Bar charts are far more flexible than pie charts and can
accommodate a large number of divisions and categories. Even though bar charts have this
capacity, you must always make sure that the message you want to communicate comes
through. No visual should become a dumping ground for large amounts of information. They
should be used to clarify not mystify. Bar charts are generally used to compare
different elements. For this reason, the differences between bars, or the similarities
should be evident to the reader, but these depictions should remain accurate. |
Flowcharts |
Flowcharts can provide a visual representation of a process
or series of steps. As with all visuals, they should be well labelled. |
Organizational Charts |
Organizational charts can demonstrate the structure of an
organization. These charts can show the divisions within an organization as well as the
hierarchy. Click here to return to Outline for Report Design |
3. Illustrations
Illustrations can add an enormous amount of information to your report in a very small
area, but of all the visuals that you can add to your report, these can be the most
difficult to render. |
Illustration |
Technical drawings, diagrams, photographs and maps often require
expertise to compose. Poorly-drawn, sloppy or inaccurate renditions do not add to, and, in
fact, detract from the impact a report can make. If you have these talents or are able to
afford those of someone who does, the second challenge is to incorporate these images into
your report. If the image has been rendered on a computer, it is easy to transfer it to
your report files. If the illustration has not been composed on a computer, then it must
be "scanned" using a computer scanner, which transfers the image into digital
information, and a software program that allows you to alter and save the image for
placement into your report. Scanning documents also requires some expertise to ensure that
the quality of the reproduction is maintained when it comes to the printing of your
document. Although technology is making the handling of computer graphic files easier
and easier, computer graphics do take up more space and require more computer memory than
text files, especially if a lot of graphics are used. Graphic files can be saved into
different formats that can be used for different applications. You must ensure that the
computer graphic format that you wish to use to save your illustration is readable by the
word processing software you are using to produce the report.
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