Visual Design as Facilitator of Risk Observance: Optimizing Message Reception and Memorability for Increased Public Engagement

Amitabh Verma, Yan Jin, and Brooke Fisher Liu (Forthcoming), “Visual Design as Facilitator of Risk Observance: Optimizing Message Reception and Memorability for Increased Public Engagement” in Handbook of Crisis, Risk, and Disaster Communication (Eds., Liu, B. F., & Mehta, A.). Routledge.

Abstract: Despite visual design’s widely recognized authority in creating compelling, effective messaging in popular social discourse, its agency remains underutilized within public-facing scientific communication. Prior research has demonstrated that integration of visual frameworks in communication can realize more substantial rapport with non-scientific audiences, and maximize efficacy and persuasive capacity of risk, crisis, and disaster communication. The chapter aims to accomplish dual objectives – function as a comprehensive introduction to this complex discipline for non-design audiences, and provide guidance for composing topical, meaningful messaging customized to resonate with diverse audiences. The chapter identifies and clarifies key metrics, variables, and potentially-unfamiliar concepts to promote implementation of the design process by non-designers, and illustrates its postulations with implemented works. Finally, the chapter contextualizes the discipline within the evolving technical landscape of information delivery, which reinforces the need for competent visual structuring for effective outcomes.