Hello, welcome to the overview of visual medical communications course!

In this course I will talk about the different categories of visual medical communications. I describe eight different categories of visual medical communications, and there is definitely some overlap between the categories.

The categories described include

· medically related graphic design,

· slides and infographics, document design,

· data visualization,

· medical illustration,

· instructional design

· animated graphics and video

· 3d animation

For each category, I will talk about the programs used. I'll go through some examples, as well as some current job posts to look at the kind of qualifications that you need to have and I'll talk about some of the associations and other resources you can check out for more information.

Visual communication is useful in general to help clarify messages, but with scientific and medical information, it is especially valuable, because sometimes these topics are complex and the audience may not have a scientific background.

Another thing about visuals--most of us can agree that a picture is worth 1000 words--we can grasp the meaning of visual instantly. We use visuals a lot to tell stories; we can use shapes and lines to outline relationships and processes. We can use symbols and icons to simplify information, and we can use color to indicate importance and draw attention.

Different types of visual communications include infographics, process diagrams, flowcharts roadmaps, charts, graphs, visual reports, presentations, mind maps, illustrations, animations, and many more.

In this course I will go through each of these categories and you’ll will have a better awareness of this field. I hope you’ll join me!