How can a cartoon image be useful for providing messages and information in a business, educational setting, or professional organisations?
Aren’t they just fun pictures to provide a laugh or lighten a situation?
Well yes, that is one side of cartoons. But there are many invaluable ways cartoons can be incorporated by organisations in their educational and work development processes.
Graphic Recordings
They are often used in Graphic Recordings, Mind Maps and Infographics where images are used within a bigger layout that uses words and symbols as well to communicate ideas and processes.
But the visual element of cartoons can draw people’s imaginations into what is being communicated and connect them personally.
The Style
The style of cartoons used can also have a big impact in this way.
The more humorously drawn a cartoon figure is the lighter the observer will take the message. But this style of character can be a great one for demonstrating problems in organisations, difficult issues, and problematic outcomes in groups.
Humour, or a humorous character, is well known to be a lighter way of looking straight at the issues which can be intensely serious. These issues can be difficult to approach and using a light humourous approach bring everyone on board the discussion.
Training or Education Mascots or Cartoon Guide
A symbol or character (cartoon or other styles), can be a great way to pull together a program or educational material as a focal point for an audience.
A character can be used as a presenter of ideas and a visual hook for remembering the information conveyed and shared.
The character can also be presented as acting out the points needing to be communicated. For example, both good and bad outcomes of processes, services or specific actions.
The benefit of a character is that the audience will automatically relate to the character, which makes the information more personal and memorable.
A number of clients have used characters across a wide range of training and information programs with great effect.
The characters can be either cartoon-based or more mainstream and symbolic. It will depend on the tone of the project and what type of subject matter is needing to be conveyed.
Metaphor Cartoon Images
This image is symbolic of the issue needing to be covered in a major mining company at the time of commission. It evolved to its final version after some development with the client.
It ended up being used as a metaphor to represent the issues of communication and integrating different personalities into functioning work groups.
To quickly look at how the image works and represents the use of cartoons by a company to address serious issues. The bus represents the company. But it could easily be the branch or the specific working group using it. The bus is a metaphor and symbol of a vehicle which in this case is teams and professional groups within the organisation.
On the bus we see the range of characters on the vehicle, or in the team. As we move towards the back of the bus we see people getting more out of hand and undisciplined. This ends with angry people at the back of the bus destroying it. This is compared to the compliant yes people at the front of the bus.
Done in a humourous way it takes away any personal attack on anyone. But all observers will find themselves in the bus and recognise where they sit in the bus. It might even bring up how people might see themselves, but their actual behaviour is seen very different by fellow team members, or bus passengers.
By using such an image, it can being fun, but underneath highlight a serious message and question. Hence such an image would stimulate discussions, brainstorming and hopefully solutions.