Marketing professionals and interface designers use many tools and frameworks to put the user at the center of their choices, and personas are one of the most essential. They use personas externally as a shorthand to speak about segments of users. With an inward focus, many training managers and instructional designers report trying to adopt a user-centered approach as well. Yet, research suggests that training departments are not effectively considering using personas internally when developing courses.

Here at ThoughtForm, we work on a wide variety of communication projects. Our scope often ranges from helping companies discuss and adopt new ideas and processes, to shaping market perceptions and educating consumers. From our experiences, we have come to champion the Foglifter® for effective visual communication.

What’s a writer, designer, or brand steward to do in a world where communication is becoming more freeform and relaxed, even as products and services are becoming more complex? The answer: Balance communication trends with clarity. Go back to basics and define (or re-define) clear guidelines to document your business’s brand. Whether your business’s style is casual, formal, or otherwise, define your standards so your staff can re-enforce and effectively communicate the way you want them to.

Foglifters use a lively visual language to explain new products, services, business models, and business strategies far more effectively than words alone can. The best Foglifters are visual models that contain all the elements of a story. By using a visual model to take the audience on a tour of the subject matter, you can address all the ideas that make up the story. Because the message is visible, it’s engaging, clear, and easier to remember.

Journey maps are a way to document how a person interacts with a company, organization, product, or service. The journey map documents people’s actions, as well as support tools, motivations, influences, etc. Journey maps are a great tool to see your business from a fresh perspective and can help to identify opportunity areas or pain points.

Using user research to get to know your audience is an important initial step in creating a strong brand. It’s essential to understand the people who will interact with your product or service. That’s a no-brainer. But getting to know these people isn’t always so easy.

If you’re trying to explain a complex idea, abstractions may only take you so far. Instead of explaining your idea in words, make a napkin sketch. It’s a technique we use in almost every project.