[...]... seen, and they are on product release schedules that will make them widely available to the public Perhaps most gratifying to us, we were struck, time and again, by the high level of enthusiasm with which the businesspeople we interviewed spoke about their experiences in using images to communicate They were quick not only to describe the practical benefits relating to enhanced decision making, productivity,. .. have to be taught how to absorb images; it comes to us naturally In a given amount of time, vastly more information can be communicated through images than through speech or text The challenge in using images to communicate is that, adept as we are at taking in and processing visual information, we must overcome our lack of built-in tools that would help us efficiently create and communicate images. .. landscape contractor never leaves her house without her digital camera, because she uses images to communicate to management and clients the current conditions at job sites, the progress of various projects, and suggestions she has for design elements She uses the images to get approvals for change orders, creative decisions, and troubleshooting • The police force in Yakima, Washington, has equipped... methods that made it possible to reproduce multiple copies of an image This allowed these images to be VISUAL COMMUNICATION 23 distributed for hundreds and, with the emergence of newspapers, thousands to see As a communication technology, early photography enabled the creation of unprecedented numbers of images and gave these images unprecedented reach: No longer confined to the walls of the cave, the... and the use of analog video in camcorders and VCRs Video became accessible to the mass culture, and the use of still images exploded Today, more than 150 years into the evolution of silver halide photography, anyone who can look through a viewfinder and press a button can get an excellent picture, an hour later have prints, and within a week distribute them to people around the world for just a few... the ability to add “intelligence” to digital products has enabled engineers to advance their craft to the point that digital cameras and photoquality printers are now so smart, so automatic, that almost anyone can operate one and get pleasing results As Nikon vice president Jerry Grossman put it, “We’re at the point where the camera does all the work, and so we’re seeing more and more nonphotographic... of erroneous, unclear communication and the potential consequences grow exponentially Images transcend these issues because they are a global language, with an infinite vocabulary that is familiar to everyone That is not to say that our enthusiasm for the use of images is at the expense of language Far from it: We are using words to write this book Words and images together are much more than the sum... productivity, profits, and customer relations, but also to convey their visceral excitement at being able to communicate in such a natural, detail-rich way for the first time in their lives We hope you see a piece of yourself and your business in the stories that follow You are invited to visit our web site, www GoingVisual.com, where you can post your own visual communication stories and join an online... reconstructive dentistry, uses images he takes of a patient’s teeth and face to study, plan, and collaborate on procedures with technicians and specialists He creates a mold of what the reconstructed work will look like and photographs it in place, in the patient’s mouth The patient can then share the images with family and friends, who may help them make what in many cases is a life-changing decision Epstein says... three years and how they will enable the firms we profile and all others to go further visually— to further increase the efficiency and richness of their communication processes In most cases, the overhead, learning curves, and technology required to begin adopting a Going Visual strategy are all surprisingly ordinary The trigger to action is a lightbulb moment, an “Aha!” flash, whereby a key decision . John Wiley & Sons, Inc. USING IMAGES to ENHANCE PRODUCTIVITY, DECISION MAKING, and PROFITS ALEXIS GERARD and BOB GOLDSTEIN GOING VISUAL 12199_Gerard_fm.a.qxd 1/19/05 12:17 PM Page i To Dany,. www .wiley. com. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data: Gerard, Alexis, 1953– Going visual : using images to enhance productivity, decision making and profits / Alexis Gerard and Bob. Denise Marcil, and her team, Maura Kye and Mary-Kate Przybycien, and our wonderful editor at John Wiley & Sons, Debra Englander and her team, including Greg Friedman, Kim Craven, and Alexia Meyers.