Most of us are remember images and diagrams better than words. I won't bore you with the research references, but the numbers are pretty straightforward on that. Not only do we remember better, but when words are accompanied by illustrations, we even understand the content better.

Text only and text with visuals

Visuals alone though, as powerful as they are, can be interpreted in many ways. That's why combining words for precision and visuals for memorability and understanding will help you create the most effective documents.

For example, images increase emotional attachment, diagrams like SmartArt help you show relationships, and charts allow you to visually compare and contrast data.

An added benefit is, of course, the increased visual appeal. People attribute higher credibility to and generally like more the content they read in nicely designed documents.

Word 2010 has the right tools for you to make your documents more visual, and therefore more memorable, likeable, and understandable. The key is to be familiar with some visual best practices. For that purpose, we have put together for you several sample documents, accompanied by pointers to the visual best practices in them, templates to build on the samples, and friendly articles that explain both why and how to create these visuals using Word.

We start with a film festival program, which represents agendas and schedules in general. Check back later this month to see a couple more samples. We'll highlight some of these visual best practices right here in the blog.

So, when an image, a diagram, and a chart meet in a document, they can make it a lot more effective - no joke!