1. As discussed in class, please provide three reasons why visuals are important to web content. Please ensure you go into detail for each item. (6 Marks)

Why Visuals Matter

The human brain processes visual information 60,000 times faster than text (Briscoe, W9-C-Importance of visuals, Slide 8). Think about the last advertisement that stuck with you. The chances are it was the visual that made it memorable, not the text. Research confirms what marketers have known for decades: after three days, people retain approximately 65 percent of visual information compared to only 10-20 percent of written content (Briscoe, W9-C-Importance of visuals, Slide 7). This retention advantage makes visuals super  essential for any message worth remembering which isn’t what all advertisers want.

Emotional Impact

Visuals tap directly into our emotional core. They bypass our analytical filters and create an instant feeling that text has to work hard to achieve. Visual content connects to the brain’s emotional processing centers (Briscoe, W9-C-Importance of visuals, Slide 14), which explains why viewers spend 100% more time engaging with visual content (Briscoe, W9-B-: 10 Facts You Need to Know, Slide 6). I’ve observed people scroll past paragraphs of carefully crafted text only to stop and engage with a single compelling image and of course I’ve done the same thing myself because we all think more similarly than you think. The emotional pull of visuals isn’t just about getting attention, it is also about creating an emotional kind of connection that drives action and helps shape decisions.

Clarity

Visuals also help cut through confusion. They organize information spatially and show relationships that words alone struggle to explain. This visual organization improves learning by up to 400 percent (Briscoe, Developing Internet Content, Slide 11).Think about visuals in our everyday lives a picture paints a thousand words or another example would be how a simple diagram can create an “aha” moment that paragraphs of explanation couldn’t do. This clarity becomes super important considering most people only read about 28% of words on a webpage (Briscoe,W 9-B-:10 Facts You Need to Know, Slide 7).These three advantages: better memory retention, emotional impact, and clearer understanding, make visuals essential rather than optional in any communication in web content.