What better way to communicate the power of visual communications than with a visual communication? That's exactly what Wyzowl has done with its new The Power of Visual Communication infographic.The infographic, which you can see below, shares some amazing statistics. For example, did you know that people process visuals 60,000 times faster than text? Did you know that only 10% of people remember what they hear? Did you know that only 20% of people remember what they read, but 80% of people remember what they see and do. There is truth to the saying, "you learn better by doing."You can also see an interesting depiction of the history of visual communications in the infographic from hieroglyphics to statistical visualizations and videos.In the past few years, the focus on visuals in online content has skyrocketed. As storage space got cheaper and internet connections got faster, content publishers could transform their websites into complete visual experiences.As you look through the infographic and think about visual communication and content, don't forget the insightful comments that Mashable's Lance Ulanoff made at the 2012 Mashable Connect Conference. You can follow the preceding link to learn more but the biggest takeaway related to visual communication and content was this comment from Lance:

“All the hot new sites are almost all about images. The image is the story, but how can we be sure our messages are getting through correctly? We can’t. How can images, which alone mean nothing without contextual text, be the next phase of the Internet? Think about it. Reading is about comprehending. Images are wide open to interpretation, and people respond instinctively to images. Without context, we have no idea what an image is about."

In other words, visuals can grab a person's attention, pique their interest, and improve recall, but without text to fully explain the message of the visual, that visual is left up to individual interpretation. Unfortunately, that interpretation might not match the message you hoped to communicate.Furthermore, it's important to remember that visual communication, like verbal communication, gets stale quickly. Just as the same verbal message repeated again and again is boring, frustrating, and ultimately, annoying, so too is a repetitious visual communication. Lance Ulanoff explained back in 2012 that visual freshness is critical to getting and keeping people's attention. He said, “TV is popular not because the content is great but because it’s a constant changing source of changing images. Big websites know this.”Visual communication in the online space continues to climb to the top of publisher priority lists, but don't let your desire to keep up with other sites visually damage your ability to publish great content frequently.Click image to see a larger version

The Power of Visual Communication Infographic via WyzowlImage: Frederic Bisson