Have you ever tried to express your frustration with needless procedures at your office? It's interesting a cartoon can say it for you in just seconds, without the need for explanation. We business communicators should take note.
For a deeper understanding of this phenomenon, I recommend you watch the new documentary film Stripped (http://www.strippedfilm.com). While its topic is the dying of newspapers and resulting end of the golden era of the comic strip, I'll remember it for the more than 70 interviews with the world's best cartoonists as they reveal the glorious power of comics to communicate. No other medium allows you to say so much with so little, to say what everybody thinks and feels, uniquely.
In the right hands visual narrative art cuts through to the heart of the matter often in a humorous way. Good cartoons are like poetry. Concentrated. So what does this have to do with business? It's common knowledge that posting content with images ups the chances of attracting more eyeballs on it. However, the wrong visual actually confounds or dilutes your message. In this day, readers are turned off by cheesy stock photos or off-the-mark info-graphics.
Done well, using original comics demonstrates that you are brave enough to engage your readers emotionally and intellectually. You show them know what it feels like to walk in their shoes.
