Visual Storytelling

In her latest blog, Nadia Tuominen dives into the powerful, yet often underestimated, art of visual storytelling in intelligence analysis. She highlights how these skills can elevate communication, sharpen insights, and earn greater respect for the profession. 

Like any self-respecting Intelligence Analyst, I have developed the restraint to not bop people on the head when they express the view that an analyst’s job is to make pretty pictures. We all know it’s far more than that. A cognitive exercise, unearthing nuggets from places nowhere else thinks to look, and using powers of reasoning to develop insightful inferences.

And yet.

Recently, I created a simple chart, taking me all of 20 minutes to pull together. I almost certainly spent longer contemplating the ultimate purpose of the chart than I did drawing it. Having disseminated it where it needed to go, I thought nothing more of it, until I was made aware of some feedback; feedback from a third party that went something along the lines of “the person who made that diagram must have a very special sort of brain”. And it made me pause and look at the chart with fresh eyes.

‘Pretty pictures’ is a skill, isn’t it? One to which I haven’t afforded enough credit, to date. As any who heard my keynote speech at the i2 User & Training Conference Europe 2023 will know, I believe the art of crafting visuals can help us connect with our powerful subconscious. Beyond that, though, the ability to condense masses of complex information into a single, digestible image that helps others get their heads round what’s going on is no mean feat. And I think we often overlook that.

Just as a skilled painter can work with oils and canvas to capture a view or a memory, Intelligence Analysts are artists of information. Thinking deeply about what they are trying to portray, and what path the human brain needs to take to comprehend complexity, they decide what features as an entity, what as an attribute. How to impactfully use colour-coding, font sizes, and frames. With these they allow outsiders the opportunity to see what they see, and absorb the story in which the analyst is already fully immersed.

When I look back over my career as an analyst, the visuals I created have been pivotal. Enraging an eccentric suspect who accused me of trying to bewitch the jury with my “magic”, before he was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment for Fraud. Convincing a Senior Leader of the real risk posed by a certain character, when I presented said character’s dubious history, connections, and timelines in a single chart. Causing an entire organisation to pivot their resource allocation, when thematic mapping revealed a problem that had escaped their attention for too long.

When I look back over my career as an analyst, the visuals I created have been pivotal 

Creating ‘pretty pictures’ may not be analysis in and of itself, but it often reflects key parts of the analytical process. These pictures are visual stories. And this is a key point, the storytelling. When done well, the analyst connects with the mind of their audience and says, “here, look at it this way, maybe it will help”. And suddenly the incomprehensible and confusing becomes crystal clear.

Perhaps, instead of fighting the ‘pretty pictures’ label, Intelligence Analysis needs to start changing the narrative to reflect the true value of this skill. And, indeed, investing more in the development of the qualities and attributes needed for analysts to become the best visual storytellers. So that, one day, people will only ever speak of analytical ‘works of art’, in the tones of respect the profession deserves.

Please note: All of the information on the above chart is fictional and any resemblance with real life is coincidental. 

More information

• i2 User and Training Conferences
• What is link analysis and link visualization?