Being able to visualize information is a powerful way to understand information. It encapsulates details in a format that is often easier to grasp than lists of numbers. The use of color and texture can also be used in a visual medium to further enhance demarcations and differentiation. Because it is intuitive for people to relate to visual data, these types of devices are useful communication aids.
One type of visual aid that is often used to visually convey information is the pie chart. Another is the bar graph. Both of these are common and most people understand them.
Another tool that is often more useful is the Venn diagram. Yet many people don’t understand how these work.
What is a Venn diagram?
A Venn diagram is a great tool for showing how different types of data can overlap. For example, if you are comparing tomatoes to apples, you would have two circles. The one for tomatoes would have the following traits:
- Savory
- Soft
- Red flesh
- Fruit
- Round
- Smooth skinned
The circle for apples has the following traits:
- Sweet
- Firm
- White flesh
- Fruit
- Round
- Smooth skinned
The Venn diagram’s two circles would overlap. In the overlap area would be the traits common to both circles:
- Fruit
- Round
- Smooth skinned
The example above is that of a simple Venn diagram. Venn diagrams however can be far more elaborate and include several circles and areas of overlap.
How to Make a Venn diagram
Venn diagrams were originally created using just paper and either a pencil or pen. They were invented by John Venn in the 1880s before computers existed.
Any shape can be used to create a Venn diagram. Circles are popular but depending on the concepts you are trying to express another shape might work better.
To create a Venn diagram, follow these simple steps:
- Decide what items or sets you want to compare. Draw a shape for each one.
- List the characteristics for each item or set it into its shape.
- Do the shapes have any traits in common?
- If there are overlaps in data, redraw the shapes with the areas of overlap.
- The traits that overlap only need to be listed once, within the area of overlap.
- The traits that are not shared are listed in the discrete areas
Venn diagram Software
Simple Venn diagrams are easy to draw by hand but for more complex ones a software package can provide better results. The larger and more elaborate the Venn diagram, the more helpful programs can be to provide a graphical model that is easy to visualize and understand.
One software package that helps you to create a venn diagram is Adobe Express. It is free to use and also provides free templates. There is a large gallery of these professionally designed templates that you can use as a starting point. Choose one, and then customize it with color and your own words. You can then resize it to share online or print it out.
Another software package that you can use is MindManager, which is a visualization tool that also provides templates.
