# 7.2.4 Trap 4: words and wordiness

I have seen some effective rich pictures with lots of words in them but they are quite rare in my experience. More often, lots of words make the rich picture less rich. Part of the later use of a rich picture might include looking for patterns. Words inhibit your ability to spot patterns.

If you do use speech bubbles, use what people say, not your interpretation, unless the bubble is about some general attitude. Examples might be ‘Aaagh!’, ‘Help!’, ‘Oops!’ – the sort of things found in comic books.

The check for avoiding this trap is to ask:

- Do I have to do a lot of reading to see the relationships between elements in the picture?

OpenLearn - Managing complexity: a systems approach – introduction
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