In this section we’ll consider multimodal presentation of ideas. “Multimodal” is a fancy word meaning something that uses multiple modes—in this case, modes of communication. The five modes of communication are: visual, linguistic, spatial, aural, and gestural.

A mode is different from a medium: a mode is a means of communicating, while a medium is the channel or system through which communications are conveyed. So, for example, if we want to communicate in the linguistic mode, we might choose the medium of print. If we want to communicate in the aural mode, we might choose the medium of a podcast. Both print and podcasts are forms of media.

Multimodal presentation uses multiple modes to communicate information: for instance, an infographic uses both visual and linguistic modes to communicate (both images and words), while a video would use even more modes; potentially all five.