1. A couple of years ago Ole from Bigger Picture already made a neat little series for visual thinking called “Snippet Learning”. This has now evolved into a full fledged online tutorial:

    For the past 2 years we have experimented with a new format - Created communication and dialogue tools by drawing - AND filming. We are now proud to present our two latest videos. They aim at explaining our own field: Visual Thinking and Graphic Facilitation. They are short introductions to different aspects of our methodology. the first video explains 7 basic elements on how you can learn to draw almost anything when working with people.

    Once you’ve watched that (and maybe even tried it yourself?), also check out video #2 on tools for graphic facilitation

    What I especially like about these videos is the combination of explanation and drawing (which has proven to be really successful since The RSA teamed up with Cognitive Media for the Animate series back in 2010). Plus Bigger Picture is using real items moving in and out of the visual to support and emphasize the main points they’re trying to make.

    Great job, fun to watch and I’m very glad to see people are pushing this format further. There’s a lot of power in using visuals to teach and explain complex matters and skills.

     

  2. Off to Brussels later today to facilitate this meeting for Wikimedia. Preparing a graphic flow to give the group a visual guideline and big picture while they’re working. It’s a really good facilitation tool to keep everyone focused.


    If you’re interested in using visuals for your meeting check out the Grove graphic guides, they’re an excellent starter.

     


  3. “Improvisation schlägt Perfektion” - Interview zu Graphic Recording und Datenvisualisierung mit mir bei @curtalo

    Danke Barbara Feldmann von Curtalo fürs wirklich nette Interview!

    Sie erfasst Gedanken und Ideen, sortiert und verdichtet Informationen, visualisiert ganze Theorien mit wenigen, pointierten Linien – und das alles in Echtzeit und ausgesprochen unterhaltsam. Anna Lena Schiller arbeitet als Graphic Recorder: Ein neuer Beruf, der mit Scharfsinn, Witz und Kreativität ein langweiliges Flipchart in ein spannendes Visualisierungstool verwandelt. Anna Lena Schiller hat uns im Interview verraten, wie viel Spaß es machen kann, die Muster von Daten zu erkennen.

    Weiterlesen geht hier.

     


  4. Habe gerade eine Nachricht auf Xing von Stephanie bekommen, die bei den Visual Thinking Lessons letztes Jahr in der Good School dabei war.

    Sie schreibt auf ihrer Website ein wenig über den Workshop, hat Bilder gepostet, die im Laufe des Tages entstanden sind und gibt ein wenig Einblick in die Methoden. Freut mich sehr, danke Stephanie!

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    (via Workshop Visual Thinking an der Good School in Hamburg - Stephanie Sussbauer Design und Konzeption)

     


  5. Stumbled upon this blogpost the other day. The book it talks about is ancient (1946!) and the pages are yellowed but that makes it just so much more charming. It’s neat little helper for quickly learning how to draw faces. 

    Funny add-on - someone ripped the accompanying record and made an mp3 out of it, so you can listen to the instructions while browsing the book. You can download all 14 pages of the “How to Draw 1000 Funny Faces” here.

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  6. Meine Lieblingsschule in Hamburg, die Good School, hat  einen tollen Flyer für unsere nächsten Visual Thinking Lessons gebastelt. Hab mich total in die Illu verknallt (die nicht von mir kommt). Hirn mit Schnurrbart, Fliege, Röntgenaugen und Stiftarmen. Ganz ganz großartig, danke dafür.

    Wir machen den Workshop in Zusammenarbeit mit der Page und als Teaser habe ich einen Artikel über Notizbuch- und Zeichenapps geschrieben, der in der nächsten Ausgabe erscheinen wird.

    Am 16. April gibts dann die volle Ladung - von Basics des Zeichnens über Sketchnotes und Graphic Recording hin zum Methodenkoffer des visuellen Denkens und jeder Menge Tools für analoges und digitales Kritzeln. Lernen, wie man mit Papier denkt.

    Hirn mit Stiften eben. Anmelden geht hier und wer noch mehr wissen will - ask away.

     

  7. Iranian designer Maral Pourkazemi on making infographics with a purpose

    “You could also define this as design activism, you’re not selling anything anymore, you’re selling knowledge and you’re teaching people to understand this world. And you as a designer see that you have an impact.”

    More about her visual project explaining the complexity of the Iranian internet on her website and gestalten.tv.

     

  8. Sketchnotes from yesterday’s webinar by The Grove’s David Sibbet on his new book “Visual Leaders”.

     

  9. Visual thinking can be divided into a number of processes itself, including the analysis, manipulation, and creation of images.  For example, when we read a map, we are using our visual thinking skills to discover where we are and where we want to go. Selecting appropriate colors for a bedroom or cutting and pasting clip art images into a presentation would also be considered visual thinking.

    Handmade thinking, however, is a creative process, the drawing of new images by hand in order to respond to a specific experience or to show our thinking to others.

    http://www.handmadethinking.com/

     

  10. “Drawing is a thought process. It’s not a means to reproduce what you see.”

    Pentagram partner Daniel Weil shares his sketchbooks and discusses how drawing is design thinking made visible.

    (Source: vimeo.com)