Challenge and selection

The most common tool of thinking «out of the box» is visualization, which is also the  simplest one, as for me. Designing your words and ideas into a structured scheme or  sketchy references provides more efficient discussion on a topic. Our society has  developed a large range of recognizable symbols, gestures and glyphs that are  common all over the world. It becomes clear when a designer chooses to draw his ideas  symbolically on a white board, or even show shapes&forms by gestures – we can  recognize length, sinuosity, structure in simple shapes, even color and spirit. I prefer  visualization as a main tool for planning because I am always bad at explaining, so I try  to simplify my thoughts to charts, tables and sketches. This allows my audience to  understand what the key elements are and how do they interact.

Application

To begin with, I always start my plan with a tag cloud – it is impossible to avoid words  and rough ideas on the first stage anyway. Then I keep on searching on references:  photos, maps, charts, icons, architectural plans, stock images, videos and so on. Once I  have become acquainted with them, I take a notepad and draw some parts, how I saw  them from my angle. This non-verbal way of thinking helps to improve logics and  relations among the elements. I also try to stay detached and look at that prototype  more soberly – if the scheme uses incomprehensible pictures, there are too many  arrows and points or a lack of them, I developed a habit to clear everything and start  from the very beginning – back to the words and references – as it’s also stated in the  course.

When the idea has its shape, I am ready to present it to my audience or colleagues.  There surely may appear questions at the end of presentation, nonetheless they should  be related to further realization, not to the visualized sketch. Sometimes it is even more  profitable to draw the ideas together with our group, everyone brings his structure,  photo refences.

Insight and approach

I always improve my skills at visualization and logic, the more projects I have, the more  experience I get. The best part of this method is how quicker a person grasps the  statement, instead of me trying to explain the topic in crooked words and terms. In  comparison with storytelling – it has some relative aspects with visualization, such a  logic and correlations, however it still may be not understood with several groups of  target audience while mind mapping and learning launch are even more complex.  Drawing circles, charts, arrows, straw men, faces, animals and other small things would  be way easier to explain to a company’s boss, your peers and colleagues and even a  child.

However, there are some hints to approach this tool faster. It is very useful to speak  while you are sketching, because if you silently draw everything on the white board, the  majority will already have their own conjectures, ideas and the scheme may work just  not the way it was supposed to. Words should be 10% only, however your active

presentation will inspire the audience and dispose them for some funny straw men and  crooked graphics.

