Comments on: Visual business cards

By: Tom Tiernan

Tom Tiernan — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 22:22:04 +0000

Hi Michele

I liked Christine’s representation as well. For me the challenge is focusing in on a single theme about what VisualsSpeak is. It’s a chicken/egg sort of thing. If I had the lazer-like words that described us, then the visual might come easier. And perhaps getting the image right might help us find the right words.

Oh, what a dilemma.

In any case, I think the process of creating a visual is a lot like stream of consciousness writing. You just let it come without editing. No grammar, punctuation, capital letters, etc.

Let us know what you come up with.

By: Improving New Hire Productivity Using Visual Thinking |

Improving New Hire Productivity Using Visual Thinking | — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 17:28:01 +0000

[...] get us started thinking visually, we each got a blank card and drew a business card to explain what we do. When asked to reflect on what it was like to introduce yourself visually, [...]

By: Christine Martell

Christine Martell — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 19:31:55 +0000

Michele,
You absolutely could do a visual business card. Actually, it would not be a whole lot different from what I did. Take out the camera, and the photos–or use your VisualsSpeak set more and leave them in If you can write longhand, you can do this type of depiction. Common Craft videos and Dan Roam’s new book Back of the Napkin really show us how effective visuals can be with simple lines and shapes anyone can draw. It’s the conceptual understanding underneath that is the hard part, not the drawing itself.

By: Michele Martin

Michele Martin — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 15:01:14 +0000

This is a REALLY interesting idea, Christine. I’m always more attracted to the more visually appealing business cards, even as someone who loves to read. It would be very challenging for me, though, to represent myself visually I think because I do spend so much time in the world of words.

I like the idea of you using a version of the card you drew as your business card. Clean it up a little (but not too much) and then have contact info on the reverse. I personally would stick with the "drawn" version and not make it too slick. I think that one of the things you tend to encourage in people is this idea that the visual can happen anytime, anywhere and that you don’t need to be an artist to think visually. If it’s too slick, that gets away from that kind of message.

This is definitely a really interesting idea. . .