VisualsSpeak blog

When we design a session, we spend time developing the process around using the pictures. Each session is customized for the individual or group using similar elements. So is it the pictures that make the session powerful and successful or is it the process. I think it’s both. Mainly because each person engages differently. For some, I think it is the pictures. Some, it is the process. For others it is a blend. Which is why I like it so much. The experience can morph and accommodate a wide range of differences. Two very different people can sit side by side and engage with the exercise in their own way. The outcome is affected by who you are and how you process as the unique you. Extend the invitation to engage. Watch, listen. That’s where the learning is. Seek meaning in what happens.

The image categories were created to help manage visual overload. Each person approaches the task of selecting images in response to a question differently. Some want to have an idea of what general type of images they will find, while others like to rustle through a pile and see everything.

The people who seem to most appreciate the categories are seldom the same type of person who is likely to be facilitating an exercise. So even if the categories don’t seem important to you, consider who your participants are when deciding how to utilize them.

The VisualsSpeak ImageSet comes divided into four broad categories (Life, Nature, People, Things) in color-edge sleeves. On the back of the photographs, these categories are further broken down into twelve subcategories. If I were working with a group of people that included a lot of people who enjoyed structure and methodical approach, I might break out all twelve categories and put them each in separate piles. I might even put them in baskets or boxes to keep them ordered.
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What happens when you use visuals to spark conversation? As the facilitator, there is energy in the room. People are engaged. When people select photos in response to a question or statement, they select things that are meaningful to them.

They tell stories. Stories about what is important to them. Stories about how the world looks through their eyes. Often these stories are full of passion.

Photograph © Tom Tiernan

So what, people tell stories if you ask them questions without pictures. Yes, and they seem to tell a different kind of story. Perhaps one that is more familiar, perhaps rehearsed, perhaps one that is told over and over without thinking much.

Pictures, photographs, visuals of all kinds evoke some of the same story, but add the chance of seeing it in new ways. The subconscious, the unconscious, the unintentional but relevant.

Visuals can capture and express the relationships between various aspects. The brain processes pictures differently, responds more holistically. In places where the linear and structure is celebrated (like so many academic and business institutions), visuals can speak that which is unspoken in words. Those whose voices get missed or are often left unheard can come forward when sparking conversations with photographs.

Working with images is fun, for the participants as well as the facilitator. Pictures speak to our creativity, engage the imagination.

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So when did VisualsSpeak really start? In hindsight it has been forming for twenty-five years. But the moment that really stands out for me was in graduate school.

I was sitting in my professors office at graduate school trying to get her to explain to me why the grade on my paper was lower than I wanted it to be. She was going on about stating what I was going to say, then saying it, then saying that I said it, and something about my having to learn to WRITE LINEAR PAPERS.

I went to art school (RISD) as an undergrad. Twenty years before. We did very little writing, nothing was linear, and paper was something to draw on.

I asked if I could just build a webpage, or create a program, or do something else to demonstrate I knew this material. She looked at me and said something about my not understanding that WRITING LINEAR PAPERS was the only thing I could do, because it was the only thing she knew how to grade me on. Read the rest of this entry »

As I’ve been thinking about the significant influences over the years that have contributed to VisualsSpeak, I’m noticing a pattern. Many of the people who have been influential have been teachers of some kind. Most of the interactions have occurred around some type of learning environment.

However, it hasn’t been the content of the actual class or formal learning space. Isn’t that interesting? The significant pieces have come from those spaces between the formal learning, the seeming passing comments in a conversation, the significance of which often has not come to light until many years later.

What does that mean for an instructional designer, a trainer, an educator? Certainly my choice to engage in a learning community put me in the path of others who made those significant contributions. I trusted what they said based on a respect I had developed in a more formal context. Read the rest of this entry »

It started with that simple question to our newsletter subscribers. OK, so we bribed them a little. We offered a drawing for a free VisualsSpeak ImageSet. Each question got an entry. We awarded bonus entries for suggestions. Having a website is a bit strange. You can look at the statistics and see that people have been on your site.

• Who are they?
• Are they finding what they are looking for?
• What do they think?
• Who knows!

But we want to know. We want to know if we are putting out ideas and products that are helping people. We want to know if we are giving you enough information to use our visual tools effectively. We want to hear your stories. This blog is the beginning of creating a space where people can get the info they need and have their questions answered in a timely manner. Our hope is that you will engage in a dialogue with us. How are you using visual tools? What makes your sessions come alive? What challenges are you trying to solve? How can we help? Dream with us. Together we can make the world a better place.