I was thrilled to discover that Xplane, the Visual Thinking Company has republished Robert Horn’s book, Visual Language. I have recommended this book for years, but since it was out of print, it has been hard to find and very expensive to purchase. On a few occasions I have been persuaded to lend out my copy, I have been diligent in making sure it was returned. It is an important book for anyone interested in visual communication.
What makes it special?
There are so many things, it’s hard to know where to start. First it is written utilizing visual language. There are diagrams and images on every page. It does what it calls for. Read the rest of this entry »
I came across this blog post on the Training Day blog. Its written by Jason Allen and is a very nice and concise article on what you need to do to engage visual/spatial learners.
Jason is the Training Manager for Myron Corporation’s Hamilton, Ontario Sales Office. He has been researching learning styles and personality types, and how they impact instructional design, for over a decade.
I’ll give you the first paragraph and the link to the rest of the article. Anyone interested in VisualsSpeak will understand the value of this.
Tom
Stop telling me. Show me! Jason Allen
How many trainees do you have that make you feel like a broken record? You tell them the neat orderly steps in sequence, and have them try it – once, twice, then over and over again, and it never seems to click. What gives?
One of the things that first got my attention is the book showcases the work of many of the visual specialists I reference and looked at in the development of VisualsSpeak. The work of Robert Horn, Grove Consultants and Xplane are featured in the book.
Do I ever ask people to draw in workshops? Sometimes, but not too often. I personally have had profound experiences in my life from drawing something I couldn’t quite put into words. Deep personal growth for myself and those around me. It’s a very different process than drawing for fun, or drawing to depict something as a piece of art. It’s usually a deeply reflective process. I like to draw. I can draw to some degree, at least well enough to get me through art school. But when you ask me to draw in a workshop, I’m worried about whether I can figure out how to draw what I’m thinking about. I’m not as focused on what I am trying to communicate. I used to ask people to draw regularly, but what I realized is I was invoking more creative anxiety and drawing fear than communication. In workshops, I am almost always trying to get people to connect deeply with each other or the topic we are focusing on. I’m not usually looking to invoke memories of a second grade teacher who told them trees aren’t purple. And that seems to be what often happens.
Now adding drawing to photographs is another matter. I think that can be very helpful, especially for adding shapes and connections, or representing a particular detail that is important but not available in the ImageSets. The gloss laminated images in the big ImageSets can be written and drawn on with erasable markers, or you can draw on background paper.
This is the first topic in a series about visual language. The posts are intended to provide a basic understanding about some of the foundational elements that go into visual language, so you can communicate more effectively with visuals.
Starting to explore visuals
Visual language is complex. You can’t really separate one aspect out, since visuals contain multiple elements. However, we can focus more attention on one aspect than another. So for example, we are going to talk about lines in this post, but you could also talk about shapes in many of the images. The goal is to train your eyes to be able to notice the details, and to be able to discern which elements are important to what you are trying to communicate.
I don’t think it is possible to create visuals if you can’t see its elements. I suggested beginning to explore a common everyday object, and I chose my keychain. I’ve been doing this two ways. I sketch while I’m doing other things at my desk like listening to webinars and conference calls. I’ve also been photographing and using Photoshop to call out various elements. While I can show you pictures of things, you’ll get more out of it if you are also exploring an object of your own. Where is your key chain?
Line
You may have noticed that many of the people who use visuals to explain concepts or help others in their thinking or communication use line drawings to do so. Info-graphics, graphic facilitation, and even mind mapping all use line as a key element to get ideas across. Therefor, it is an important element to not only understand, but to develop the skills to use it effectively.
Line is a very versatile and important part of visual language. If you can see it and work with it, you can utilize it for a whole range of expression. This is the realm of the cartoonist, a mastery of line brings the work to life. Yet it is quite challenging to figure out just which line, how much of it, and what quality of line will get across the essence of what you want to say.
Here is a screencast showing some of the ways you can start to explore line.
The parts
You can spend more time looking at the photographs of the process I went through to explore line on the computer by clicking on the image to enlarge it. I will note that it took quite a bit more time to do this on the computer than it would have taken to draw with a pen on paper. Of course, now that it is in digital format I can make versions and alterations much quicker. For me that’s why I often draw on the computer after doing a few preliminary sketches on paper to make sure I have a general understanding of what I am looking at. Once I have done the basic work of getting the image in digital format, I find I am more willing to try a number of different variations.
Practice drawing something simple. At first you may not be aware of what the important lines are that need capturing. A bit of practice will help you and soon you will begin to see how emphasizing one line over another changes the focus or meaning of your drawing.
I was thrilled to discover that Xplane, the Visual Thinking Company has republished Robert Horn’s book, Visual Language. I have recommended this book for years, but since it was out of print, it has been hard to find and very expensive to purchase. On a few occasions I have been persuaded to lend out my copy, I have been diligent in making sure it was returned. It is an important book for anyone interested in visual communication.
