What I do
Before most meetings, interviews included I tend to make mindmaps to make the information I need easy to access. One glance and I get a cue as to what is going on and why. For interviews I create 2 separate maps, one map contains the meeting details and the second one is usually just a bunch of questions that I want to ask. I usually put more interview questions than I need and check off the ones I want to ask either before the interview or during the process since sometimes the questions I have get answered during the process. No point in asking the same question twice.

The Interview MindMap

The Questions MindMap

Get the files:

Customize and use freely. I add relevant information as needed to make it work. This map can be modified to accommodate other kinds of meetings as well. Download MindManager from Mindjet or use whatever mindmapping software you prefer.

You can look at my post A Simple Lesson in Visual Thinking to get a brief introduction.

RSAnimate, adapted from Dan Pink’s talk about his book Drive.

David McCandless: The Beauty of Data Visualization

SXSW 2010: Dan Roam on Visual Thinking from Teehan+Lax on Vimeo.

Have a favorite visual thinking book, video or article? Tell me about it!

My desktop was a mess. In trying to regain some control I decided I needed a more visual approach to the problem. I’m a very visual person and I hate having to use the menu system to find the applications that I need.

I got the idea of using a mind map for my desktop from the Mind Map Inspiration blog. The author of that blog Paul Foreman uses them on his desktop as well. I decided to give it a try my desktop was a mess anyway. What’s the worse that could happen?

So how does it work? First, you change your desktop image to be image of a mind map. I got mine from Paul’s blog.  Then I put the most often used applications in the center. I have to mention I also use Folder Marker so that I can change the icons on folders to know their importance. I put utilities on the black branch, blue is mostly imaging software, purple and green I’m still figuring out but the brown and gray branches are applications I don’t use that often. I’ve been using this desktop map experiment for a few days and I’m liking it a lot. I will probably need to customize the map more but I figured why do that until I knew if it would be a valuable tool for me.

Download the maps for free at the Mind Map Inspiration blog.

No I am not crazy. Everyone CAN draw. Some people have more natural ability than others but anyone can learn to draw. The image I’m using for this post is one of my own sketches. It doesn’t look exactly like the nude model but that wasn’t the point. It was just a warm-up exercise to just get something on paper.

I took Innovation Design Studio presented by the Interaction Design Association NYC Chapter taught by  Todd Zaki Warfel and Will Evans on Saturday. At a point during the course Todd asked if there was anyone who thought they couldn’t draw. Several hands went up. This is a very typical response to this question. Todd said “if you can draw a square or a circle” you can draw.

My personal definition of drawing is putting your personal vision on paper. It doesn’t need to be perfect. Perfectionism is the killer of creativity.

A lot of books on drawing say that it is all about learning to see and putting what you see on paper. My favorite book about drawing is Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards. My high school art teacher Mrs. Amow loved that book and she used to give us exercises from it all the time. For example, contour drawing which is basically sketching without looking at the paper and not picking up your pencil is a great exercise in learning how to see.

Drawing has many benefits such as increased creativity, better problem solving and an outlet for self-expression. Go buy a sketchbook and just doodle. Or sign-up for a class. Lots of community colleges have them or get Betty Edward’s book. But start somewhere.

Just do it!

Harry the Hipster just did a great job explaining to Kermit what visual thinking is. But here again are the steps in the visual thinking process:

1. Collecting information – doing research in any form that works for you.
2. Seeing a pattern within that information and creating clusters of data
3. Composition – arranging items to form a unified whole
4. Translation – defining a result that people can understand

I’m planning to do a series of posts on various visual thinking techniques but until then I’ve put together a few resources so you can learn more about it.

Resources

Blogs
• Digital Roam – by management consultant Dan Roam who is the author of The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures
• Journal – by Scott McCloud, an amazing comic artist, author of the book Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art and the creator of The Google Chrome Web Comic
• gapingvoid: cartoons drawn on the back of business cards – by Hugh MacLeod, and author of the book Ignore Everybody: and 39 Other Keys to Creativity
Books
• The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, 2nd edition – Edward Tufte
• The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain – Betty Edwards
• Visual Thinking – Rudolf Arnheim