Some key takeaways from the interview with Charles M. Blow, the visual op-ed columnist from the NY Times:

1) Keep it simple as possible while still visually representing information accurately.

“My thinking is (and the response has been) that my readers are not impressed by visual tricks. They want strong points that are easy to grasp.”

2) One of the best ways to understand stuff is to represent it visually. Not just for the consumer of the visual, but for the creator.

“This is the equivalent of a doctoral degree in current affairs and statistics.”

3) Visual representation is not in itself complicated and is very teachable (that’s a point Dan Roam makes in his book Back of the The Napkin). What is difficult is figuring out WHAT you should be displaying.

“when I hired new graphics editors, the first criteria had nothing to do with their sense of color and spacing or their ability to draw. The criterion at the top of my list was that they be smart and curious and dogged — reporters. You can teach a person which blue to use, but you can’t teach him or her to have a clue.”

Charles M. Blow’s work appears regularly on the op-ed page of the Times. Bonus: he blogs!

Common Craft makes videos like the one above. They are looking for “…serious producers of high-quality, handcrafted explanatory videos” that they can connect with clients that Common Craft is not able to serve.

The opportunity we see is to create a way, through our website, to help organizations find video producers who can be hired to produce custom videos. To this end, we’re looking for video producers who are interested in (and capable of) taking on this kind of business.

If you think you have the chops to work at Common Craft’s level, get in touch with Lee Lefever.

My personal favorite: This blog goes to 11!

A few weeks ago, I left Dan Roam a comment where I wished someone would visually map out the credit crisis. Lo and behold, he has obliged by pulling together a number of efforts by folks to convey the financial mess in pictures. One of the gems he found is the slideshow above by Johannes Bhakdi

In another example dan cites a video of Paddy Hirsch in front of a white board explaining “naked short selling” saying: “He gives the best example in years of how a simple picture drawn live becomes the most effective communication tool ever devised.”

To find links to all the visual explanations of our financial implosion, check out Dan’s Post.

Hey folks, Jonny Goldstein here. Welcome. This blog has been something I’ve wanted to get going for months now, so it feels great to get started. It is meant to be a repository of my own thoughts and discoveries about the craft of visual facilitation, and I hope it is also useful for other people interested the the craft of using hand-made drawings to solve problems.

I have been an avid picture maker ever since I can remember. To me a drawing isn’t just something that hangs on the wall, it’s a tool for learning, a springboard for conversation, and one of the best means to recognize and address what you need to do to move forward.

There is something about recording what someone is saying visually that helps them see new patterns, come to new conclusions, and find better solutions to their challenges.

Of course, you don’t always need a pro visual facilitator to do the drawing. I am a huge fan of the work that Dan Roam is doing to get business people to use visual thinking to solve problems.

In addition to helping individuals create their own visuals to tackle challenges, I think it can be useful to have a designated visual facilitator who is skilled and comfortable representing ideas visually. There is tremendous variation in the visual approaches different practitioners create, from Roy Blumenthal, to Brandy Agerbeck, to David Sibbet. I look forward to highlighting different ways people help folks using live drawing.

It’s just slipped into the AM from the PM, so I better jump on my bike and head home. I just wanted to get a post up here now that the site is up.

Until next time, keep it visual!

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