In the reviews, I am going to brief the findings in the nine-month-long graduation project. This project is a collective project between TU Delft and JAM visual thinking (or JAM), a company based in the Netherlands. Beginning with the review of the initiatives, you will experience the fantastic journey I went through.
It started from an extraordinary experience in Venice, 2008.
In November 2009, I was in Venice visiting the biannual architecture exhibition. When I stepped into the Japanese pavilion, it seemed nothing inside but white, big walls.
But when I walked closer to the walls, I was surprised by these pencil drawings which covered all over the walls. Especially when I realized they are not printed wall paper, the human strokes aroused me strong appreciation about the stories behind them.
They are light, quiet, and imperfect, but also strong, powerful and human. This was truly overwhelming for me to experience the power of sketches purely.
Two weeks later, I was back in the Netherlands and visited the company fair in the faculty of Industrial Design, TU Delft.
Among the majority of product-design companies, JAM visual thinking is a company sale no products but their drawings in a real business.
I was impressed and so curious about how JAM visual thinking turned the sketching into a serious business.
Then a question came to my mind, “What makes sketches so powerful to help people communicate?”. This question was actually the starting point of the graduation project.
Before answering the question "What makes sketches so powerful to help people to communicate?" in Review I, we have to look into the background of Visual Thinking in order to find the thread to the answer. From the practice in JAM visual thinking to the study about Visual Thinking history, the missing puzzle will be defined carefully by the following explanation.
In the practice of JAM visual thinking, Visual Thinkers work with process facilitators to guide participants in sessions. Visual Thinkers translate participants’ ideas, opinions, and processes into instant sketches.
However, JAMmers usually are treated as a supporting and entertaining role in sessions. They cannot be involved in the problem solving process. They are not working with the participants on the same boat in general situations. So, what are the reasons behind the issue?
In order to address the issue, we have to know the reasons behind it. In 1972, Rudolf Arnheim, a German-born psychologist and scholar of art and ideas. He suggested in his book, "Visual Thinking", that the issues was rooted early in the history.
Thousands of years ago, Greek philosophers learned to distrust the senses, but they never forgot that direct vision is the first and the final source of wisdom. In the words of Aristotle, “The soul never thinks without an image.” At that time “Visuals” and “logical thinking” work harmoniously in a lively cycle.
However, Rudolf Arnhim also pointed out that “Visuals” (art) and “Logical thinking” (science) have been torn apart for a long time. Since people have been taught that “only words and numbers matter” and “drawings are art but not science.”
This situation didn’t change a lot until the middle of 20th century, when Visual Thinking started to bridge the gap in the context of business sessions.
Beginning from using flip charts inn sessions in 1950s, the idea of instant visual recording in front of session participants was applied in 1970s. The innovation of computers provided fresh possibility in ways of facilitation in 1980s. Big group was involved later in 1990s.
I also learned that the missing puzzle of the bridge is still hidden behind the cloud of an unclear Visual Thinking process.
To clear the cloud in Visual Thinking process, I studied the benefits, techniques, theories about Visual Thinking process in academic literature and publications of visual practitioners. The figure above is the visual description of the results.
I also learned from JAMmers's experience that "Drawings should not just surprise people only in their first sight but also keep inspiring people to see the structure, problems, and solutions." I assumed that this is the ultimate goal of Visual Thinking in group sessions.
However, it is also suggested in the experience of JAMmers that these well-developed techniques cannot always guarantee the ultimate goal of Visual Thinking.
It is implied that the missing puzzle is the intense interactions between Visual Thinkers and participants in sessions. Human interactions are the key to understand people's expectations and to drive them to proper direction. But there is no much study in the field. Therefore, the following researches was dedicated to carefully map the human interactions in the context of Visual Thinking sessions. It would be a crucial step to decode Visual Thinking process and optimize Visual Thinking method.
The process and findings of Contexmapping research is recorded in the chapter. The goal of the research and two research questions focus human interactions in Visual Thinking sessions based on conclusions in Review II. Background. Contextmapping is chosen as the research approach. In the process, seven visual practitioners are interviewed, and two case studies are conducted. The data collected in the phases is coded, categorized, and analyzed by an experimental analysis approach.
In the Contextmapping research method, the participants and researchers can follow the processes, to know what they said (Tell me), to see what they do (To show me), and finally to understand what they can only feel and how to express (To involve me). Therefore, we can collect all necessary information to rebuild the context in an understandable way.
In the research on human interactions, the first research question is “How do visual thinkers interact with the dynamic context?”. And the second is “what is the most critical problem when they interact with the dynamic context?”
All of the collected data were destructed and coded as 246 coded phrases. The following are some examples.
Examples of coded phrases
Examples of coded phrases
This post is going to show the finding on research question 1, "How do visual thinkers interact with the dynamic context?". The “Characteristics”, “Techniques”, and “Roles/functions” of the Visual Thinkers in group sessions will be represented in detail.
Research question 1, "How do visual thinkers interact with the dynamic context?".
To answer the research question 1, “How do Visual Thinkers interact with the dynamic context?”, the coded phrases were categorized in three groups, “Characteristics”, “Techniques”, “Roles/functions”.
The coded phrases of each group were mapped on a two-dimensional map, which emphasizes the diverse inclination of a Visual Thinker in sessions.
The result of the two-dimensional map is three posters with the categorized coded phrases. These three posters are composed on the groups of “Characteristics”, “Techniques”, “Roles/functions”. The above is the "Characteristics" poster.
Each category in the "Characteristics" poster is defined with a term, for example, "Empathetic", "Active", and "Honest". The terms of the "Characteristics" are shown on the table above. “Techniques” and “Roles/functions” posters are also processed in the same procedures.
All of the three tables are finally integrated into one table which features the relationships of “Characteristics”, “Techniques”, and “Roles/functions”. A visual translation of the table is presented as the following.
In Visual Thinking sessions, Visual Thinkers have to be rational and square to convince people and to be sensitive and flexible enough to understand people’s true expectations.
In the relations of the techniques, Visual Thinkers use the logical thinking to lead session participants with clear pictures in the left hand side, like a grown man. And in the right hand side, Visual Thinkers are like a curious girl to discover inspirations and support people.
On the left hand side, it is a logical output to translate the logical thinking into convincing and clear drawings in order to lead sessions to correct direction.
The essence of the logical output indicates that Visual Thinkers compose systematic and organized drawings to convince and challenge participants, which represents fairly the value of “Truth Teller”.
On the right hand side, it is an empathetic output to surface people’s expectations and to trigger their inspirations and actions.
The essence of the empathetic output indicates that Visual Thinkers use empathy to find out participants’ motivation and inspire them with proper drawings, which is in line with the function of “Passion Trigger”.
From right to left, it is an inside-out process to process received data into systematic and organized thinking.
The essence of the inside-out process indicates that Visual Thinkers’ nature is to actively support discussion and thinking flow in sessions, which meets the description of “Discussion Supporter”.
From left to right, is an outside-in process to read people’s thinking, body language, and the group dynamic to understand their intentions and to gain key triggers.
The essence of the outside-in process indicates that Visual Thinkers utilize their all sensory to receive explicit and implicit information in order to follow the dynamic context, which fits the description of “Sensitive Balancer”.
The visual translation above expresses how Visual Thinkers interact with session participants by their characteristics, techniques, and roles/functions. It implies a balanced mind between the right-sided and left-sided brain which eventually physically and mentally activate session participants thinking to a practical and creative vision or solution.
After understanding how Visual Thinkers interact in sessions, we continued to explore the second research question: "What is the most critical problems when Visual Thinkers interact with the dynamic context in sessions?". In the post, the most critical problem is revealed, and the reasons behind it are discussed.
Research question is "What is the most critical problem in sessions?". The answer to this question will be the key to improve the performance of Visual Thinking method in sessions.
The conceptual framework is applied to map the coded phrases.
The results (see the poster above) of the “Problems & Solutions” are clustered based on the conceptual framework. Each cluster is defined with a specific problem based on the coded phrases.
According to the analysis in the research, the most critical problem is defined as "What is my role? & Where is my stage?", which indicates that JAMmers can not always gain a proper stage to interact . The problem always happens early and its influence lasts long.
The problem results in people’s stereotype on the roles of people who can draw. Because of that, session participants sometimes ignore and sometime misunderstand their functions in Visual Thinking sessions as being a problem-solver but not an entertaining cartoonist.
This post will conclude the profound findings in the Contextmapping research and provide a promising direction to solve the most critical problem in Visual Thinking sessions.
The findings in the Contextmapping research provide new perspectives on Visual Thinkers’ characteristics, experience, and how they perform their roles/functions with their natural instincts and learned techniques in Visual Thinking sessions. It proved that Visual Thinkers are balanced in both sides of brain.
The stereotype is just like a perceptual bubble which prevents the human interactions, true values of Visual Thinking, to happen.
We just need a needle to burst it. Therefore, Visual Thinkers can work with session participants from the very beginning of the sessions.
In order to develop an efficient concept to eliminate the stereotype in sessions, a concept will be developed to inspire participants and facilitators initial awareness about Visual Thinking in the beginning of the sessions. As a result, the effectiveness of Visual Thinking will not be shadowed by the stereotype.
3 concepts (1, 2 & 3) were developed and examined by experienced Visual Thinkers in JAM visual thinking.
The feedback from the JAMmers is summarized into two guidelines: "1. The idea should be comfortable for everyone in sessions including Visual Thinkers." and "2. It should make quick effects in a small group which is around ten people."
I suggested a double-sided name card. On one side, it is a serious and polished portrait. On the other side, it is a hand drawing one. Playing upon the stereotype that science and art cannot coexist, the idea expresses Visual Thinkers’ works are done by two sides of their brains.
With the doubled-sided idea, Visual Thinkers can gain attentions from participants. Taking advantage of the manners to exchange name cards, Visual Thinkers can also feel easy to hand out them quickly in a small group.
As the purpose of the project is to discover the magic of Visual Thinking, then the journey is called an end here. What would be the final mile (or the first mile) of Visual Thinking?
After decades efforts to re-bridge the gap between "Visuals" and "Logical thinking" in business sessions, there is still a cloud hovering on the Visual Thinking process, which blocks the possibility to understand the magic of Visual Thinking in business sessions. It is suggested in the research that the cloud is the unclear processes in Visual Thinking sessions.
Now the cloud used hovered on the puzzle is cleared. Based on the findings of the project, the magic of Visual Thinking processes lies in the human interactions in sessions, which are indeed the final and also the first mile to re-bridge the gap. Without the interactions, there would be no magic.
However, the effects of Visual Thinking is hindered by people's stereotype that a cartoon-styled drawer cannot be a logical thinker. The double-sided name card will be a first attempt to eliminate the stereotype that a cartoon-styled drawer cannot be a logical thinker. The double-sided concept will be a starting trigger to finish the re-bridging.
As soon as the bubble disappeared, Visual Thinking can eventually bring people’s left-sided and right-sided brain together in group sessions again, like the Greek philosopher have done thousands of years ago. People will see the "Visuals" and "Logical thinking" working in a harmony again.
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