Google your way to a bigger brain.

I have an average memory. The really smart people I know all have amazing memories, some even posses eidetic ones. One thing that makes them come up with really good solutions to difficult problems is their ability to naturally entertain several incongruous and opposing ideas at the same time.  (Roger Martin calls that "integrative thinking.") Google can help with this.

I have "played" in the online crowdsourcing platforms since 2009. Prior to that (2004) I created content for digital-product portals. AKA image stock banks. I can't even begin to calculate the hours of effort put into all of this, but I can tell you it that it has improved my capacity for creative and critical thinking.

Google (and Google Scholar) makes certain that we spell correctly and check our facts (Yes, Bill Murray really does have 5 kids and was born, September 21, 1950.) but more important than any that, it off-loads that part our brain that may not be so good at keeping our ideas vivid and lively. If our short-term memory is under par, google pics up the slack. If we get stuck, roaming the net refreshes our neural-networks. The only thing missing is the "physicality" of thinking. Since we are just typing at a key board and not roaming the aisles of a library. Moving the body is also good for the brain. For now I will just take many walking breaks between my binges of googling and thinking.

The Signal in the Noise - looking for faces...

This is an exercise in random drawing with SketchPro in reflection mode along the X axis. We wired to see this way we'll inevitably see what appear to be "faces" of all sorts, alien, sad, happy and bulldog with crown! What do you see?

Storytelling and the power of a simple vector.

There's the proverbial "arc to a story" that defines its dramatic (or not-so-dramatic) moments over time. When you make it explicit and actually identify the plot points and map them onto a time-line (as Vonnegut so famously did for Cinderella - my version below) it becomes clear that you can't have a hill without a valley and that distorted lines are indicative of action. If nothing ever happens in your life then you're either just boring or you have flat-lined prematurely and you're actually deceased.

“Vonnegut on the Shapes of Stories” (Cinderella) YouTube. 30 Oct. 2010. Web. Sun April 2014.

Visualizing complex journeys with vectors is a powerful way to tame complexity long enough to get a real sense of stakeholder needs and systemic inconsistencies. This technique was used for my paper on visual sensemaking and informs maps that describe the journey of a person with chronic illness. When their path, as well as the paths of other stakeholder groups,  viz. healthcare system and care-giver community, are plotted on the same time line, pattern emerges that may suggest how situations  can be improved or re-imagined for better outcomes.

...more on the simple vector to come....

A visualization: Insights are discovered by combining analysis with intuition

Visualizing genomic sequencing without a degree in Biocomputing

The drawing shows me at one glance what might be spread over ten pages in a book.”
– From the novel, Fathers and Sons (1862) by Ivan S. Turgenev

When art collides with science, can the outcome be a visualization that communicates meaningfully to both the scientist and the “other”? If it’s not within your purview of experience it should still be relevant and meaningful. But how does a visual designer successful navigate within the domain of a scientist?

Deconstructing a complex idea eliminates essential properties that gives it meaning in the first place. Finding the space between scientific meaning and an aesthetically pleasing design can only be achieved through a constant dialog between the designer and the scientist. It is an iterative process that involves sharing developmental sketches until the final outcome satisfies both parties. It's this sensemaking-strangemaking vortex (more on this in another post) that produces effective visual artefacts to help communicate complex science.

(full disclosure: the images shown above are not created by the author. These images informed a design process that was used to produce a high-level visual overview of a laboratories research goal - which must remain confidential at this time.)

Art Direction for Sensemaking

A famous creative director said that once you find that unique "thing" about a product or service you need to tell a story about it by "flipping it on it's ear". What he meant was that we need to find an arc to our story which is unique, compelling, dramatic and memorable. After all, it's just another car, or brand of beer. How many different ways can we do the same thing? After 20 years of making the familiar and often intrinsically boring things, weird and exciting all for the sake of advertising drama maybe it's time to think again...

"....too often visual designers get preoccupied with creating the next shiny new thing. They chase clients who encourage them to surpass the latest trend, to find new ways to tell the same old story. These clients and designers produce work that may do well at award shows but often just draws more praise and accolades from their peers than from their target audience.

We all want to be recognized for our efforts and someone still needs to sell dog food. The packaging matters, as does the TV spot and the interactive website and a myriad of other visual devices that make up that so-called integrated ad campaign. This work pays a lot of salaries and it is serious business. But what if these same designers put their process to work on more challenging problems? What would happen if they were to harness their power of strangemaking at the point it intersects with their brand of sensemaking and instead of producing things that look really cool, they produce things that provoke us to think? Not just to think to be contemplative, but to actually think hard about creative new ways to solve some very old, complex problems."

(from the Coda for my master's paper on visual sensemaking Sept. 2014)

communication and visual design

You've heard this before: there is no such thing as writing, there is only "re-writing" (not sure who said that first). The same is true for visual communication: the process loops back and forth from rapid sketching to computer rendering, until finally it "looks and feels" done or you've reached the deadline!

Visually exploring letterforms for a word mark...

I won't get into the rationale or reveal the exact nature of the client's brand and image but this short vid shows just a portion of my visual-thinking-process.

What does a deadline feel like?

Visual thinking with a surface: live-action video capture

The shapes and line work are informed by other lines and shapes as they are created. Working with no preconceived idea of what the final outcome will be, generates an image that will surprise the drawer. What value this has (if any) in an ideation session is something I'd like to investigate further.

What would a football coach do without visualization?

“To deploy this play, Left Twins Tight End Give, Center hands off to the Quarter Back while the Tight End drops back and travels behind and to the right of the QB. The QB hands off the ball to the TE, while the two Wide Receivers rush the opposing team to ensure a gap for the TE who attempts to run up the field.... Got it? Let's go!"

or

What does a research paper look like?

(Thinking outloud about the basic structure of my current research paper.) 

The “innovation” portion is of course very optimistic. What’s important about this sketch is the proportion allotments given to the report. Although not quite in the right proportion as shown. 75% of the document should be about your innovation, that is after all the prime driver behind the project. The remainder is essentially comprised of the supporting material, general "housekeeping" and academic requirements. ( The 75/25 ratio was originally suggested by professors from OCAD University). 

The evidence that was gathered through research will ultimately feed your hypothesis and create the main section of your story. Elemental ideas that underpin the hypothesis are also embedded in the content of every section of the report. 

My challenge, as a neophyte researcher, is to keep the evidence that is gathered as objective as possible and let it suggest a gap for any new hypothesis to develop.

(A visual discovery: this sketch starts to look a bit like the "drilling down" one as in the 5 why's post here but inverted. It seems natural to use the same structure to find the most valid answer to your research question).

Gigamap your way to creative discovery.

In this age of multidisciplinarity and cross-pollination between domain experts it’s important to find new ways to share research data and information. I don’t propose we eschew the creation of traditional documents and reports but we can aid and expedite comprehension through visual translation and visual thinking. In part, this would entail the creation of gigamaps ¹: aesthecially designed visual artefacts that take on the form of richly detailed, large scale images² representing various levels of textual and visual information. This map essentially captures and communicates the story of research and thought-process that has been—and is being—conducted. In turn, it acts as a centerpiece for collaboration with all the stakeholders.

¹Sevaldson, B. (2011). Giga-mapping: visualisation for complexity and systems thinking in design. Nordic Design Research Conferences. retreived from http://ocs.sfu.ca/nordes/index.php/nordes/2011/paper/view/409/256

²The form the gigamap takes is open. It could be a video, or even a entire room filled with research data. The key point to remember is that whatever form it takes, there has to be a flow. It is, after all, a type of “story”. It must allow for instinctual discovery. The creators and users need to be able to “read between the lines” to discover and tease out new insights.

The most important question: Why? (x5)

It's always the hardest question to answer and even a harder one to evade, especially in the 5th iteration of the same question. The heart of the matter is often a surprise to both the questioner and "questionee." Try it next time a client asks you to create a "viral" video for them...

The calculus of success.

"Just do it" works for the simpler things, but when it comes to bigger, more complex objectives you need a different approach. If you can parse the big project into sections and arrange them in order of "enjoyment" or fun-to-do, the big job will get done with the least amount of pain and procrastination.

The "x" axis could also be configured in terms of the main task's "difficulty." The curve will then become inverted: the easiest tasks at the beginning, with the most difficult one at the end.

What constitutes "difficulty" and "enjoyment" will always have very personal characteristics, so this is probably a technique best reserved for singular working sessions and not a collective one.

The best skeuomorphic representation of UX vs UI

UX vs. UI Infographic taken from this post on Design.org

Patterns with meaning.

Your hypothesis and area of interest predisposes you to look for a particular set of stimuli. How can there be any meaning in what you see or sense without some prior experience of it?

Finding patterns that have meaning is a singular activity, sharable only when you have made the discovery yourself first. Creating a data set, amassing a body of research or distilling a literature review is the first step. You can collaborate freely at this point. This is the point of divergence where you intentionally reach beyond the initial scope of your interest. How can you know where your interest really lies, unless you know where the boundaries are?

I'm interested in Lake L'Amable, a small, deep, spring-fed body of water just south of Bancroft, Ontario. If you are too, then this pattern has meaning to you as well.

The biggest black blog is the actual lake (aerial view) and 

it's just off the main hwy. (#62) 

Visualizing: thesis, antithesis and synthesis

This is a whimsical take on positing a thesis and antithesis, concluding with a synthesis. True concepts don't come together or are synthesized in such a straightforward fashion. I've obviously just visually "forced" the final frame. However there is a peculiar an interesting revelation here. Notice that the "climbing man"as the central figure against the ground of a mountain scape does not actual change   shape or form and yet looks completely different in "antithesis" and "synthesis". He's exactly the same, just "reflected" on the x-axis and rotated 90 degrees clockwise.

Visually the images are appealing in every iteration ( at least to my eye). And the "solution" or synthesis required a relatively simple manipulation of form, to work. Is there a process embedded in this exercise that has any bearing on creative problem solving?  (A corollary to this visual demonstration

exists in geometric theorems that are proved through visual manipulation only.)

What makes "change" happen?

“If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” 
And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, 
I know I need to change something.”

Steve Jobs, Standford Commencement Speech, 2005

Dissatisfaction.

This is almost a perennial state of mind for people in any creative field. The solution to the brief is never perfect of course, it can only come close. But this also serves as motivation for doing it better the next time, for learning from the missteps. Inevitably the day comes when just getting it close-enough happens too often. Being jaded is dangerous; no longer caring about the outcome invites the kind of change that will never be strategic or productive: clients will leave and contracts will be cancelled.

Vision & Articulation.

We need to see real possibilities. To look past the horizon line and fix our gaze on a tangible goal, even when it’s not fully in view. It starts with an idea, the plans and tactics to bring it to fruition follow. It’s never an easy path, it’s constantly revised and anxiety prevails. Where does the vision come from? A desire to emulate another mental construct? To reflect a process or an idea that has worked for someone else? I think it’s always the original voice that gets heard above the din of all the imposters and posers. Creating a vision is really just a matter of being true to oneself. The trick is “knowing” oneself in the first place, getting to the heart of your mission, decoding the DNA of your company and finding your own path. Vision and perspective go hand in hand. You have to step outside your usual circles and your usual patterns in order to gain enough psychic distance to find the right vantage point to review those patterns and circles. Physical distance helps too. Working abroad, even for a short period, where you are immersed in different cultures, confronted with different world views, often brings clarity to your own. “Visual acuity” improves greatly when you finally get a sense of your own mortality. It starts with witnessing the demise and passing of others. The closer they are to you, the more effective the lesson. I’ve stopped waiting for the perfect moment, for inspiration to strike. There’s not enough time left for that. Any step forward is a good thing, even if it may not be quite the right one. The first step is always the most important one.

Resistance. 

“Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose” 

Me and Bobby McGee - Kris Kristofferson and Fred Foster

Resistance in any organization is often just a fear of the unknown, a reluctance to change patterns and deviate from a comfort zone. Even a productive pattern needs to be disrupted in preparation for future success. The degree of resistance appears to be directly proportional to what is at stake. When the coffers are empty, the motivation to try a different tactic is exceptionally strong. This is of course is a reckless form of leadership when you’re faced with a payroll and overhead. (Somewhat more acceptable when it’s just your own savings account that’s at risk). Although independent contracting in my case does not involve permanent staff or even regular business relationships, there is still the ecology of my current business model, my clients needs, my “brand” and value proposition. The forces at play naturally come from outside sources and it’s not just about my personal desire or wish to grow or change a service offer. This gets complicated. If you’re dealing with clients who have hired your “brand” or expertise, changing the brand is impossible. You have to change (inform) the client by educating them (which can be a herculean task!) or begin to target new ones, if the brand or value proposition shift is too great.

Introducing the Vroodle (variations on a Venn)

We all use the venn diagram. And overuse it. 

Is there a best practices strategy for venn diagramming for a type of set theory in complex social systems?  Applying mathematical theory to social systems is way out of scope for me. But I can certainly have a little fun with it. So here are some of my Vroodles!

But what’s a vroodle exactly? It’s when a Droodle says hello to the venerable Mr John Venn, the originator of the Venn diagram (1880).

But what’s a droodle ?

The name "Droodle" is really just a made up word suggesting doodle, drawing and riddle. It was coined by Roger Price in 1952.

Go ahead do a few and I'd love to post them here too!