Overview of methods to visualize ideas or information.

1. Visualization
Methods

2. It's not new...

3. This is a text. It is a string of words that are put one
after another based on a system of rules called
grammar. As you read along you try to make sense of
what you read and you might make pictures in your
mind to remember what was being said at the
beginning and to figure out where this is all leading
to. If you have a short attention span, however, you
might have already forgotten what was said at the
beginning and you could also get lost in the details
and miss the complete picture. Besides, these black
marks on white paper look ... well, they look rather
dull. Because of this and for other reasons and to
make a long story short, we like to
visualize information

4. This is a text. It is a string of words that are put one
after another based on a system of rules called
grammar. As you read along you try to make sense of
what you read and you might make pictures in your
mind to remember what was being said at the
beginning and to figure out where this is all leading
to. If you have a short attention span, however, you
might have already forgotten what was said at the
beginning and you could also get lost in the details
and miss the complete picture. Besides, these black
marks on white paper look ... well, they look rather
dull. Because of this and for other reasons and to
make a long story short, we like to
visualize information
VISUALIZING INFORMATION BENEFITS:
● reveal the big picture AND the detail
● show relationships between the parts
● >literally< more exciting to our brain
VISUALIZING INFORMATION BENEFITS:
● reveal the big picture AND the detail
● show relationships between the parts
● >literally< more exciting to our brain

5. Mindmaps
● Probably one of the better
known tools
● Was used in antiquity already
but was made popular by Tony
Buzan in the 1970s
● Works really well to visualize
hierarchical structures or parts-
of-a-system overviews (eg.
Book contents, etc.)

6. Mindmaps in Antiquity...

7. Mindmap displaying a Hierarchy
Map by James Kennedy

8. Concept Maps
● If it is necessary to spell out the
relationships between the nodes
of a mindmap, you call it a
concept map
● Some mindmapping software
allows you to do that (eg.
TheBrain)

9. Antique concept map
Source: Wikimedia, Author Anonymous

10. Modern concept Map

11. Visual Brainstorming
● As strange as it sounds, your mind thrives on
limitations; where a blank page can be
intimidating, this technique can help:

12. Visual Maps
● With the rise of Graphic Facilitation, there are
more and more visual map templates that
visually chunk information (eg. Business Model
canvas, etc.)
● Others use a metaphor to get people to
associate and create a story around their topics

13. Visual Maps Example

14. Sketchnotes
● Visual notes made of a
speech, video, article,
book, your own thoughts
etc.
● (mainly) made popular by
Mike Rohde
● Great for retaining
information but
depending on the design
might only make sense to
the one who created it

15. Sketchnote Example

16. Word-Pictures

17. Visual Map
Map by James Kennedy

18. Visual Map (detail)
Map by James Kennedy

19. Infographic
Geographical
Map
Explanatory
text
Diagram
Map by James Kennedy

20. Graphs and Diagrams
● Graphs and diagrams
can be used in a
figurative sense
rather than a number
sense
● “self-help”
visualizations
(cf. The Decision Book,
Krogerus&Tschaeppler)

21. When to use what?
● Who is it for?
(Yourself or other people?)
● What is for?
(Purpose? Exploration, planning, retaining information, education,
persuasion, etc.)
Good questions to ask yourself about your
visualization:
●
How memorable is it?
●
How conclusive is it?

22. Visual Metaphor “Time runs”