Visual Thinking & the Writing ProcessCAJ Conference - January 30, 2010 | Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Vestibulum in dui nec tellus mattis adipiscing. Quisque vulputate ultrices mollis. Aliquam semper molestie fermentum. Proin iaculis, magna facilisis egestas aliquet, ante tortor vestibulum dui, ut dictum nisl ante sed felis. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Vestibulum mattis justo eu nunc venenatis mollis. Cras ac turpis vitae dolor vestibulum aliquet in vel dui. Duis placerat, augue non interdum imperdiet, nisl elit eleifend diam, sit amet vulputate nisi lorem eu eros. Praesent turpis quam, lobortis at molestie vel, adipiscing ac est. Praesent ut metus venenatis libero fermentum placerat. Morbi vel nibh quam. Quisque ipsum lacus, nec, tincidunt a dui Ryan Coleman.Nam porttitor velit at felis accumsan tincidunt ryancoleman.ca. Vestibulum elit arcu, pretium ut aliquam sed, vizthink.com. Nunc luctus tempus interdum. Vivamus luctus metus et risus posuere pellentesque. Suspendisse potenti. Praesent eleifend hendrerit enim, ac semper orci egestas nec. Maecenas et mauris at enim adipiscing hendrerit

Me.

Nam porttitor velit at felis accumsan lorem Chief Community Evangelist. Tincidunt abi Vestibulum elit arcu, @ VizThink utrecht dom aliquam sed, pharetra vel nulla. Nunc luctus tempus luctuser metus et risus al po posuere pellentesque. Suspendisse potenti. Praesent Information Designer enim, acru semper orci. Maecenas et mauris at enim adipiscing hendrerit placerat at magna. Cras sit amet diam justo. Quisque id dolor id nibh Facilitator m tincidunt. Nunc magna ipsum, laoreet et suscipit eu, tempus id lacus. Maecenas egestas risus vitae sapien posuere tempor. Quisque sapien turpis, elementum sed egestas at, imperdiet ac lacus. Morbi in purus leo, vitae interdum leo. Nam mattis, nulla sed consectetur blandit, massa odio euismod justo, vitae commodo ante lorem vel est. Nulla gravida fermentum massa, eget facilisis eros iaculis et. Nulla nisi nulla, imperdiet sed tempor tristique, sagittis sit amet eros. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Suspendisse eget erat nisi, sit amet pharetra lacus.Quisque fermentum lectus non metus dapibus in tempus magna pretium. Aliquam erat volutpat. Pellentesque facilisis congue tellus, ac euismod magna sodales sed. Praesent id tellus nisi. Sed fermentum risus a lorem dictum pretium. Nam sit amet mauris vehicula augue molestie ornare vel ac sem. Nulla massa erat, hendrerit vel pulvinar ultricies, tristique et erat. Ut sed scelerisque neque. In arcu diam, dignissim sit amet tristique sit amet, dignissim sed orci. In ultricies odio sit amet turpis facilisis a gravida nisl venenatis. Nullam eget leo erat, vitae adipiscing libero. Aliquam quis feugiat quam. Nunc consequat, ipsum ut pulvinar pretium, odio sem molestie nunc, quis volutpat justo enim id sem. Praesent ut massa dolor, eget dapibus quam. Pellentesque dignissim venenatis nibh, semper dignissim dolor ornare nec. Curabitur id urna magna.

What is Visual Thinking?Nunc accumsan metus bibendum velit lobortis vestibulum quis sed tortor. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Duis magna orci, gravida a dictum ac, vulputate vel libero. Suspendisse elementum, lacus vitae ornare rhoncus, sem augue posuere nibh, in adipiscing urna ipsum eu lectus. Nullam mi augue, dignissim id cursus consectetur, lobortis ut eros. Morbi in odio vel sapien fringilla elementum non vel velit. Sed tristique turpis ut tortor pulvinar ac dictum lorem sodales. Nam auctor molestie metus eu pretium. Vivamus sollicitudin, ipsum dignissim pretium tempus, quam diam ultricies eros, sit amet luctus mauris massa non arcu. Vestibulum vitae est tortor, ac rutrum magna. Sed mattis ligula laoreet tortor tincidunt vel aliquam neque placerat. Aliquam risus lectus, bibendum et imperdiet vitae, mollis vitae est.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet!Nunc accumsan metus bibendum velit lobortis vestibulum quis sed tortor. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Duis magna orci, gravida a dictum ac, vulputate vel libero. Suspendisse elementum, lacus vitae ornare rhoncus, sem augue posuere nibh, in adipiscing urna ipsum eu Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet

Sketch: Dave Gray via Flickr

Photo: Matt Callow via Flickr

How Can it Help?

As journalists you take fragments of information and find ways to convey

complexity in an understandable form…

Photo: Matt Callow via Flickr

How Can it Help?

…visual thinking can help you become more effective at that process.

Photo: Lidal-K via Flickr

Dig through these?

Or Reference This?

Information all on one page, can easily be referenced & updated as you

go

Who here is sitting there thinking

“But I can’t draw?”

It’s not about

finished artwork

It’s about getting away from the linear flow of your word processor

Tools

Writing Method

event

LIST

ideafact

event

event

fact

fact

fact

idea

idea idea

fact

OUTLINE

ideafactfactevent

ideaeventfactevent

DRAFT

Lorem idea dolor fact

met, consect fact event

elit. Phasellus aliquam idea

fact, ac fringilla nisl

event in. Pellentesque

fact fact sodales

tincidunt. Idea.

PUBLISH

Source: Marks & Meaning (V.0) by Dave Gray

Visual Method

ARTIFACTS MODEL REFINE DISPLAY

Inspired by: Marks & Meaning (V.0) by Dave Gray | Sketch: carey.chiaia | Illustration: Dougbelshaw

ARTIFACTS MODEL REFINE DISPLAY

event

LIST

ideafact

event

event

fact

fact

fact

idea

idea idea

factOUTLINE

ideafactfactevent

ideaeventfactevent

DRAFT

Lorem idea dolor fact

met, consect fact event

elit. Phasellus aliquam idea

fact, ac fringilla nisl

event in. Pellentesque

fact fact sodales

tincidunt. Idea.

PUBLISH

The process is actually quite similar – and in the early stages there’s no reason you can’t start at one and

move to the other.

A Visual “Alphabet”

The basic elements of the visual alphabet are really quite simple.

Simplify

But you can create almost anything with them.

Create Artifacts

Post-its, Index cards, paper. Make physical artifacts that you can see,

touch and reference

Get Physical

Get up, move around, shuffle the artifacts to see what happens

See the whole picture

Lay everything out where you can see it, physically move yourself to view it

from different angles. What structures or relationships can you see now?

Methods

MindMapping

Maps

Sketch: Kevin Steinhardt

A map can very quickly convey the necessary information. Writing the same notion out could take many,

many words words

Timeline

Sketch: Chance Projects

Give your notes context and a timeframe, show how the events

relate and effect each other.

Comparison Table

Sketch: Doug Belshaw

Quickly summarize the differences between two or more things. Can be

referenced very quickly

Clustering

Discover patterns and relationships in your artifacts. Move them into

clusters or categories based on their common ties

Models / Systems

How do elements related to each other?

Delivery / Publishing

Photo: divinemissn

Watch for opportunities to tell your stories with visuals that complement

your text

My Own Process

List / Artifacts

Outline / Model

Draft / Refining

Publish / Delivery

VizThink.com

Visual Thinking resources, VizThnkU online courses, free webinars and

workshops, local communities

CC: Attribution, Non-Commercial, Share-alike

Questions?

Thanks for your time!I’ll post slides & links to resources at:

http://ryancoleman.ca/CAJ2010

Ryan Coleman http://ryancoleman.caTwitter: @ryancoleman