Visual Communication in the Wild
A little while back my father, brother and I were talking on the front porch and the topic of my brother’s broken car seat came up. We all struggled for a few minutes trying to understand how the seat was broken and describing potential repairs. As I watched my brother and father trying to form shapes, parts, and motion in the air with their hands I realized this was prime VizThinking time and I ran into the house to grab a pad and pen. (I usually have one on my person, but I was on vacation.)
Once I got the paper and pen in their hands eveyrone understood the problem and we whipped up a potential solution in under two minutes.
What this really drove home for me is that visual communication is not art. It’s not infographics, slide decks, or process flows. It may even be downright ugly sometimes.
What it really is is a way of thinking and connecting. Neither person in the video is an artist (sorry Dad & Paul) and the final product could hardly be confused for art.. but I still find it beautiful.
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