The first step of turning ideas into reality is to visualize and draw them out. In this session from our Professional Development Series, Dave Gray shares drawing tips that innovators can use to communicate their visions.
According to Gray, innovators don’t need to be master artists in order to share their ideas. “It’s just in the same way you can look up at the clouds and you can see an image in a cloud, your mind will start to make an image out of almost anything,” Gray says. “So shapes and your drawings can be really simple… All you may need is a little indication or a label here and there.”
In the session, Gray shared a matrix with nine different use cases for using visuals in the business world. Examples in each category follow.
- Logical Sequence — Flow charts and instructions where the order of steps is essential.
- Schematic Comparison — Comparing data sets in bar charts and graphs.
- Schematic Relationship Systems — Organizational charts or hierarchies at companies.
- Emotional Sequence — Drawing out the Hero’s Journey or the events in a story.
- Emotional Comparison — A metaphor or analogy.
- Emotional Relationship Systems — A metaphor for an ecosystem or business organization.
- Literal Sequence — An image that shows before, during, and after.
- Literal Comparison — The same person compared to themselves (e.g. a person’s life before using a product, and their life after).
- Literal Relationship Systems — A map or image that shows how things relate to each other in a space.
