The Center for Graphic Facilitation

Drawing Idioms

One of the most potent tools in the graphic facilitator's toolkit is that visual turn of language that packs serious cultural meaning in a surreal phrase: The Idiom. 

In its loosest sense, the word idiom¹ is often used as a synonym for dialect or idiolect--that unique combination of words, phrases and inflections used by a specific induvidual.² 

In its more scholarly and narrow sense, an idiom or idiomatic expression refers to a construction or expression in one language that cannot be matched or directly translated word-for-word in another language.³

This NPR Morning Edition piece, An Enchanting Tour Through a World of Idioms, features an interview with author Jag Bhalla on his new book I'm Not Hanging Noodles on Your Ears, a compendium of worldwide idioms. 

There is a great slideshow of idiomatic illustrations by New Yorker contributor Julia Suits that illustrates idioms that, perhaps to English-speakers, may seem to be bizarre idiomatic phrases. 

Problem Solving 101: A Simple Book for Smart People.

When I was a bachelor living in Chicago, my mom called one evening: "Your brother has a question for you."

She put 8-year-old Josh on the phone, who was curious if I still owned that 200-foot climbing rope. "Why? What's your plan?"

He was trying to solve a unique problem: How to connect a long rope from the 75-ft pine tree in our yard to the roof of the house in order to slide down it as a zip line.

(NOTE: Josh has been to the emergency room more than anyone else in our sprawling, adventurous family!)

Point being:

1. "Problem-solving kids" are great,
2. They need some skills and models to help'em, 
3. And society needs lots more of them!

Facilitation U: Beware of the McDonalds Approach to Group Leadership

PHOTO: Beijing McDonald's by Peter Durand

Follow your natural rhythm to stay connected with yourself and your group.

From Facilitation U: As facilitators, particularly when you're training, have you ever felt compelled to speak fast and spill out the goods in order to keep people interested and engaged? In a world where the McDonalds paradigm often infiltrates our better intentions, do you let quantity trump quality and speed overtake depth? I know I've done this before. I get caught up in the moment and loose myself in a frantic desire to deliver the agenda...my agenda!

Most of us already suffer from information obesity and we're starving for quality, depth, and connection. And though we're conditioned to respond to high speed, broadband relationships, I believe we all yearn for a taste of thoughtful sincerity that touches our souls.

‘I Love Charts’ from Sid the Science Kid

It's good to see PBS is teaching strong values to grow up with with Sid the Science Kid and this lovely chart song (below). A chart is a handy dandy scientific tool...it gives you information that you can see with your eyes...a chart that you visualize...you get the picture... so do I... Best kid song ever.

From FlowingData.com

How Adobe uses Adobe: Developing new ways to collaborate

The secret to being a successful Chief Information Officer is simple: 

1. Always know what your people are working on, and...
2. Eat your own dogfood.

As a management and development team, Adobe is creating new ways to collaborate, both in terms of internal projects and in the products they are offering the world.  

In this video interview, Gerri Martin-Flickinger, CIO of Adobe, speaks to ZDNet Editor in Chief, Larry Dignan about her top priorities at the graphics software maker. 

She describes an emerging world of collaboration that graphic recorders and facilitators need to understand and adapt their services to...quickly!

GOOD Transparency: Drinking Water

GOOD is a great source of ideas for change and global improvement. Their series of animated information graphics make complex data sets humane and understandable, showing the human impact behind the global statistics. See more>>

About this animation on the effects of inadequate drinking:

It's the source of life but it's also the cause of a lot of unnecessary death. In places where clean water isn't available, water-related diseases like cholera cause massive diarrhea, dehydration, and thousands of deaths each day. Affordable water-treatment solutions exist. We'd like to see them flourish.

Worldchanging's Graphic Series: Earthly Ideas, Biochar

Click image to enlarge

Worldchanging Editor's note: This post is part of a series featuring Worldchanging ally Andy Lubershane's original graphics. While many of the issues covered in the comics have been discussed on Worldchanging in the past, we hope that you'll be able to use this new medium in a different way … whether it's in your classroom, on your office wall, or to help explain ideas to friends and family.

Andy Lubershane researches, writes and cartoons about sustainability from his home in Boston. Check out more of his illustrations here

Worldchanging's Alex Steffan & Big Picture in Denmark

Alex Steffen Talk at Danish Architecture Centre from Sustainable Cities™ on Vimeo.

Alex uses images produced by Ole of Bigger Picture in Denmark to illuminate his talk on how cities are making themselves viable in the carbon-constrained future.

More at: http://www.worldchanging.com/archives//009670.html

Book: All You Need is a Good Idea

Jay Heyman is an idea guy. His book on the topic, All You Need is a Good Idea!: How to Create Marketing Messages that Actually Get Results, pulls back the curtain on the idea creation process to reveal why a "good" idea is so much more valuable than a "great" idea. (Hint: Perfection kills!)

As part of Paul Williams' Idea Sandbox virtual book tour, I had the opportunity to read about Jay Heyman's experiences and playful opinions on the world of ideas.

That experience comes in the form of the New York advertising and marketing world. As principal of a creative marketing firm, Heyman's daily work involves the very raw, emotional, and oft times maddening process of developing ideas. He describes what life is like working through those chaotic, collaborative relationships that underpin the ideation process itself.

Client case studies are pulled from his direct experience with people who struggled to distill the essence of what they offer to the world (what Jay codenames your "Phufkel") and the resulting creative journey for which Jay and his team served as happy guides. He also bravely shares those instances in which the idea went down in flames!

Jay's writing is extremely engaging and personable, capturing the voice of a warm, avuncular personality with real world experience. (This ain't HBO's Mad Men series!)

For any business or practitioner, Jay has solid, understandable advice with scores of simple questions to ask yourself or your clients. He shows us how to cut through the clutter of the strategic planning and branding process to form lasting relationships with customers.

Like many of you, I am usually reading anywhere from two to 10 books simultaneously. 

Consequently, many of my questions for Jay were inspired by other authors writing in this field of idea generation and marketing, especially those writers exploring the disruptive innovations of social networking and fragmentation of media markets: Clay Shirky, Chip and Dan Heath, Valdis Krebs, Guy Kawasaki and Seth Godin. 

Read on for Jay's insightful responses.

SXSW Visually Speaking

 

FULL DISCLOSURE: I was, indeed, in Texas during South by Southwest.  However, I was nowhere near Austin, and played with lots of fun nieces and nephews (all under the age of six) doing fun things like wrasslin', fishin', watching bronco ridin' and mutton bustin' at the Houston Rodeo. I didn't Tweet or Bleep all week. It was awesome.

Fortunately, there were enough Bloggers and Twitters and Visual Facilinators @sxsw to capture every angle. Check out these moleskin sketches by Austin Kleon (above) and Mike Rohde (video of live sketchnoting below).

20x2 Live Sketchnoting from Mike Rohde on Vimeo.

Lots of Twitter action, of course; of special interest--the panel titled Shift Happens: Moving from Words to Pictures with some of our favorite peeps as panelists:  Lee LeFever, Sunni Brown, Dave Gray, and Tom Crawford. See panelist Dan Roam's thoughts on his blog (oh, such a woefully passé and antiquated form of communication). 

Or, if you think it more hip to be square, then find <140 word reactions on Twitter: #shift