VISUAL THINKING
photos by Rankin.
from Eyescapes, 2011
Dawn McArthur, PhD
Jocelyn Maffin, BSc
Director, Research & Technology Development,
Child & Family Research Institute, UBC
Manager, BC SCI Resource Centre,
Spinal Cord Injury BC
Introductions
• Who are you?
• Where are you from?
• What do you work on?
Workshop Objectives
• Understand visual thinking
• Learn concepts, strategies and tools
• Practice presenting information visually
Workshop Agenda
1 - Understanding Visual Thinking
What it is, what it isn’t, and why bother
Visual thinking as a process and as a product
Activity #1
2 - Tools and Skills
Visual thinking concepts and dynamics
Doing it yourself, and getting help
Real-life examples; Activity #2 (plus break)
3 - Application and Advanced Skills
Advanced tools: When, why and how to use them
Real-life examples; Activity #3
4 - Reflection and Q&A
Warm-Up Activity
• Form groups of 2-3; introduce yourselves
• Each person:
– Take a few minutes to sketch how you get to work
– Do not show others
• When all group members are finished,
share your sketches and discuss your thinking
1 – UNDERSTANDING
VISUAL THINKING
What is visual thinking?
• The ability to think about something
in a diagrammatic or pictorial way…
to see language and words as pictures
• Envisioning structures, patterns,
relationships, dynamics
• ~2/3 of people easily think this way
Visual thinking doesn’t depend on
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“artistic talent”
graphic design
data visualization
coding
complexity / complications
… though it may ultimately involve these
Humans have been doing it for a long time
Greek astronomy
~3000 CE
Earliest cave paintings
~38,000 BCE
Darwin’s notebook
~1830s
transposable
elements, 1940s
da Vinci’s notebook
~1488
Crick sketch of DNA
double helix, 1950s
Microsoft tablet design
in sketchbook, 2013
(animated slide)
Visual thinking in 2016
Why now? Why bother?
After all
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It’s just doodling in your notebook
Everyone doodles
Grants are about the quality of the research
There’s no extra value, so why spend the time?
We live in a highly visual world
Visual thinking as a process
• Moving ideas from non-visual (individual
understanding) to visual (communal
understanding)
Examples:
Sketching out ideas
Mind mapping
Creating flowcharts
Developing schematics
World café
Process example: Knitting pattern
Process example: Clinical trial design
Preterm Birth:
24-32 weeks gestation
“Term” age:
38-42 weeks
2 weeks
Daily measures of clinical care
AIM 1
MEASURES
Cognition
Behaviour
Language
Motor
Functional outcomes
AIM 2
Process example: Patient journey roadmap
Process example: IKEA instructions
Visual thinking as a product
• adds new levels of meaning
• from basic information to integration,
and interpretation
• allows for multiple concepts and contexts
Examples:
Schematics, floor plans
Storyboards
Maps, charts
Calendars, Gantt charts
Product example: Cladogram
Shows complex
relationships of
groups of animals
with each other
and over time
Graphic copyright Evan Black
Product example: Cladogram variations
Same tree - Seven different views: Rectangular Phylogram, Rectangular Cladogram, Slanted Cladogram, Circular Phylogram,
Circular Cladogram, Radial Phylogram and Radial Cladogram (from http://dendroscope.org/)
Product example: Schematic
Shows alignment of the
human spinal vertebrae
with the body segments
to which they refer
Product example: IKEA instructions
Activity #1 –
Visualizing Concepts
• Rejoin your small group
• Select a “concept card”
• Working together, depict the concept visually
(eg, sketch, outline, diagram, etc)
• Share with the larger group
2 – TOOLS and SKILLS
Why is visual thinking useful for RD?
For you
• Helps you figure out processes & relationships
• Shows what you are doing/need to do, and
the reason why you are doing it
• Provides details with less complexity
• Provides context for details, and so easier
access to complex ideas
• Provides a framework to compare, discuss,
analyze ideas or concepts
• Helps with effective communication of data
Why is visual thinking useful for RD?
For readers / audiences
• Reduces complexity
• Makes things easier to understand
reduces working memory requirements
• Improves contextual comprehension of
plans, methods, hypotheses, timelines, concepts,
relationships, cause-and-effect, importance,
outcomes, impact
• Enhances retention of information
• Prompts further thinking
Tools of the trade
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•
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you!
notebook/pens/pencils
post-it-notes
dry-erase board
pre-used paper
basic Office software (Word, Powerpoint, Visio, etc)
other software/digital tools
tablet/smartphone/digital camera can be helpful
The basics
• Common dynamics for adding meaning:
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metaphor
colour
size & shape
space & distance
• Consider your audience
• Consider levers / directions / forces
Metaphor
• Common: gears, water drops, bubbles, pies,
scales, see-saws, trees
• Take care to not mix visual metaphors
• Choose other dynamics so that they
contribute to your metaphor
eg, water = uses blue colour scheme
travel = roadmap, path through trees
• Obvious is okay -- but be sure to add value!
Example: Rare Disease Foundation research concept
Colour
• Colours can evoke strong emotion and
recall of known concepts
• Colour often used to categorize units,
“sameness”, relationships
• Often show relationship strength
by the depth of the colour
• Issues to consider: colour blindness,
cultural variations in meaning
Example: Health Canada food guide
Size and shape
• Common metaphors: bubbles, clouds,
pies, water/rivers
• Often shows parent-child relationships
(large clouds and smaller ones) and
subsets or pieces of a whole
• Often convey quantity and directionality
(ie water flow)
Shape, size and colour can be used
to show differences in rank or value
free chart from www.gapminder.org
Space and distance
• Common metaphors: trees/roots, webs,
roadmaps, mind maps
• Characteristic being compared (ie age, date,
time of development of a particular thing)
• Useful when there’s directionality or
clustering
Example: Language tree
Things to consider
• Goal of the visual thinking activity, process
and/or product
• What you are trying to say
• When to use a diagram or not
• What type of diagram is best
• Who your audience is
• What you want your audience to understand
 Specialists and generalists interpret information differently
- Experts group information and see patterns (non-linear)
- Novices process information piece by piece (linear)
Visual thinking in practice
• Identify components and relatedness first
• Identify the directions or forces involved
• Describe first, then add layers of meaning
or analysis
• How far you go depends on the reason
for doing the visual thinking activity
Asking for help
• You can do most visual thinking
with your own skills!
• You’ll always need the basics to map out
your vision, regardless of tools
• You can develop partnerships with
skilled designers, videographers,
storytellers
 When should you work with specialists or designers?
When to ask for help
• High stakes/high effort work
• “Products” ie, major program proposals
and reports
• Public-facing visualizations/images
• Communicating to special audiences
• Communicating in the same language
as your audience (when necessary)
Example: How research is funded
• Problem: Explain to corporate and health
administrators how research is funded in Canada
• Drivers: policy priorities, availability of funds
• Direction: Funding flows from a few funders
to many researchers and trainees
• Levers: Researcher innovation and application
• Metaphor: Waterwheel
Consider use of colour, icons, details
Example: Value added of a team
Consider use of colour, icons, details
Activity #2 –
Visualizing Research
• Work in your small groups
• Identify a real-life problem related to
the work of one or more group members
• Develop a visual representation suitable
for a research proposal
• Report back to large group
3 – APPLICATION &
ADVANCED SKILLS
The Next Level
• The rise of infographics
• New age of data visualization
• Advanced dynamics: narratives,
moving pictures
• Digital tools and media: video, gifs,
interactive tools, podcasts
Infographics
(Google image search of ‘best infographics’ 2014)
(animated slide)
“Low-tech” visual thinking
https://www.ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_on_global_population_growth?language=en
“High-tech” visual thinking
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbkSRLYSojo
Digital tools and media
“Ellipse”
Explainer videos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUaInS6HIGo
GIFs (easier than video!)
http://giphy.com/gifs/educational-ellipse-Qk5fIr8LRYACI
Growing array of tools ...
Free digital tools include
- Chart.js: open source chart generator
- D3.js (browser based)
- Tableau Public
- Mind mapping apps
- Timeline (timeline.knightlab.com)
Data visualization built in to web templates
eg, Divi, Wordpress templates
Plus living visualizations in the real world ...
… using space in relation to bodies
… and bodies in relation to space
http://vardehaugen.no/real-scale-drawings/
Activity #3 –
Visualizing Dynamics
• Work in your small group
• Storyboard your idea from Activity 2 using
one of the advanced visual thinking strategies
shown above, or suggest your own (eg, pitch,
podcast, visualization, demonstration, etc)
• Should advance your idea from Activity 2
4 – REFLECTIONS / Q&A
THANKS VERY MUCH!
SOME FURTHER INFORMATION
Visual thinking
Dan Roam http://www.danroam.com/blog/ and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsrFuXefZ1Q
Kurt Hanks http://www.kurthanks.com/ and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wdbPBZnnK8
Don Moyer Visual Thinking Course https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrP1Q_LNqis
Data visualization
Edward Tufte
David McCandless
Stephen Few
https://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/
http://www.davidmccandless.com/ and
http://www.ted.com/talks/david_mccandless_the_beauty_of_data_visualization
https://www.perceptualedge.com/
TED talks
Hans Rosling https://www.ted.com/speakers/hans_rosling
Sunni Brown. Doodlers, Unite!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fx0QcHyrFk&index=4&list=PLUV_DHG5_mIepZ8JKRssBV0zHRZ_7jIQB
Tom Wujic. 3 ways the mind creates meaning
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPFA8n7goio&list=PLUV_DHG5_mIepZ8JKRssBV0zHRZ_7jIQB&index=5
Some web resources
http://dineshrudra.com/15-resources-to-make-you-a-stronger-visual-communicator-in-2015/
http://www.creativebloq.com/design-tools/data-visualization-712402
http://thenextweb.com/dd/2015/04/21/the-14-best-data-visualization-tools/#gref
Some
books
Additional CREDITS
Title Slide: Photo credit: Rankin. Eyescapes. Exhibition Aug-Sep 2011, Rankin Gallery, LA. Image from http://65.media.tumblr.com/
ddc820b5ddfc805c3185caa4a9995c26/tumblr_inline_ncscq1mFUV1suvl9j.jpg
Slide 10:
Cave painting from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magura_Cave#/media/File:Magura_-_drawings.jpg
Greek astronomy model from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greek_astronomy
Da Vinci wing drawing from http://www.drawingsofleonardo.org/, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3559365]
Darwin notebook from http://www.tc.umn.edu/~allch001/darwin/library/darwin-B.htm
Crick DNA sketch from https://www.wdl.org/en/item/3252/
McClintock transposons graphic from "Physiology or Medicine 1983 – Press Release”. Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2014. Web. 8 Apr 2016.
http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1983/press.html
Surface tablet design from http://www.theverge.com/2015/5/7/8566581/microsoft-surface-tablet-concept-design-original-sketchbook
Guardian app sketch from http://johnhenrybarac.com/notes-on-designing-the-guardian-iphone-app/
Slide 12:
Jaquard Loom punch cards from the Visual History of Computing: http://www.scaruffi.com/monument/silicon/cmseq.html
DOS Screen: DOS Menu image from http://http-server.carleton.ca/~dmcfet/menu.html
Windows 10 GUI DOS Menu image from http://http-server.carleton.ca/~dmcfet/menu.html
Apple Watch GUI from https://speckyboy.com/2015/06/03/50-free-resources-for-web-designers-from-may-2015
Slide 14: Avalon, Knitting Pattern by Nadia Cretin-Lechenne: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/avalon-5
Slides 17, 22: IKEA instructions from www.ikea.com
Slide 19: Cladogram from Evan Black https://sites.google.com/site/projectnereus/home/life
Slide 20: Image from www.dendroscope.org
Slide 21: Spinal cord somatic segments schematic from http://sci-bc.ca/resource-centre/spinal-cord-injury/
Slide 27: Systems engineering sketch from http://www.incose-cc.org/solving-systems-engineering-problems-on-the-back-of-a-napkin/
Slide 30: RDF research wheel from https://www.rarediseasefoundation.org/research
Slide 32: Canada Food Guide from http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/food-guide-aliment/index-eng.php
Slide 34: Source: Free material from www.gapminder.org
Slide 36: Linguistic tree from Minna Sundberg. http://mentalfloss.com/article/59665/feast-your-eyes-beautiful-linguistic-family-tree
Slide 47: Data visualization of Plot Lines from http://www.slow-journalism.com/plot-lines
Slide 52: Photo of bodies from #blacklivesmatter http://www.wbur.org/2014/12/10/harvard-medical-ferguson-nyc-protest
Slide 53: Architecture photos from http://vardehaugen.no/real-scale-drawings/
Slides 15, 16, 42, 43: from McArthur and Maffin at UBC (CFRI/ICORD) and SCI BC