I love the way David Armano translates concepts into visuals. I am envious. It seems effortless (which is a sure sign of mastery).
I, on the other hand, have little to no visual skill. Well I can do composition and layout, but not design. Not like a real designer. In my last job I would often be working on a whiteboard discussing the features of functions of a website and begin drawing what I was thinking only to have one of my team stand up, remove the marker from my hand and begin to visually translate for me (yeah I am that bad).
My tool of choice is words. Storytelling. But after years as a consultant, I also like diagrams. I like flows. I like to map abstract ideas. It is also partly why I am fascinated by the concept of "innovation" — how do you turn the abstract into something intangible into a real business outcome (hmm … sounds a lot like branding now that I think on it).
That’s why, when I saw this Periodic Table of Visualization Methods over at the fabulous and insightful Innovation Feeder blog, I gasped out loud. Not only can you use this as a resource to help you work through an idea, build a process or pull together random elements, this interactive table also gives you popup examples and descriptions. Awesome. I am sure Katie will like this.
As someone who can’t draw worth beans, but who LOVES visualizations (see my entry in Age of Conversation for an example), this resource knocked my socks off.
I have notified my teammates that I will be doing NO productive work today and requested extra napkins with lunch to mop up the drool on my desk.
LOL! I forgot that you are also a lover diagrams. (I wonder if there is a technical term for that?) It is very, very cool.