I’ve mentioned Dan Roam’s visual thinking approach here before and you haven’t heard of him you should check him out. Congratulations to Dan on releasing his first book: The Back of the Napkin (available March 13th). He shared a pre-release copy with me in the fall and I must say it is going to be a seminal book in the visual thinking space.
At a high level he’s created a number of frameworks for approaching visualizations (e.g. sketches, charts). Here’s one that I find particularly useful in my day-to-day work:
- Look – Collect and scan your data. Decide what problem you’re trying to solve.
- See – Find patterns in the data (Who? What? When? How? Why?)
- Imagine – Describe your data by capturing it your “mind’s eye”.
- Show – Select the right framework (e.g. Measurement? Time line?)
Dan’s getting a lot of coverage in the press. Here’s some:
- BusinessWeek: Doodling for Profits (Feb 20th)
- Microsoft MIX Conference (Mar5th, Video 75min)
- SXSW Conference (Mar 8th)
- An interview with Kai Rysdall on the “Marketplace” radio program (podcast)
- A feature article in the April issue of FAST COMPANY magazine (article)
