The Back of a Napkin

B.i.L Bite of The Back of The Napkin

The back of a napkin outlines why visual communication is effective and how to make it more effective. Dan Roam explains how to solve problems and sell ideas using pictures. He explained that if a drawing is used properly, it is more powerful than a Spreadsheet or a PowerPoint chart. It can help crystallize ideas and communicate in a way the audience gets to understand more effectively.  He further explains the framework for selecting the most appropriate diagrams for certain situations as well as a framework for problem-solving.

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Visual thinking is an universal talent, including those who could not put figures on paper. You have three basic visual thinking tools which are eyes, mind’s eye, and hand-eye coordination. The visual thinking process has four steps:

Look: which deals with collecting and screening.

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See: which deals with selecting and clumping. It basically collects everything, lay it all out where you can look at it and establish a fundamental coordination, establishing answers to who/what, how much/many, when, where, why, how and as). Then sort and prioritize.

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Imagine: this deals with seeing what is not there

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Show: this deals with making it all clear. Showing in itself has three steps which includes:

●    select the right framework

●    Use the framework to create the picture

●    Explain the picture to someone else

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Another powerful concept explained in the book is the S.Q.V.I.D process. Roam argues (quite correctly) that even when you know generally hat you would like to draw, there are numerous ways to draw it depending on what on what point you are trying to convey. He illustrates this with a story of an apple.  Suppose you wanted to communicate the idea of an apple to someone who doesn’t know what apples are. Would you draw a picture of a single apple (simple) or an entire orchard (elaborate)?  Would you draw an apple pie (vision) or the recipe and steps to prepare one (execution)?  He continues through other questions, eventually labeling it the S.Q.V.I.D approach which encourages you to consider the following qualities when communicating with a visual. This involves generating five quick drawings for the presentation.

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●    Simple VS  Elaborate

●    Qualitative VS quantitative

●    Vision VS Execution

●    Individual  Attributes VS Comparison

●    Delta VS Status quo

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Another powerful tool in the book is the Six W’s. If this sounds familiar from previous concept is because it actually is.

The six (6) W’s gives us six ways to see and show problems:

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●    Who and what: refers to the challenges relating to things, people and roles. In visuals, draw a portrait

●    How much: refers to measuring and counting. In visuals,  draw a chart

●    When: refer to scheduling and timing. In visuals, draw a map

●    Where: refer to the direction and how things fit together. In visuals, draw a timeline

●    How: refer to how things influence one another: In visuals, Draw a flowchart

●    Why: refer to seeing the big picture: In visuals, draw a multiple variable plots

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Combining the SQVID and the 6 W’s will give a visual thinking codex. For each of the six ways of seeing there is one corresponding way of showing. For each one of these six ways of showing, there is a single visual framework that serves as a starting point.

In conclusion, any problem can be made clearer with a picture and any picture can be created with the same set of tools and rules.

THE BIG THREE – KEY POINTS

Keypoint #1:  Everyone is born with a talent for visual thinking.

Keypoint #2: All good pictures do not need to be self-explanatory but they do need to be explainable.

Keypoint #3: Many problems can be solved more easily and ideas conveyed better with pictures rather than words.

One Last Thing

“The single greatest challenge to leaders today (and that includes thinkers, teachers, managers, presidents, parents, CEOs, designers, salespeople, students—all of us) is this: We have to make more increasingly complex ideas more clear, more quickly and more persuasively than ever, to more audiences who are more informed and have more access to more information than ever.”

― Dan Roam, Blah Blah Blah: What To Do When Words Don’t Work