Visual thinking school

Visual thinking is about using pictures to help you solve problems, think about complex issues and communicate more effectively. Are you ready to work on your visual thinking skills?

You don't have to be an artist.

This site is different every time you visit: it's continuously updated via live feeds from the web to bring you the best and most delicious images and links available: visuals to inspire, examples to follow, books to read and things to do, designed to stimulate your imagination and visual thinking.

Visual thinking is a broad discipline with many facets. The list of links you see below is a set of mini-course modules on various subjects. If you're new to the subject you might want to start with Introduction to visual thinking. Alternatively you can click on the link that interests you most. Sketching is one of the most popular.

We're updating the site frequently, so please check back soon to see what's new. And welcome to visual thinking school!

Examples of visual thinking

Meshforum 2006

Visual thinking

Meshforum 2006

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Mini-course modules

Introduction to visual thinking: Visual thinking is a way to organize your thoughts and improve your ability to think and communicate. It's a way to expand your range and capacity by going beyond the linear world of the written word, list and spreadsheet, and entering the non-linear world of complex spacial relationships, networks, maps and diagrams.
Visual communication: Improving your visual communication skills will make your messages more clear, concise and consistent. A picture is worth a thousand words, and the better you can get at communicating with pictures, the better you will be understood.
Visual vocabulary: Visual language, like written and spoken language, has developed over time. Your visual vocabulary is the set of elements, or visual "words" that make visual language possible. The greater your vocabulary, the greater your capacity to think and communicate.
Visual thinking tools: The right tools can help you think better. Probably the best tool for any kind of thinking is still the pencil or pen and paper combination. There are plenty of computer-based visual thinking tools as well, but this module focuses on the real-world variety.
Visual thinking spaces: Thinking spaces can be anywhere. As you work on your visual thinking you will find that some spaces are good for thinking and others are not.
Sketching: Learning to sketch is primarily about learning to understand your visual system. It's about learning to see.
Signs, symbols and icons: Research has demonstrated that pictures and words, when tightly linked, result in more knowledge transfer than traditional page layouts. Signs, symbols and icons are ways to represent a complete thought in a simple way.
Information design: Information design is the discipline of developing structures which allow people to find information that's relevant to them, and use it to make decisions which enhance their lives.
Visual mapping: Visual mapping is a way to think through complex issues or solve problems. All you need is a pen, paper and a problem to solve!

Visual thinking practice

Attention: Attention is not an accident, it's an act of will. You can improve your visual acuity by choosing to pay more attention to your environment. This will help you heighten your visual sensitivity, and will also give you many moments of unexpected delight.

Here's an exercise that will help you heighten your attention, and improve your awareness of your surroundings.