VISUAL THINKING photos by Rankin.

from Eyescapes, 2011

Dawn McArthur, PhD Director, Research & Technology Development,

Child & Family Research Institute, UBC

Jocelyn Maffin, BSc 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

• “artistic talent” • graphic design • data visualization • coding • complexity / complications

Visual thinking doesn’t depend on

… though it may ultimately involve these

Humans have been doing it for a long time

Earliest cave paintings ~38,000 BCE

Greek astronomy ~3000 CE

transposable elements, 1940s

Crick sketch of DNA double helix, 1950s

Microsoft tablet design in sketchbook, 2013

da Vinci’s notebook ~1488

Darwin’s notebook ~1830s

(animated slide)

Visual thinking in 2016

Why now? Why bother?

After all

• 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

AIM 1 AIM 2

Daily measures of clinical care Functional outcomes

MEASURES Cognition

Behaviour

Language

Motor

Preterm Birth: 24-32 weeks gestation

“Term” age: 38-42 weeks

2 weeks

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

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

Why is visual thinking useful for RD?

• 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

Tools of the trade

• Common dynamics for adding meaning: metaphor colour size & shape space & distance

• Consider your audience • Consider levers / directions / forces

The basics

• 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!

Metaphor

Example: Rare Disease Foundation research concept

• 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

Colour

Example: Health Canada food guide

• 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)

Size and shape

Shape, size and colour can be used to show differences in rank or value

free chart from www.gapminder.org

• 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

Space and distance

Example: Language tree

• 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

Things to consider

Specialists and generalists interpret information differently - Experts group information and see patterns (non-linear) - Novices process information piece by piece (linear)

• 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

Visual thinking in practice

• 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?

Asking 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)

When to ask for help

• 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

Example: How research is funded

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 rise of infographics

• New age of data visualization

• Advanced dynamics: narratives, moving pictures

• Digital tools and media: video, gifs, interactive tools, podcasts

The Next Level

Infographics

(Google image search of ‘best infographics’ 2014)

(animated slide)

https://www.ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_on_global_population_growth?language=en

“Low-tech” visual thinking

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbkSRLYSojo

“High-tech” visual thinking

Digital tools and media

Explainer videos

“Ellipse”

GIFs (easier than video!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUaInS6HIGo http://giphy.com/gifs/educational-ellipse-Qk5fIr8LRYACI

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

Growing array of tools ...

… using space in relation to bodies

Plus living visualizations in the real world ...

http://vardehaugen.no/real-scale-drawings/

… and bodies in relation to space

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 https://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/ David McCandless http://www.davidmccandless.com/ and http://www.ted.com/talks/david_mccandless_the_beauty_of_data_visualization Stephen Few 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