translating into a visual language
Kim Dornisch grew up wanting to be an artist, that is, until she imagined having to draw eight hours a day, five days a week to make a living. With the rise of computers in the 80s, Kim decided to take the more practical technical route and found herself in a corporate career delivering technology solutions.
But in 2016, art managed to make its way into the foreground and Kim realized she could turn visual facilitation into a career. “I started connecting with organizations and I realized the difference [from being a bonafide artist] was when provided the material (instead of creating it myself), I was able to create a visual language.”
We’ve all engaged in the seemingly universal practice of attending a presentation or listening to a lecture and diligently recording key ideas/concepts just to turn around and never look at them again. How much information do we retain from this kind of furious notetaking? Are we simply transcribing what’s being said or are we translating it into memorable, relatable meaning?
Visual facilitation involves intentional listening to parse through and synthesize key verbal information in such a way that others will be able to grasp the full meaning just by looking at the final product, an illustration! Not only is this kind of visual a helpful learning tool for others, it’s also a highly effective way for the scriber to retain information. “Doodling is very effective for remembering audio and staying attentive,” Kim explains. “It’s about engaging the brain differently, activating different parts of the brain thereby retaining information better and attaining deeper comprehension.”
Lots of us probably sat in classrooms presided over by teachers who wanted to see you listening, that is, making eye contact. But a 2018 study about the influence of drawing on memory suggests there are better ways to retain information. The study hypothesized and proved “drawing improves memory by promoting the integration of elaborative, pictorial, and motor codes, facilitating creation of a context-rich representation.”
The takeaway here for advisors and business owners is that there are alternative, even captivating ways to do business and engage with clients and team members. Consider the hefty 40-page report that ends up entombed in a drawer, gathering dust. The dry (dare we say boring?) plan a client may initially be intrigued by but forgets about as time marches on. Are the solutions and initiatives you’re spending time and effort on making the impact you’d like?
At a certain point, it might be necessary to ask ourselves, “If this process isn’t fun or interesting for my client or my team, why would anyone want to continue doing it?”
Visual facilitation might be the key. Communicating through drawn pictures is conducive to keeping information relevant and memorable; it offers new ways of seeing answers to questions and visualizing ways of getting from point A to B. Kim recalls a time where she was asked to create a massive mural depicting a journey map in a high-traffic area of a factory. The owner wanted employees and visitors to see and become immersed in the company’s story and get excited about imagining – and playing a part in – its future.
Incorporating visual facilitation during client meetings or presentations could create opportunities to engage clients creatively in the planning process and get them thinking and engaged immediately, not when a report is delivered, or a follow-up meeting rolls around. You may even find, by doing the doodling yourself, you become a more effective listener, note-taker and "out of the box” problem solver. Who knows? Why not give it a try?
To see examples of Kim Dornisch’s work and learn more about her process and how it might complement your practice/business, click here.