Innovations for Life!

Deborah DeLue • Apr 16, 2021

The Art of Applied Visual Thinking

The official newsletter of Applied Visual Thinking SUPERHEROES. Vol. 2 No. 8 April 16, 2021

We're hard at work building our next course Applied Visual Thinking for INNOVATION which we'll be launching soon. It's got us thinking about innovations large and small and wondering what you do when you have a problem? Do you enjoy wrestling with the problem until you find an answer? Do you ask for help? Do you get frustrated easily or enjoy looking at the problem from many angles? At Applied Visual Thinking, we believe that if you can describe a problem, then visuals can help you solve it.

Some of the most useful innovations are everyday solutions dreamed up by people open to creative problem solving. Here are a few of our favorite "innovations for life" (otherwise known as "life hacks") and the simple icons they inspired. We hope these solutions and icons will help excite and inspire you to look for simple innovations and apply your visual thinking skills to share them.

Happy face wearing rose colored heart shape glasses

Innovation for Life!

Burnt-on mess in your favorite pan? Cover the bottom with water, heat to boiling, then turn off the burner and sprinkle in a generous amount of baking soda. Let sit until cool. Clean up easily.
Toothpaste doesn't just make your teeth shiny. It can make your silver jewelry sparkle, too, in a pinch. Be gentle and don't use it on gemstones, antique or expensive pieces.
Most stains are no match for a scrub of white bar soap. An alternative is dish soap. Tough stain on a white item? Soak overnight in a bucket with the bar of soap.
Use a carabiner to attach your mask or keys to your purse or tote bag, no more digging for your lost keys or mask!
Losing the start of a roll of tape is never a problem if you stick a paper clip to it!
Spear an Oreo with a fork before you dunk it. No more milky fingers!

Enough examples.

Grab a copy of the handout or some paper
and a pen or a marker.

Grab Your Free Handout Now!

Let's Draw!

Step 1) Pick a life hack - challenge yourself to come up with something completely unique. For example using an old hoodie to create snuggly to carry your pet hamster with you when you go for a walk or troll the internet for some fun ideas to illustrate.

Step 2) Consider the things involved - we're going to apply our visual thinking skills to draw out a simple icon of each object.

Step 3) Use your visual alphabet - break each object down into simple shapes based on Dan Roam's Visual Alphabet.

Step 4) Simplify the drawings - eliminate extra details to simplify the objects into very simple visual vocabulary icons. Strive for something you can draw in less than 15 seconds!

Step 5) Show the action - arrange your icons to tell the story of your life hack. Do you attach one to the other? Are they stacked, bent or folded? Rubbed, cut or stuck together? Drawing the icons in relationship to each other will help tell your story.

Step 6) Annotate - visual thinking is not just about drawing pictures. Adding lettering, arrows and symbols can help your viewer easily understand your life hack so they can use it too.

That's it, you now have a fun life hack you can easily share with other people!

Drawing life hacks is a great way to jump start your visual problem solving skills and start you on your journey to
becoming a great visual thinker. Want to learn more about the visual alphabet and visual vocabulary? Check out our FOUNDATIONS course.

Till next time have fun drawing and practice, practice, practice! Take a picture of your work and share on social media. Tag us with #appliedviz.

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