Work Backwards Visually

Sheri Kennedy • Jun 07, 2024

The Art of Applied Visual Thinking

The official newsletter of Applied Visual Thinking SUPERHEROES. Vol. 5 No. 12

June 7, 2024

Once, when I was hiking with a friend, we lost the trail. Not just for a few steps, but 20 minutes or so hiking in circles with full backpacks in the rain near tears lost. I kept questioning myself and doubling back, messing with my own sense of direction.

Finally, my friend suggested we just pick a direction and keep going until we found some clue to where we were. It was afternoon and we were far from any campsite. Her suggestion to "just keep going" worked. We eventually found a trail marker.

Last week, I found myself facing a different kind of lost. I had the joy of guiding a troop of almost 40 pre-teen Scouts through the design and silkscreening of t-shirts for their troop’s annual summer camp week. In a couple of short evenings, we needed to navigate from concept to design, then from a chaotic group of kids to an organized production house. Here’s how Visual Thinking helped me find my way, and it started at the end.

The END

I knew the group would need a clear idea of the VISION of the end goal in order to get motivated. I showed them an example of last year’s shirts, explained how the design fit the theme, and presented printed samples of this year’s summer camp theme for visual inspiration.

I asked for a small set of volunteers. We had about 6 creative Scouts on the committee, a mixture of boys and girls. This "Design Team" was given the overall theme for the week, the criteria and parameters to keep in mind. In about 30 minutes, they dashed off, refined and agreed to a handful of draft concepts that:

Related to the Tom & Jerry theme (the Hanna and Barbera American cartoon)
Included the troop number and location
Were legible from a distance so their leaders and others could easily identify them as a group
Passed the "I'll wear it" test for the whole troop, including adult leaders

The Design Team knew where we were headed and agreed on a direction — 100+ shirts printed with the theme silkscreened on the front and their patrol emblem block printed on the right sleeve.

The MIDDLE

Next, the whole troop was given time to review the draft designs, vote for their top pick, and add comments and notes. The Design Team met again briefly to tally the votes and read the comments. The designer of the winning design was then given an opportunity to redraw the design based on what the committee determined were the best suggestions.

Similar to my hike, the Design Team knew they had to "just keep going" in order to be prepared in time for the printing date.

The BEGINNING

The Design Team became Project Managers as they planned out print night. To do this, they retraced the steps they recalled from last year and improved on it. They mapped out the sequence of operations, how to lay out and set up the room, and how they would dry the shirts after they were printed. They assigned roles to each team member and made sure all the necessary roles would be staffed by a Scout with experience.

On screen printing day, the Design Team was tasked as leaders to coordinate the event as well as help mentor Scouts who had not done block printing nor silk screening before. "Ink Masters" were assigned to each print station, assisting the Scouts as they inked and transferred the designs onto their shirts.

The results? Over 100 shirts printed. Time: about 2 hours. 38 proud Scouts with big smiles and matching camp shirts.

Working visually helps develop ideas, build consensus and keep the end goal in mind.

Ready to try turning your visual thinking on its head? Here's how.

The printing example I described was for an entire project, but you can also apply this end to beginning process to visual thinking on a small scale, like developing a new icon for your icon library.

Baby upside down looking through legs and smiling

	Description	Small scale: ICON	Large scale: PROJECT
1. END: Choose a destination.	Begin with the goal in mind. If you don’t quite know your destination, pick one and be prepared to course adjust.	Decide what the icon needs to represent	Determine the scope of the project
2. MIDDLE: Just keep going.	Whatever challenge you are undertaking, there is likely some info, data or story that can help. Find and tap that knowledge the way you might a geographical map.	Do the work of researching ideas, making draft sketches, and reducing the number of lines to a minimum	Do the work of planning your project thoroughly (see AVT for Project Management course)
3. BEGINNING: Retrace your steps from the beginning.	Test your outcome by starting from the beginning and walking through the steps you identified in Step 2. Do you always arrive at the same outcome? Are there steps you “just did” that could be useful to spell out?	Draw your icon a few times to lock it into memory	Walk through the plan virtually a few times on your own or with others. Ask, “What might be missing”?

Ready for more End to Beginning fun?

Try the back to front method in these small, simple ways.

Want to make a key word stand out? Use a totally different style than the rest of the paragraph. Try for a style that emphasizes its meaning, like a fancy script for the word "elegant."
Want to create some visual whimsy in a block of text? Use a style of writing that contradicts the word or phrase, such as making a sign for "Meditation Room" in bright, bold, cartoon letters inside a cartoon star shape.
Want to make up a joke? Start with a punchline.
Want to draw an imaginary animal? Try a combination of two real ones.
Want to draw an imaginary animal another way? Combine two animal names, then draw the combo – penguigator, foxhawk or pandoctopus.