What are some best practices or tips for facilitating visual thinking sessions with your team or clients?

1 Prepare the materials

Before you start a visual thinking session, make sure you have the right materials and tools to support the process. You will need a large and visible surface to draw or write on, such as a whiteboard, a flipchart, or a wall. You will also need markers, pens, sticky notes, and other items that allow you to create and manipulate visual elements. Choose colors that contrast well and are easy to read. You may also want to use templates, frameworks, or prompts that guide the visual thinking process, such as mind maps, flowcharts, or storyboards.

2 Set the goals and rules

At the beginning of the session, explain the purpose and objectives of the visual thinking exercise. What are you trying to achieve, explore, or solve? How will the visual thinking help you to do that? Also, establish some ground rules and expectations for the session. For example, you may want to encourage everyone to participate, respect each other's ideas, and avoid judging or criticizing. You may also want to assign roles, such as a facilitator, a recorder, or a presenter, to ensure the session runs smoothly and efficiently.

3 Warm up and brainstorm

Before you dive into the main topic or challenge, it is helpful to warm up and activate your visual thinking skills. You can do this by asking your participants to draw something simple, such as their name, their mood, or their favorite animal. This will help them to get comfortable with using visual elements and expressing themselves creatively. Then, you can move on to brainstorming ideas or solutions related to the topic or challenge. You can use different techniques, such as free association, mind mapping, or sketching, to generate as many ideas as possible. Encourage your participants to use words, images, symbols, and colors to represent their ideas.

4 Organize and prioritize

After you have generated a lot of ideas, you need to organize and prioritize them. You can do this by grouping, sorting, or ranking the ideas according to some criteria, such as relevance, feasibility, or impact. You can use visual tools, such as sticky notes, arrows, or dots, to indicate the categories or preferences. You can also ask your participants to vote or comment on the ideas to get their feedback and input. This will help you to identify the most promising or valuable ideas and eliminate the irrelevant or redundant ones.

5 Refine and prototype

Once you have selected the best ideas, you need to refine and prototype them. You can do this by adding more details, clarifying the assumptions, or testing the hypotheses behind the ideas. You can use visual tools, such as diagrams, charts, or models, to illustrate the logic, structure, or functionality of the ideas. You can also create simple prototypes, such as sketches, mockups, or scenarios, to demonstrate how the ideas would work in practice. You can then share and evaluate the prototypes with your team or clients to get their feedback and suggestions for improvement.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?