How To Make Graphics Work

A parable of one company's experience

By Michael Pemberton

Once upon a time you and I worked together on the leadership team at a widget company named Luxury Wids & Gets. Most people call us LuxWids. Market competition is tightening and a worldwide pandemic provides us the opportunity to implement some creative changes.

All the options are on the table.? We just need to figure out what we’re going to do and when. We have a strong sense of our own history and a strong following of loyal customers. We know our purpose and mission.

What we need a strategic goal to guide us. We need something that we can all point to and say, “THAT is why I’m doing THIS!” And it needs to be far enough out so that it can really filter out what we should do and what we shouldn’t do every day between now and then.? Tall order.

We have been chosen as part of the inner circle of the leadership team to hammer out this strategic objectives. What an honor! gulp

When we walk into the room, our CEO introduces us to Amy.? Amy is going to be helping us take notes.?

The agenda simply says: “This meeting will be considered successful when we have a common strategic objective for 5 years from now.”

Susan, our CEO, kicks off the discussion by drawing a circle on the board. She explains that this circle is the market. She taps out some black, green, and red dots in it and explains that the green dots are loyal customers, the red dots are customers we’ve offended, and the black dots are potential customers. Whatever we design must address all three.

Then she says something nobody really believes.? She says, “We need to be a-political today. Tell each other ‘NO!’ or look at each sideways. We need to get over ourselves, our roles, and even LuxWid’s reputation. We need some effective challenge and diverse thinking. Without that, this meeting is a fail.”

Unbeknownst to most of the attendees, our CEO has been working with you and me for a couple of weeks to set up today’s meeting. She’s convinced us to be blunt and challenging to each other so that the tone can be set for everyone else. And are we ready!

“Look,” I say. “These three segments are constantly moving. And there’s a group you’ve overlooked.”

“Like who?” she asks.

“Well, what about all the people who are loyal to someone else, or have a chip on their shoulder about companies our size, or with the word “Luxury” in their name?”

Holding out a blue marker, she smiles briefly, “Show me.”

So, I go to the board and insert some blue dots between some of the other colored dots.

Then you pipe up, “Wouldn’t this be easier if we could organize around the target segments?”

I frown and roll my eyes, “Sure, but how are you going to do that?”

You step forward, pick up the eraser and erase all the dots in the circle. Then you redraw them, but this time you put all the green dots at the top, the back dots in a band below that, then the blue dots, then the red dots.

“Try that”

“So, you’re saying the highest priority ones are the existing customers?” I ask.

You look at me like I just sprouted a second head and try again. This time you divide the circle in 4 parts. It looks like this.

Susan grabs the black marker and draws lines between the segments. “Well, that’s a good start. Now what are we going to do about it?”

So it began.

Ed, the COO, had lots to say about the way our customers perceive our retail outlets. The sales people disagreed, but Amy managed to draw a few little pictures on the side board to describe what Ed was saying. She invited sales to modify them with their objections. Then something strange happened. With a few modifications they found that they agreed with Ed’s perspective!

After we were all in agreement, Amy asked what we could do about them. As ideas developed, she drew some of them out and invited people up to clarify. As soon as we felt that we had covered down on each one, she would scribe a single line through it.

Before we knew it, it was noontime.? We wandered down to the other conference room for lunch and found another stranger waiting for us. His name was John and he? was another graphic guy.? The tables were covered in white paper and there were sharpies spread all around. John asked us to catch notes for any ideas we might have during lunch. No pressure, we didn’t have to think about the morning meeting, but if we did, we should catch the thoughts on paper.

John went from table to table listening and drawing whatever we were talking about. People were arguing, laughing, and making notes on the tables.?

After we ate, people began filtering out or joining other groups in conversation. The VP of logistics was in a heated debate with Ed – no surprise there – and asked John to draw what he was saying so that Ed could get it. They were still going at it when lunch was over and we returned to the conference room.

Amy had been busy over lunch. She photographed everything, printed it out on the plotter, and taped it on the side wall. Then she redrew the solution vignettes around the circle on the center board and cleaned up the side board. We were ready to work.

Within minutes John slipped in with a handful of odd sized papers he had cut out of the table covers. He started taping these up along the top of the whiteboard when Amy cleared her throat and shot him that, “Don’t even try it!” look as she reached up as far as she could, touching nowhere near the top of the board. John grinned and moved them down along the bottom.

By the three o’clock break the board was full. Little pictures everywhere. Some long arrows went from one picture across to others. Labels were pointing to whatever needed clarification.

We took a 15 minute break.

You and I were sitting with Pam from marketing when she commented on how powerful their iconization was. We looked blankly at each other, then her.

“Oh, come on! Don’t tell me you didn’t notice.” She was more aggravated than surprised.

When we didn’t answer, she drew a deep breath, rolled her eyes and started in.

“All the customers look like a family. All our workers look like 1950’s diner servers. All our widgets look like a box with LWG on the top. All the problems are in red and the solutions in blue. All our stores look like 3d boxes but our offices look like a skyscraper. Our factory looks like a shoebox.”

She pauses to let it sink in.

Your eyes get big and you lean in, “You’re right! And it doesn’t matter where the icon is, they all match the pattern.”

Running her thumb around the edge of her glass contemplatively, she replies, “Can’t be an accident. These guys are good. Even if people don’t notice the pattern, it will work to carry the meaning everywhere you see the icon from now on.”

Now my brain is finally catching up. “I see! Even if they formalize the icons, they’ll still be recognizable.”

You sit back with a shocked look on your face for a moment. “Sooo… Does that mean that if we take every picture with the customer it in, we could rearrange them into a comprehensive customer program?”

Pam is right there with you, “Exactly! And because the same picture may have the sales or logistics, or whatever icon in it, we could easily map the dependencies between the programs.”

Now I’m the one staring down at my cup. “There’s no way on earth we could get that from any document we’ve ever written.”

The next few weeks turn out to be very interesting. By the time we got this work reviewed, updated, and to the developers, their response was one for the record books.

“Who taught you guys visual requirements?”

“’Bout time you went agile.”

“My job just got easier.”