When you visualize, you materialize

In the previous blog we explored the concept of BLUF ‘Bottom Line Up Front’: an approach to get to the core argument if you want to communicate something effectively. As has been mentioned in the first blog, the first phase of BLUF is about idea essence: an exhausting collection all information and arguments that have to do with the story you want to tell. Followed by the phase of idea distillation: stripping away all non-essentials. In this blog we are going to take a deep dive into the third step: switching from writing to sketching. Because when you visualize, you materialize.  

Balancing words with visual translations will even further force the essentials of your idea to surface because it forces you to think of the same content in another way. How?  

Start by determining your goal. Do you want to explain, convince or persuade? Keep this in mind and try to step in the shoes of your audience. Then determine which arguments are most relevant for your audience in the light of what you are trying to achieve. Add an information hierarchy to the arguments that remain; which one is the most important one? Which comes second, which third? But, stop after the third argument.  

Now go back to your main argument. What do you hear when reading it our loud? A name or object, a list of events, a sequence, a place, or numbers? The answer to what kind of visual represents your message best, often lies in what you hear when reading out loud. Let’s break those answers down:  

• Name or object: when you hear a name or an object at the heart of your story, who or why forms the core message. In these cases a metaphor or timeline can serve you well.  
• List of events or objects: hear a cause and effect relation? Then it is time to bring in the flowchart to visualize how one thing leads to another. Flowcharts often also come in handy when communicating about different scenario’s.  
• Sequence: if your message is built up in steps or phases, when is at the core of your message. Go with a timeline, process line or metro map. These visuals will allow you to provide insight into the order in which events take / took place, within which time frame, and even who were involved.  
• Place: if your stories center around where things took place, a visual based on geography will suit you best. Use a map of the appropriate area as the basis for your visual. Think about displaying a certain area, place, country, map or floor plan.   
• Numbers: if your hear how much, the message often centers around data. Go for a graph. Graphs will allow for a perceptual process to take place. Your audience no longer has to remember all the data, keep all that information top of mind, while at the same time searching for relations within the data. Translating the information into a graph will allow our audience to focus on the key message.  

Once you settled on the type of visual you want to create and which information is at the core of the visual, go back to your objective when creating the graphic. Using placing, hierarchy, size and color as tools to let your key message shine through. Happy about what you are seeing? Then it is time for one final challenge: reduce the size of your paper. Remember: only offer the essentials! Now, try to reduce the size of your paper again. Again. And again. Until you can win your argument in court based on a visual that fits on the back of a napkin.  

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Based on: Dan Roam, Bah Blah Blah What to do when words don’t work, 2011