Crackerjack Visual Thinking

Tag: Crackerjack

  • Crackerjack Visual Thinking ‘rocks’ with the Institute of Quarrying #IoQ #visualthinking #engage #communicate

    Crackerjack Visual Thinking ‘rocks’ with the Institute of Quarrying #IoQ #visualthinking #engage #communicate

    I recently visited Tarmac’s Tunstead Quarry in Derbyshire as part of my research and preparation for developing two rich pictures for the Institute of Quarrying (IoQ). As well as facilitating a visual mapping session with representatives from Tarmac and the IoQ, I was also lucky enough to be taken on a tour of the quarry itself. Here’s a few pics from my visit:

    IOQ Sept 17

    Thanks to Viv Russell from Tarmac and Sarah Fry and Manisha Morar from the IoQ for organising the day!

    To find out more about how rich pictures can help communicate information and engage people, please CONTACT US.

    John Ashton
    Director – Crackerjack Visual Thinking

  • Crackerjack Visual Thinking to develop the #visualthinking skills of the #Interflora senior leadership team

    I’m pleased to share with you that Crackerjack Visual Thinking will be working with the Interflora senior leadership team (SLT) in November to help them develop their visual thinking skill set.

    HoF 25th May 2016 Scribble Lab Pic 1 SMALL

    We’ll be focussing on helping them develop both confidence and technique in drawing and also capturing information visually in a live environment.

    The goal will be to enable the SLT to begin using these approaches in their own meetings to drive better conversations and enable ideas to be explored and captured more effectively.

    If you and your colleagues would also benefit from developing these visual thinking skills, please do CONTACT US.

    John Ashton
    Director – Crackerjack Visual Thinking

  • Crackerjack on camera! #visualthinking

    Hi.

    Hope you’re having a good summer. I’m back in the studio after a couple of weeks holiday down in Devon. It’s great to back – but I wish I could nip down to the beach for a bit of bodyboarding! Tricky when I’m sitting in the middle of the UK about as far from the sea as it’s possible to be in this country!

    However…

    I had a great day yesterday working on whiteboard animation for Oxford Medical Illustration (OMI). I drew a number of different images directly onto the whiteboard and this was filmed in full 4K high-resolution. The studio had the lighting set up to minimise shadows and reflections. Here’s a picture of the studio set-up:

    OMI Studio

    The outputs from the session will now be used as part of an internal communications campaign and be combined with a number ‘talking heads’ videos. We hope to be able to share elements of the whiteboard animation with you shortly.

    To discuss how whiteboard animation can help you communicate ideas to your people, please contact us.

  • Don’t take our word for it! Here’s the latest client feedback about working with Crackerjack Visual Thinking #engage #communicate #visualise

    We’ve just received the following feedback from Chris Henderson, Founder of One Third More about the work we’ve recently undertaken for him:

    “I commissioned John Ashton of Crackerjack Visual Thinking to create a rich picture and hand-drawn animation of the key themes I explore in my book ‘Jump!: Deliver astonishing results by unleashing your leadership team’. John worked with me to understand the key messages I wanted to communicate and developed a metaphor and storyboard that visualised the story I wanted to tell. The rich picture and animation are excellent and give me two valuable resources that I can share with clients, use in presentations and display on my website. I found working with John to be both thought provoking and supportive and look forward to working with him again on future projects.”

    Chris Henderson | Founder of One Third More

    Here’s the rich picture we created for Chris. Click on the image to see the hand-drawn animation:

    one-third-more-vision

    To find out more about our work, please contact us

  • Institute of Quarrying (@IQ_UK) ask Crackerjack #VisualThinking to create rich pictures to help #engage people with the world of #quarrying

    We’re very pleased to share that the Institute of Quarrying (IQ) have asked us to create two rich pictures to engage people in the world of quarrying. The rich pictures will visualise the life-cycle of a quarry and the processes and job roles involved in quarrying.

    The rich pictures will used for a variety of purposes including induction, training, communications and awareness raining activity.

    Excitingly, the rich pictures will be also be displayed near the IQs QuarryGarden at the first ever RHS Chatsworth Flower Show being held in June 2017.

    Quarry Garden.jpgC44d-v5UYAArBLK.jpg

    Quarry Garden (picture courtesy of the Institute of Quarrying)

    We look forward to working with the IQ again on this project and also wish the IQ “Happy Birthday” as they celebrate their centenary this year!

    To find out more about our work, please CONTACT US

  • Dan Roam’s guaranteed way to get your team drawing, fast! #visualthinking #teams #drawing #thinking

    I was in Texas last week. I lead a multinational financial services company through my half-day visual training seminar. They loved it, and asked how they might quickly get colleagues around the world to start drawing more. I suggested a quick visual exercise I call, “The Double-Venn Drill.” It goes like this: The Double-Venn Drill…

    via A guaranteed way to get your team drawing, fast! — DanRoam.com

  • My #graphicrecording nearly made someone cry!!! #engage #communicate www.crackerjackvisualthinking.com

    Last week, as part of an event I was supporting, I was lucky enough to graphic record in real-time the inspirational career journey of a champion of diversity and equity in the NHS, Yvonne Coghill OBE.

    Her story was thought provoking and clearly highlighted how people can champion and enable diversity and equity for all. Clearly people were moved, challenged and energised by the story of her career journey.

    Afterwards, Yvonne came and had a look at the graphic recording I had created of her journey. Her response was one of amazement as she was able to review her career journey visually for the first time. She said she found it very emotional to see her journey mapped out on paper and almost felt like crying (in a good way I hasten to add!). She was also kind enough to Tweet about it after the event.

    yc-1

    yc-2

    She liked the graphic recording of her journey so much that she wants to use it in future presentations that she gives about her work and journey.

    For me, this once again highlighted the power of visualising information and the effect this can have on individuals (and in turn teams and organisations). Engagement is the shared goal of virtually all organisations and therefore I would encourage everyone to think about how visualising information in a way that stimulates and connects with people can help them in this goal.

    To explore how visual thinking can you engage the people in your organisation, please feel free to call 0775 282 6227 or contact us.

    John Ashton
    Crackerjack Visual Thinking

  • Give your people the power to draw (a.k.a. communicate more effectively)! #visualthinking #communicate #engage #teamdevelopment

    Getting people and teams to communicate effectively is one of the key challenges facing organisations of all shapes and sizes.

    We here at Crackerjack Visual Thinking believe that helping people to feel confident and empowered to use sketches, diagrams and drawings to communicate thoughts and ideas can create a significant cultural change in an organisation.

    yesdrawingsign

    We have witnessed people having numerous ‘lightbulb’ moments which were only possible because information and ideas were shared visually (rather than the more traditional formats for sharing information including reports, bullet-point presentations etc).

    That’s why we are passionate about helping people develop their drawing skills and offer a number of training workshops which we call ‘Scribble Labs™‘.

    Scribble Lab 1

    Scribble Lab™ 1: Get Scribbling! is ideal for those people wanting to develop their drawing skills. We can offer this as a standalone 1 day workshop or can tailor it to your teams specific needs. Ideal as part of a team development activity.

    We also offer a 1:1 coaching option if that better suits your needs.

    To find out more about how our Scribble Labs™ can help your people to communicate more effectively, please contact us. 

  • Afraid to draw at work? #visualthinking #communication #drawtothink

    What stops you drawing more at work?

    It is acknowledged that sharing information visually via sketches and diagrams can help people understand concepts more easily and drive more meaningful discussions than more traditional methods of sharing information (i.e. reports,  bullet-pointed presentations etc).

    Is it because you feel your own drawing skills are not up to scratch?

    Or is it because you feel drawing ideas doesn’t align with the culture of your organisation (i.e. you might be laughed at or looked down upon for using a ‘childish’ way of working)?

    What I’m pleased to tell you is that both of the above reasons for not drawing are wrong!

    yesdrawingsign

    You don’t need to be a great artist to draw ideas. Simple stick people, basic shapes and a bit of colour are all you need. A simple sketch that helps people understand something is better than not giving it a go and people not understanding the idea you’re wanting to share! Have a look at Dan Roam’s website (one of the thought leaders in visual thinking) to see how he encourages people to use simple sketches to drive business conversations. Crackerjack also provides training workshops to help you develop your drawing skills – click here to learn more.

    If it’s a cultural issue, then simply point out that successful companies like Google and Apple actively encourage their employees to sketch ideas out wherever possible. Many forward-thinking organisations have ‘drawing walls’ where teams can work together to sketch ideas, develop new thinking and explore different ways of doing things. They then simply take a picture on their smartphone to share what they’ve created. Simple, efficient and effective!

    So, join the visual thinking party and start sketching out ideas in your workplace today! And remember to share in the comments below how drawing has helped you and your colleagues develop ideas and increase understanding where you work!

    Happy and productive drawing!

    John Ashton
    Crackerjack Visual Thinking

    For visual thinking help, advice and training queries Contact Crackerjack