Crackerjack Visual Thinking

Tag: engagement

  • 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.

  • Working with the Weetabix On The Go Team #visualthinking

    I spent yesterday with the Weetabix On The Go team at their office at Weetabix HQ in Northamptonshire. I’m helping them to visualise their teams amazing journey from internal Weetabix start-up to the UKs #1 breakfast drink. The starting point for this work is to identify the special ‘ingredients’ that have helped them to become a super-successful team and business. Now on with creating the rich picture to help them tell their story!

  • Variety is the spice of [#visualthinking] life! #communicate #think #engage

    It’s been a bit quiet here on the blog over the last few weeks as we’ve been working on a variety of new projects. Variety is definitely the right word as over the last couple of weeks we’ve been involved in:

    • Developing a hand-drawn animation to help people better understand the UK Power Network…

      Screen Shot 2017-03-15 at 10.21.38

    • Helping to capture how care services can be better designed for those with dementia and other cognitive conditions…

      Dementia

    • Developing a hand-drawn animation to raise awareness of health and safety across a large multi-national aerospace organisation…
    • Developing a rich of picture of how a ‘Model Hospital‘ operates…
    • Working with a senior team to visualise what a great place to work looks like…

      INT

    This variety demonstrates how visual thinking approaches can successfully help all types of organisations to have better conversations and share ideas and information more effectively.

    To discuss how visual thinking could help your organisation, please CONTACT US. 

  • Interflora and Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust choose Crackerjack to help visualise their thinking #visualthinking

    Crackerjack Visual Thinking is really pleased to share that Interflora and Central Manchester University Hostpitals NHS Foundation Trust have both asked us to help them visualise their thinking.

    We’ll be providing the full range of visual thinking services including graphic facilitation and rich picture creation to these new clients.

    We’re really looking forward to working with both of these organisations and helping them use visual thinking to communicate important information and engage their people over the next few months.

    To find out how Crackerjack Visual Thinking can help you, please CONTACT US.

  • 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

  • How visualising the outputs from focus groups is good for the organisation and good for the participants #focusgroup #marketing #insights

    Focus groups continue to be a valuable source of insight for organisations wanting to learn deeper insights into their past, present and future customers needs.

    Whether it’s a retailer wanting to learn more about how customers will react to a new product or a pharma company wanting to understand how their products can better help patients, a focus group remains one of the key insight tools available to organisations.

    One way in which the key conversations, ideas and insights coming out of a focus group session can be captured is by having a graphic recording created during the session itself. This large scale visual is created by a graphic recorder live in real-time on a large sheet of paper (circa 2.5m wide and 1.5m deep) using words, images and other visual thinking techniques. The example below is not from a focus group session (they tend to be confidential!), but gives you an idea of what a graphic recorder can produce during an event:

    OUH 12th Dec 2016 Graphic Recording

    The benefits of using graphic recording to capture the outputs from a focus group session are:

    • The graphic recording details how the comments, ideas and insights emerged during the focus group and how they are linked together. This adds an extra level of insight for the organisation on top of the actual content captured on the graphic itself. This is not always possible with more traditional methods such as bullet-pointed flip-chart lists etc.
    • The participants see that the graphic recording is an accurate and truthful record of the focus group session and their comments and insights. This can further engage them with the session and build higher-levels of trust. This increased level of trust can encourage them to offer deeper, more personal insights than they otherwise might have done.

    To find out more about graphic recording and how it could benefit you in your next focus group session, please contact us here at Crackerjack Visual Thinking.

  • 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