Keep It Simple, Stupid: Rock and Roll All Night (and Refine Every Day)
Over-complication isn’t just tedious—it’s the nemesis of efficiency. Enter the KISS principle: “Keep It Simple, Stupid.”
The Inverted Pyramid: The Principle that Explains Why it Can Be Good to Think Upside Down
Ah, the Inverted Pyramid—It sounds like a tragic prog rock album you might find at a car boot sale, but it’s a concept that’s as intriguing as it is practical.
The Magic of Affordance: A Design Principle Less Ordinary than it Affords
Affordance is how something shows you what it can do, like a door handle that makes you want to pull the door open or a button that looks like it should be pressed.
The Golden Ratio: Where Art Meets Precision and Nature Reveals Its Blueprint
This peculiar proportion, approximately 1.618, has been lurking in the shadows of human creativity for millennia, like a mathematical James Bond, seducing architects, artists, and designers with its promise of perfection.
Anthropomorphism: Why Do We Give Feelings To Machines?
Why do we see faces in clouds, cars with expressions, or even attribute human emotions to our household appliances (admit it, your Henry Hoover has feelings)? The answer lies in the ancient concept of anthropomorphism—a principle as old as humanity itself, born from our inherent need to understand and relate to the world around us by projecting our own characteristics onto it.
Hick's Law: The Overwhelming Choice of Dilemma
Picture this: You walk into a diner with a menu the size of a small novel. You’re hungry, but now you’re stuck—overwhelmed by choice, paralysed by indecision. Welcome to Hick’s Law in action, a psychological principle that’s been quietly dictating human behaviour since the 1950s...
The Scaling Fallacy: A Tricky Little Concept
Understanding the Scaling Fallacy isn't just for philosophers or over-caffeinated academics. It's vital for anyone who wants to make an impact with their ideas, especially in creative fields where size does not always equate to success.
Performance Load: The Art of Less
Performance Load teaches us that less truly is more. Visual thinking is about distilling complexity into clarity, turning a tangled web of ideas into a neat, navigable roadmap.
Constraint: Creativity's Secret Weapon
Ever heard of the phrase, ‘necessity is the mother of invention’? Turns out, constraint is its often-overlooked sibling—perhaps the unsung hero of creativity.
Signal to Noise: Navigating the Creative Cosmos
In the chaotic symphony of modern life, where every ping and notification competes for our limited attention, the concept of ‘signal to noise’ has never been more relevant. But before it became the buzzword of the digital age, it had its origins in the dry and dusty world of early telecommunications.
Closure: The Unsung Hero of Visual Thinking
It is more than just rounding off; it is a psychological experience where the brain concludes what remains hanging in the balance.
Archetypes: The Blueprints of Our Minds and Why We Should Care
Have you ever wondered why certain stories just hit us in a different way? Chances are, you're in the grasp of something archetypal; those universal, almost sneaky patterns of theme and form that are hardwired into our very being.
Error: The Key To New Pathways And Understanding
When we design, whether that be a piece of graphic design, a software integration or a whiteboard animation, we should strive to minimise errors and make them easy to correct.
Unlocking The Potential Of Failure
Today, I want to explore a theme that is as ancient as it is perpetually relevant, failure. It’s a concept that shapes our very DNA, prompting where we go, helping us grow in our personal and our professional lives.
How Advance Organisers Can Help You Make Sense Of The World
Bridge the knowledge gap by exploring the role of advanced organisers in visual thinking and comms.
Visual Metaphors: The Powerful Tool At The Heart Of Visual Thinking
This week's theme is a topic that is close to my heart: visual metaphors. Visual metaphors are at the core of visual thinking, and I'm excited to investigate them with you in this issue.
How To Get The Most From Mind Mapping
Mind mapping is a powerful tool for visual thinking that can transform the way you organise information, brainstorm ideas, and enhance creativity.
How To Make An Explainer Video
When done well, the ingredients in an explainer video combine to create powerful animations that inform, entertain, inspire and stay with viewers. In this post, we look at how they are made.
Why Are Explainer Videos So Effective?
Explainer videos take your vision, message and story and transform them into a feast of storytelling, visual thinking and inspiring communication. This feast is served in the perfect way to capture your complexity and depth, and serve it up to your audience.
Top 5 Ways Explainer Videos Enhance Brand Identity
When it comes to your brand, video offers a whole range of ways to feature your brand both subtly and more directly.