Despite the fact that I think his work is extremely thoughtful and artistic, Jun Han Chin doesn’t call himself an artist. He’s a visual thinker who is always drawing on a napkin or on his phone because an idea may strike at any time. It doesn’t matter if you can draw. You can illustrate your ideas if you can think visually.
“We’re not here to make art. We’re here to articulate ideas.” - Jun Han Chin
Why visual thinking?
Jun Han shared that we read about 250 words per minute. However, your brain can process an image in less than one second
Dan Roam, author of The Back of the Napkin, states that 75% of our sensory neurons are visual. So if you rely on just the other 4 senses alone, you are only going to capture 25% or less of the senses. For example, Jun Han’s chart visualizes this concept.
Way easier to read that my previous paragraph, right?
There are studies and even songs that my media teachers in college loved to talk about (“Video Killed the Radio Star” opened more classes than you might imagine in my experience and lives rent free as trivia information that I’ve never needed).
Jun Han this simple tip:
Look around. What’s closest to you?
During our workshop, a cat was the closest object, sleeping as only a cat can. Jun Han encouraged us to think - what does a cat make you think of? Don’t limit your brain. Just think about that cat (or whatever your object is) and what cats do, what sleeping cats are like, what they could be like.
Do you wish you were like that sleeping cat? Relaxed without a care in the world? How could you illustrate that? How could a cat help you show the way you want to feel?
Once you get good at taking what's around you, now it's time to illustrate. What do you illustrate? Jun Han spoke about the use of graphs for illustration.
“Graphs are for ideas. Not just data”
Here are the types of graphs you can use and for what.
These compare and show differences. For example:
Jun Han’s simple illustration basically sums up this entire article in one memorable, quick-to-process illustration. Consider that graph the TL;DR version of this entire article.
These show a change over time. If you are trying to illustrate growth, line graphs are your best friend and are extremely simple to draw.
Suggested use? Show how your client needs to stick with the effort for a set amount of time to see results.
Share what’s in common or a subset. If you can draw a circle (generally - my 6 year old reminds me that there’s “no way to draw a perfect circle”), you’ve got a way to grant a new perspective to your client.
Beyond a simple graph, you can use personification to make your graphs feel more human. Add thoughts, feelings, and conversations between parts of your graph as if the bars or circles or lines can speak to each other to further illustrate your point.
Jun Han’s full workshop is available here and you can take his full course on illustrating your ideas (yes, even if you “can’t” draw). Let us know if you join and we’ll come too!
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