Ideas in your head help no one.
Ideas that are heard are shared momentarily.
Ideas that are seen… stay.
Studies show that auditory (sound) memory is more reliable for the short term… however visual memory is relied on more for long term recall.
What does this mean?
Pictures stick in the brain.
And you want your idea to be remembered. It’s the only way for people to engage and help you build it.
I know what you’re thinking… I’m not an artist either.
I didn’t say the pictures had to be pretty.
They just have to make sense. They show how the pieces of an idea relate to each other.
"In drawing, nothing is better than the first attempt."
Have you heard of ideas that were started on the back of a napkin?
Many great ideas started on a napkin… because talking wasn’t enough to make it real. They needed to see it.
In fact, Finding Nemo – Pixar’s first Best Animated Feature award winner – is said to have started on the back of a napkin. Also the first ideas of the MRI, and also the grid system for Chicago’s streets.
What if your idea isn’t a “thing”?
It doesn’t matter. Any idea can be drawn with boxes and arrows. It’s all about the relationship of pieces, how everything is connected together.
And that’s what innovation is. A new connection between already known things.
Literally seeing this new connection will spark brains in a way talking never can.
It’s that simple. Just sketch it.
Get out the napkin. The whiteboard. Mural or Miro. It doesn’t matter where.
The first step is getting it out of your head and onto a surface.
Then share it.
And watch how people engage.
– Laura @ Mindtap