You can tell your story more compellingly using simple drawings

books:


	• The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures Dan Roam Portfolio Hardcover, 2008 - 288 pages average customer review:based on 28 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Excellent and Important...

This is the first book I've found with a well thought out framework for presenting complex information. It also makes a strong case for throwing away the Powerpoint slides and picking up the dry erase pen. I'm pushing this one to anyone in my company who will listen.

You can tell your story more compellingly using simple drawings

Most business books fall into a few broad categories, and though this one might be lumped in the category of how to do presentations, it is really much cooler than that. I guess I find it so cool because I can't really draw a straight line with a ruler. My kids are pretty good artists, but that comes from my wife's side. I am a musician. This book shows you how to use simple drawings and sketches to communicate much more effectively.

If you are like me, when you have to draw an org chart or some other image associated with business, you will follow the traditional, easy to follow model closest at hand. Dan Roam says no. He wants you to think about what it is you are really trying to say and let your mind communicate that with a fresh image that shows what it is you want to say simply and clearly.

He divides the book into four parts. In Part 1 he introduces the basic ideas of thinking in terms of compelling images, which problems are best handled with pictures and how to use images. Roam also uses four steps to teach you visual thinking: Look, See, Imagine, and Show.

Part II teaches you how to think visually and implement the rules. Part II takes you through a series of standard business issues and questions and then shows you how to tell your story in a more compelling way with images. Remember, these images are simple drawings rather than great works of art or anything that requires high powered graphics software.

Part IV draws conclusions for you. I love the chapter entitled, "Everything I Know About Business I Learned in Show-And-Tell." How compelling you find it, I don't know, but he sure makes a good point. Remember, this isn't impressionism or impulse drawings. You must think clearly about what you are trying to say and wrestle awhile to find the right image or images to tell that story. But you must find simple and clear images to show your audience so they can absorb it quickly no matter how long it took you to come up with it.

Great book with lots of good drawings to spark your imagination and very well done text.

A fresh and interesting book.

Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI

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great little "how to"

For someone like me, who is non-artistic, this little gem points out the way to overcome that obstacle. It offers a nice, clear path to visual communication with just the "basics". Very worthwhile.

Death of PowerPoint

If enough people read and use this book I have hope that 100 slide PowerPoint decks will be a thing of the past.

Great encouragement to present ideas graphically and simply

I think this is a great book for a few reasons. Firstly it is very easy to read; at the start the author proposes a simple test to determine what your visual thinking preference is. Based on this suggestions are made on what area of the book to skip and what to start with.

For me the core of the book was the Visual Thinking Codex. Understanding this one page opens up the toolbox to present ideas and solve problems visually. With this codex you can fairly easily move to creating your visuals. The last section of the book works through a case study using this Codex which I found very useful.

Bottom line this is an easily understandable and applicable book. For me the real value was the one page with the Codex, the rest either set it up or explained it. With this mind set it is easy to skim through and extract a valuable tool set.

Thanks for reminding me how powerful visuals can be and how they can perfectly summarize many pages of data.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

A bold new way to tackle tough business problems?even if you draw like a second grader

When Herb Kelleher was brainstorming about how to beat the traditional hub-and- spoke airlines, he grabbed a bar napkin and a pen. Three dots to represent Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. Three arrows to show direct flights. Problem solved, and the picture made it easy to sell Southwest Airlines to investors and customers.

Used properly, a simple drawing on a humble napkin is more powerful than Excel or PowerPoint. It can help crystallize ideas, think outside the box, and communicate in a way that people simply ?get?. In this book Dan Roam argues that everyone is born with a talent for visual thinking, even those who swear they can?t draw.

Drawing on twenty years of visual problem solving combined with the recent discoveries of vision science, this book shows anyone how to clarify a problem or sell an idea by visually breaking it down using a simple set of visual thinking tools ? tools that take advantage of everyone?s innate ability to look, see, imagine, and show.

THE BACK OF THE NAPKIN proves that thinking with pictures can help anyone discover and develop new ideas, solve problems in unexpected ways, and dramatically improve their ability to share their insights. This book will help readers literally see the world in a new way.

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