If confronted with these two restroom signs (on the right), which one would you choose?  If you drove up to a green stop sign, would you stop or go?  If the "No Smoking" sign was on the bottom of an upside-down ashtray... hmmm... where to even start....?

These are just a few of the extremely important questions posed at BigBlueGumball's recent VizThink NYC workshop entitled "Red Light Go: Mixed Signals in Visual Communication."  

We live in a world in which we regularly encouter mixed signals that lead to miscommunication, misunderstanding, and uninformed decisions.  Visuals can (and should) help clarify our communication, but poor visual choices can amplify the confusion, and lead to disasterous results.  

"Red Light Go" was an opportunity to examine the impact of mixed messages in visual communication, as well as an exploration of how we can avoid them by becoming more effective visual communicators.  The end result looked something like the image below (courtesy of Amanda Lyons of Visuals for Change)...

For more about the event, please see the VizThink.com blog (courtesy of Dean Meyers), and check out the event photos on Meetup.com.

To stay in the loop on future VizThink NYC events, please click here and join the VizThink NYC Meetup Group.

Ready.... GO....!!!

We are very excited to announce that Todd has been invited by Top Gun, Allison Hemming, to be a featured blogger on her company's website, The Hired Guns.  

The Hired Guns is an innovative talent agency (and a great careers resource!) that represents "the best of the digital creative class."  

Todd's monthly column will focus on "the power of visual thinking and learning."

Check out his first post to learn what a "Visual Bio or Visual Resume" is...and how you might create your own to stand out from the crowd!

Good stuff....

At BigBlueGumball... we have a dream... that one day... everyone... will recognize the power of visual communication.

As communicators and presenters, we all recognize the power of words.  What is often overlooked though, is the added impact that visuals have on an audience.  The power of visuals not only comes from the things we see, but also from the things we hear.  When Martin Luther King, Jr. told us that he "has a dream," he painted his dream for us using vivid language, metaphor, and tone that automatically turned our minds into a canvas for our imagination.

Last week, Todd and I had the opportunity to be guest presenters for VizThink NYC.  Through a series of interactive exercises including VizProvization, VizBiz Pictionary, and sketch-noting, we explored the power of visual communication, and unleashed the power and creativity that existed in all who attended. 

VizThink events tend to attract incredibly creative, talented, insightful, and friendly people from around the globe, which always makes each event a fantastic experience.  Last week's event drew people from as far away as Sweden, California, Westchester, Long Island, and the Upper East Side...!

To more fully engage in the experience, please check out the following links:

VizThink.com (event write-up)
http://vizthink.com/blog/2011/04/02/the-power-of-visual-communication

Pictures on Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/merrybrain/sets/72157626408290350

Visuals For Change (blog post with sketchnotes)
http://www.visualsforchange.com/blog/2011/03/31/vizthink-nyc-presents-the-power-of-visual-communication-with-bigbluegumball/

Present Your Story (blog post with sketchnotes)
http://www.presentyourstory.com/blog/2011/4/5/vizthink-nyc.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Special thanks to VizThink, MJ Broadbent, Ray DeLaPena, Amanda Lyons, Nolan Haims, and Liquidnet.

Last week, VizThink NYC hosted another fantastic event for the visual thinking community.  As always, I'm thrilled to be a part of the VizThink NYC crew, and thrilled to be associated with such great people. 

Here are a few excerpts from the post-event recap:

No, the picture on the right is not from some ritualistic cult ceremony or a crazy torture experiment…it is from the February 2011 VizThink NYC event entitled “Drawing for Thinkers Workshop” led by guest presenter Liz Burow.......

“Draw like a robot…or a caveman” were among the mantras for the evening, as participants honed their skills to increase effectiveness and confidence to communicate ideas, visualize problems, and create stronger human connections....

For the full event recap, please check out the post on the VizThink blog:

http://vizthink.com/blog/2011/03/01/drawing-for-thinkers/

And please let us know if you'd like to be informed of upcoming events...!