VISUAL FACILITATION

cookbook
Visual Facilitation Cookbook, 2016 Contents 2
This book is the outcome of the work of many people. We want to
thank Aija Auzina, Snezana Baclija Knoch, Tomas Bimbiris, Magdalena Chapter I. What is the Big Thing?
Burtscher, Kristaps Butāns, Markus Engelberger, Alena Ignatyeva,
Mārtiņš Jaunpetrovičs, Yuliya Jefanova, Solvita Jirgensone, Vanda
Creative Learning Cookbook project . . . . . . . . . 5
Kovács, Sarah Lebot-Toledo, Anne Madsen, Anna Mossolova, Melanie Training Course: Visual Facilitation+ . . . . . . . . 6
Pichler, Inese Priedīte, Coline Robin, Tatjana Starodubova, Veronika
Visual Facilitation Cookbook . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Vanova, Uku Visnapuu, Marcus Vrecer and Laurita Źalimaite for their
contribution, feedback and inspiration! The Idea Behind this Book 6
How This Book is Structured & What We Put into It 7
Authors: Torben Grocholl, Deniss Jershov and Kati Orav
Layout: Deniss Jershov How to Use It 8
What is Visual Facilitation? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Published by Estonian UNESCO Youth Association in cooperation with
Piepildīto Sapņu Istaba and Cooperativa Braccianti Why Do Visuals Work for Us? 10

[email protected] Chapter II. ABC

creativelearningcookbook.tumblr.com
Basic Shapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
ISBN 978-9949-81-261-5 (print) Playing Derrida 16
ISBN 978-9949-81-262-2 (pdf) Playing Picasso 18
ISBN 978-9949-81-263-9 (epub)
Banners, Frames, Containers . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Arrows, “Connectors” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Characters and Figures, Emotions . . . . . . . . 20
Lettering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
This project has been funded with support from the European
Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the authors, CAPS vs Regular Handwriting 22
and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which Level 0 23
may be made of the information contained therein. Level 1 23
Level 2 25
Volume and Shading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Colours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Composition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Visual Vocabulary, Icons, Symbols . . . . . . . . . 30
Chapter III. Toolbox Cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
The Value Machine (by Markus Engelberger) 66
3
Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Template: Just an Example What It Could Look Like! 39 The 5 Pillars of Identity 67
Template: Preparing 40 Youthpass 68
Template: Harvesting 41 8 key competences 68
Template: Listening and Reflection 43 Patenting Process 69
Template: Thinking about the Context 47 Erasmus+ 69
Template: Thinking About the Content 48 Chapter IV. Visual Games
Template: Manual for Designing the Visual/Template. 49 Free-hand 72
More Templates from Practitioners 53 Drawing in a Circle 73
Layouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Drawing in the Air 75
Mind-map 59 Drawing on the Back 75
Thermometer 59 Telling the Picture 76
Timeline 60 Drawing Collaborative Characters 77
Road 61 Line by Line 77
Circle 61 Save the Bunny 78
Pie-chart 62 Low-tech Social Network 79
Bulls Eye / Target 62 Picturising Words, Verbalising Pictures 81
Venn Diagram 62 Guess My Picture 81
Matrix 63 Collaborative Group Memory 82
Stairs 63
Chapter V. How to Move On?
Tree 63
Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Landscape 64
Abyss 64 Further Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Iceberg 65 Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Feedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
 Chapter I.
WHAT IS THE
BIG THING?
Creative Learning Cookbook project Austria, Estonia and Latvia. In the second stage, participants of
5
the trainings organised local follow-up activities in their coun-
This book has a story. It begins in spring 2014 when Estonian tries, shared their newly gained skills, tested new methods in
UNESCO Youth Association, Room of Fulfilled Dreams (Lat- practice and gave their feedback, which, along with the tools and What is
via) and Cooperativa Braccianti (Austria) decided to apply for a techniques, set the basis for the third stage of the project: creat-
the Big Thing?

KA2 Strategic partnership project within the Erasmus+: Youth ing publications on each of topics which could become a hand-
in Action programme, which they named “Creative Learning book – or rather a cookbook of recipes – for educators working
Cookbook” (CLC). The idea of the project was built around three with youth in a classroom or on a project.
main topics: Creative writing, Storytelling and Visual Facilita-
tion. This was because the partners felt interested in these top- What you will shortly see is the inventory of the training course
ics, finding them very creative and powerful for the facilitation “Visual Facilitation+” which took place in Estonia during Sep-
of learning. As such, they wanted to share their skills with col- tember 2015. It was compiled by Torben Grocholl and Deniss Jer-
leagues, as well as to explore the potential of new creative learn- shov (trainers of VF+) and Kati Orav (visual practitioner) with
ing techniques. But, above that interest there was also the in- inputs, real cases and examples from colleagues and participants.
tention to structure this knowledge and make it accessible for
This book was presented during the final event of the “Creative
other educators.
Learning Cookbook” project, which took place in Riga on the
The main objective of the project was to help raise the quality 26th–28th of February 2016 and brought together 50 educators
of educational and training activities within the contemporary from all over Europe. Apart from the presentation of the pub-
system of formal and non-formal education. This aim is to be lications, the programme of the event also included workshops
achieved by introducing and developing innovative teaching, as on Creative Writing, Visual Facilitation, Storytelling and other
well as approaches and methods in both training and learning. tools of creative learning.
Additionally, the project endeavours to support the exchange
The “Creative Learning Cookbook” project has been funded with
and dissemination of best practices in the field of education
support from the European Commission. This publication re-
and learning. In order to reach these goals, partners organised
flects only the views of the authors and the Commission can-
three training courses and introduced the tools and methods of
not be held responsible for any use which may be made of the
Creative Writing, Storytelling and Visual Facilitation to youth
information contained therein.
workers, teachers, trainers, youth leaders and educators from
Training Course: Visual Facilitation+ tool of Visual Facilitation; exploring and using different new-
6
ly-gained skills, from personal notes to graphic harvesting;
The training course took place in Taevaskoja, Estonia on the and, most importantly, developing visual tools for personal
5th–13th September 2015 and brought together 19 youth work- and professional use. What is
the Big Thing?
ers, leaders, trainers, teachers and educators from Austria, Esto-
nia and Latvia. The training team consisted of two main train- After the training, participants carried out follow-up events in
ers, Torben Grocholl (Austria) and Deniss Jershov (Estonia), two their home countries, where they shared their new skills with
co-trainers, Inese Predite (Latvia) and Marcus Vrecer (Austria), friends, colleagues and target groups, whilst they continued
and support staff Anna Mossolova (Estonia). A half-day of the developing visual tools, which you will be able to find in this
programme was lead by visiting expert Kati Orav (Estonia), a cookbook and also on CLC online media. In total, the follow-
practicing visual facilitator, who joined us to share her experi- up events have brought together over 160 participants from
ence of working with graphic templates with participants. Kati all three countries.
is also one of the three co-authors of this cookbook.
Visual Facilitation Cookbook
The training was aimed at developing participants’ skills in Vis-
ual Facilitation, exploring a variety of visual tools and exchang- The Idea Behind this Book
ing best practices in the field. It was meant for absolute begin-
With this publication, we want to invite you to join us on a lit-
ners and “non-drawers”, or for participants familiar with the
tle journey through what we see and understand as Visual Fa-
basics of drawing. The only condition set by organisers was that
cilitation. It will hopefully include some fun and inspiring mo-
participants had to be connected to working with young people.
ments for you and might even change a bit the way you work
The training programme, pretty much like this cookbook, con- and think. Possibly even the way you look at the world and
sisted of an introduction into the essence of the training top- yourself as a drawer. We want to encourage you to step out of
ic and finding an answer to “What is Visual Facilitation?”; ex- your adult and professional routines, connect with your inner
ploring the basics of drawing and lettering (shapes, containers, child and (re)discover your natural ability to communicate
characters, composition, colour, letterforms, etc.); getting ac- and express yourself in a more visual way. Together, we will
quainted with the concept of graphic templates as a powerful explore the potential of visual language and show you some
first steps, tips and tricks to put ideas on paper and to start us- between various ways of using visuals in the facilitation pro-
ing visual tools in your life and educational work – at school, cess, in addition to taking a look at the usage of visuals in dif-
7
in seminars, during coaching sessions or while running pro- ferent fields and the most common practices. Since we are talk-
jects at the local youth club. ing about a cookbook, you can think of this part as an aperitif.. What is
the Big Thing?

Our main idea was to make this book something easy to ac- The second chapter introduces some basic elements of what we
cess and very practical. It is not meant to be a comprehensive call “visual language”, to prove that drawing is easier than you
A to Z compendium of “perfect” visual tools. We have put to- imagined. To take your first steps on the visualisation path you
gether a number of tools, templates, exercises and games which need to know very few things, but you have to have enough
we use in our training activities and which were proven to be motivation to practice. If you think that you already know the
interesting, engaging and useful for facilitators and learners ABC of visual language (basic shapes, containers, arrows, let-
in different settings. We have also reached out to colleagues, tering, colours and composition, etc.) you can skip the second
friends and former participants of our training courses and chapter. If you don’t have time for learning the basics and want
workshops, asking for their “favourite tools” and visual ap- something practical right now, then it is also fine to skip it and
proaches in their professional context. You will find them as move to the toolbox chapter. If you think you don’t want to
practical cases, examples and tools throughout this book. learn the ABC, it is also alright (but we strongly recommen-
that you have a look at it). You can call this part the starter.
Generally, we see this book as our modest contribution to sup-
port what we and others call the “Doodle Revolution” and to In the third chapter we collected different tools that you can
enrich educators as well as learners in the European youth start to use for your educational purposes as a learner or as an
field and beyond. educator. There you will find pre-prepared graphic templates,
layouts, other tools and real-life cases that we collected with
How This Book is Structured & colleagues and the participants of our training course. You can
What We Put into It call this part of the toolkit the main course.

This cookbook consists of five chapters. The first chapter will try Chapter four is a bit different from rest of the cookbook. On
to answer the question of what is Visual Facilitation and how the one hand it is a part of the educator toolbox, on the oth-
does it work? There we will also try to explain the difference er hand it has an entertaining accent. There we have collected
different games and exercises which include a visual compo- What is Visual Facilitation? 8
nent (e.g. they are about drawing, or something similar), but
at the same time, they are not necessarily for the development During our research, training courses, workshops and through
of drawing skills. However, as with many games and exercis- many discussions with participants and colleagues, we agreed What is
the Big Thing?
es, they can teach you different skills, or just help you with in- on a rather broad definition which proved to be useful in our
teraction and dynamics within the group. You can call this working context and a solid foundation for our practical and
part the dessert. theoretical explorations of the topic.

Part five is all about references, resources and everything else For us, Visual Facilitation is the intentional integration and
you might need to continue with using Visual Facilitation. This application of visual elements and exercises into our educa-
is the coffee. tional activities for:
1. Presenting content and information.
How to Use It 2. Supporting (in the sense of actively guiding) an individual
As we promised, we will walk together on the path of Visual and/or group process.
Facilitation for educational activities, from theories to practic- 3. Documenting outcomes.
es. Feel free to join us wherever you like: Especially when it comes to situations where the density of in-
1. If you want to become a visual facilitator – get a pen and formation, or the level of complexity, is rather high, the use of
a paper and doodle along while reading this book – copy visual elements is of a great value for perception and overall
templates, analyse examples, participate in games and understanding. Therefore, we also see Visual Facilitation as a
exercises. more holistic and dynamic approach in education, that can
2. If you simply want to use tools – feel absolutely free to be used to deal with the challenges of “information overflow”
use them, but don’t forget to mention the source, after all, and the complexity of a globalised and rapidly changing world.
this book is the outcome of the work of quite a few people. Visualisations can grab attention and increase a learner’s lev-
3. If you are looking for inspiration – there is some, mainly el of motivation and engagement. Combining spoken and/or
between the lines and chapters ;) written words with visual elements and thus addressing dif-
ferent senses, has an impact on how people perceive informa-
tion and retain facts in their memories.
 In fact, almost every communication – especially in the field On the one hand, there is Graphic or Visual Facilitation as the
of education – consists of the intention of a communicator to act of leading and guiding an individual or group process, dia-
9
“draw” or to develop a clear and detailed picture in the mind’s logue or working session by using a variety of visual tools, such
eye of the audience. The common phrase “I see what you mean!” as process illustrations, templates, drawings or even drawing What is
the Big Thing?
makes that aspect literally quite clear. So, the challenge for a exercises, etc. And, on the other hand, there is Graphic or Vis-
visual facilitator is to stimulate and to evoke these inner pic- ual Recording (sometimes also called Scribing) as the activi-
tures in their audience by applying “visual language” onto ed- ty of creating a (live) visual documentation and summary of
ucational activities. a workshop, conference, lecture, etc. This usually appears on
large scale paper formats and is visible for everybody in the
More or less, it all started during the 1970s along the west coast
room. The results can be digitalised and distributed among
of the United States, where a group of consultants and facili-
participants later on. In contrast to the graphic facilitator, the
tators got inspired by the problem-solving approaches of ar-
graphic recorder has a more passive role and does not normal-
chitects and designers. They started to apply these techniques
ly interfere directly in the group process, however there might
in their work to support the group process in meetings, semi-
be overlaps from time to time.
nars and workshops by creating and using a shared visual pic-
ture, or map, of the working process that could serve as, what A little remark: While going through different resources and
they called, “group memory”. If you want to go back in time publications during our research, we realised that the terms
and take a closer look at the early beginnings and history of Graphic Facilitation and Graphic Recording are, unfortunately,
Visual Facilitation, it is worth starting your research with one often used synonymously, which can sometimes lead to con-
of these pioneers: David Sibbet, Geoff Ball, Fred Lakin, Jim fusion and misunderstandings. However, if you are aware of
Channon or Nancy Margulies. the basic difference between those two you are quite safe ;-)

Through the past decades, what started as “group memory” has Within the field of European youth work and the Erasmus+:
by today evolved into a diverse and lively professional field with Youth in Action programme, we recently saw a significant ef-
different disciplines, approaches and a wide-ranging (some- fort to introduce Visual Facilitation as a tool to the wider pub-
times even confusing) terminology. To keep it short and sim- lic of educational practitioners and youth workers. Particu-
ple, the most common and relevant classification can proba- larly during the latest editions of the “SALTO EuroMED Tool
bly be made between the following approaches or disciplines: Fair” events, where the topic was made visible through specific
workshops and activities, gaining a lot of attention. This large resources. However, one year later, when we carried out the
interest from practitioners from the field of youth work also Creative Learning Cookbook trainings and started to compile
10
lead to the publication of the booklet “Graphic Express: First this cookbook, we noticed that in just one year, the number of
steps to Graphic Facilitation in Youth Work” which was cre- people practicing and training Visual Facilitation as well as the What is
the Big Thing?
ated by our colleagues Mark Taylor and Buzz Burry, together number of resources on this topic skyrocketed. Why is it so
with Siiri Taimla and Tanel Rannala. At the same time, more popular now, one may ask, and why do visuals work for us? It
and more brave and passionate educational doodlers started seems to be a difficult question to answer, however, let us try.
to incorporate visual approaches into their educational activi-
We are visual information processing robots. That is
ties, offered trainings and workshops around the topic and thus
our job.
spread the visual virus into the European youth field! Sunni Brown

VF is a way to support any kind of group or individual

You must have noticed that the world around us has become
working or learning process by using any kind of visual
more visual. Text is no longer welcome in, let’s say, the every-
tools. For me the main benefit is that it’s making com-
munication and working together more joyful  and it’s
day world, which talks to us mainly in the language of pictures:
helping everybody to get a common understanding advertisements, icons, infographics, Instagram pictures, self-
of what is going on. It’s playful and meaningful at the ies, etc. Indeed, the blast of social media and constant “status
same time. It helps us in working and communicating update mode” forces us to communicate faster and in shorter
together, in being more productive and it is increasing sentences in order to be heard, to use catchy ways of getting
understanding among us. into other people’s minds, when you either want to sell some-
Torben Grocholl, trainer at VF+ training thing, or just to be noticed. Recent studies say that nowadays,
content is browsed 94% more often if it contains images and is
Why Do Visuals Work for Us? shared 40 times more often in social media if it contains imag-
When we planned this project, we already had some experi- es. The same can also be said for the rise of infographics, which
ence with organising educational events on the topic of Visu- has now become more popular than ever, because we want to
al Facilitation. We got the idea that it could be useful for the consume information, but we don’t have time for reading. So,
learning process and knew a few actors in this field and a few today, image is king.
However, it would be wrong for a visual practitioner to con- be interesting to know where this number comes from. Some,
clude that our field is growing thanks to this trend. It definitely explaining the effect of visuals, state that only 7% of commu-
11
helps visual practitioners to develop and spread their message. nication is verbal, or reversed, that 93% of communication is
Pictures, talking media and the popularity of Visual Facilita- non-verbal, as if the rest is only visual. However, this 93% also What is
the Big Thing?
tion go hand in hand, but in reality, the reason why pictures includes pace of voice, gesticulation, mimics, intonations, etc.
work better is much deeper than the costs of mobile internet
Many visual practitioners and authors often bring another
and the “Facebookisation” of our generation.
kind of math: 75% of the neurons in our brain are responsi-
We all speak ‘Visuals’ and are capable of immediately ble for processing images and the other 25% are responsible
understanding and even reproducing ‘visual messages’ for the rest of our senses. This is already helping us to get to
we find in the world around us. The sad part of this
the point: indeed, most of the information we receive comes
story, from my point of view, is that even though we
through our eyes, not just the texts and images we aim to read
would have the potential to do so, only a few people
make use of it. So my mission, as a ’Visual Facilitator’ is
or watch, but also the colour of furniture, lighting, organisa-
to help people rediscover their skills, change their mind tion of our spaces, which we know by heart and once learned
set about their skills and enable them to learn what visually, notice without even focusing. We can’t touch colours,
they already know. This I see as my contribution to a smell textures or hear the size of an object, therefore our eyes
simpler and happier tomorrow. are important to us. And, 75% sounds like a fair number, and
Markus Engelberger, participant at VF+ training it can be measured nowadays through neuron activity levels.

Some people like to say that Visual Facilitation works because Still not convinced? Okay, here comes the cavalry. We read im-
there are different types of learners (audial—prefer to listen, ages through our eyes, but they are processed through our brain
visual—prefer to see, verbal—prefer to speak and kinaesthet- which, according to collected information, recognises objects
ic—prefer to move or do some physical activity), so some of and gives signals to other parts of the body. On average, our
us are just visual learners. In reality, none of us is just a one- brain is only 2% of the weight of the body, but do you know
type learner, we use more or less all four types, depending how much energy it consumes? 20%! Which is ten times more
on the situation. Nevertheless, we do indeed have preferenc- that its weight. This is a lot and means that constant cerebral
es. Some even say that 65% of us are visual learners. It would activity can empty our energy resources and put the existence
of our organisms, including the brain, into danger of running what used to be our favourite toy. When we read «honey» we
out of charge. So, the brain understands that and, to save en- think of several things at once, depending on how wide the
12
ergy, sends us back signals so we can maintain the resourc- range of meanings the word has for us. By default, images have
es. And, one of the signals is: “Show me pictures, not texts!”. wider meaning than text and are more flexible: the word «car» What is
the Big Thing?
makes us think of a car, however a drawing of a car gives us
Reading is losing to watching because viewing requires
little mental processing.
some space to decide the size and model of it, the direction it
drives, it’s function, etc.
Paul Martin Lester

Images also bring emotions, because one picture of a beautiful

If we look at a written word, let’s say «watermelon», we read
sunset explains the level of its beauty instantly, however, text
it quite quickly, as we may conclude, but in reality our eyes
would need a few sentences for the same task. We also like to
read symbol by symbol, in our brain these are translated into
watch pictures, because they remind us of the life we are used
sounds, which are then put together to form a word. The brain
to and like to see every day. Text doesn’t remind us of life at
then finds the image matching the word, before sending it to
first glance, because our life doesn’t look like a page of small
the information processing centre with the remark: «I got it,
black symbols, so we have to read it first.
it is a watermelon!» Then we move to another word. We learn
how to read during childhood, we do it automatically and can- Are you still kicking our attacks back? Well, here is the heavy
not calculate how much time it takes for reading a text. In re- artillery then. Obviously, the greatest invention of mankind
ality, however, this process is quite time and power consum- is language. We can take any idea and transport it to some-
ing for our brain. At a certain point, it starts to lose resources one else’s head almost directly. When we can’t see or hear the
and sends us signals, like: «I don’t understand it!», «Start over!» person we talk to, we use another invention – writing. So, to
or even «Now you go to sleep!». But when we see a picture, all describe the beautiful sunset we have to translate the image
the work that the brain has to do is to compare this picture into words, which again takes resources. Or we can pass along
with the one in the brain and to recognise it if they look alike. this scene without translation, but just by reconstructing this
We process visual information in about 0.01 second, which is image and drawing the picture. The effect is double when the
almost immediately and without using much energy. In real- person you are talking to speaks another language. An image
ity, we even think in images. When we read «mother» we im- is same in any language, isn’t it?
agine our mother. When we read «favourite toy» we imagine
All of these evidences appear when you put these theories into told so by parents, teachers or peers at some moment in our
practice. Visual Facilitation works, because it reminds us of educational career. So, at some point in the lives of many of us,
13
life. We recognise images because we have the same ones in we seem to lose interest and/or confidence in expressing our-
our head. Visuals deliver information faster. And, most im- selves visually. In the “adult world”, drawing, doodling and What is
the Big Thing?
portantly, images bring inclusion of people who speak differ- playing with colours and shapes has become inappropriate for
ent languages, which is crucial in international or intercultur- us, even though it can be considered as something very inher-
al groups or situations when someone can be excluded from ent to our human nature. Just try to remember how fun and
the process because of the level of their spoken language, even easy it was when you were drawing as a kid. Think about what
in their mother tongue. Watching images is natural to us, it is you enjoyed to draw most… Maybe this can be a starting point
fun, it often reminds us of solving riddles or adventure, when for you to connect and start again?! The next chapter will of-
you have to guess what one symbol means, the games we loved fer you some simple steps on how to start drawing practically.
so much in childhood. By the way, didn’t we start to draw be-
Drawing should not be viewed as activity that requires
fore we started to write and read? artistic talent, it should be considered more of a pro-
Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an cess with the aim of turning ideas, thoughts, plans into
artist once we grow up. visible form.

Pablo Picasso Heikki Toivanen

Now you may strike back with the most wide-spread weap-
on on earth: you can’t draw, right? That’s okay. We have seen
it many times and have also seen that it is absolutely not true.
Everyone can draw. Period.

However, we agree that there is a strong and widespread limit-

ing belief within most of us, telling us things like: You are not
creative, you cannot draw! The same actually goes for singing,
dancing and many other activities, mostly because we were
Chapter II.
ABC
In this part, we will go through the basic visual elements to- Basic Shapes 15
gether. We kindly welcome you to dive into the following pag-
es and try whatever you read in this chapter. However, we can’t All you need is this (we can call it the visual alphabet): Circle,
promise that you will become a professional right away—be- Rectangle, Triangle, Line and Dot.
ABC
cause practice makes you a master—but, what you will short-
ly discover is the very minimum of graphic tools and elements,
enough for starting your journey in the world of Visual Facil-
itation.  

Before we finally get started and explore things further, there These shapes are quite basic, as you may have noticed. They are
is one thing we want you to keep in mind while reading this the simplest and recognisable to human eye, which also makes
book and for whenever you start putting your pen to paper: You them very popular in visual communication: road signs, buttons,
don’t have to be an artist! Working more visually and applying arrows, banners, screens, etc. Simple navigation also uses sim-
visual tools into the facilitation process is not about drawing ple shapes, because they communicate to our brain even fast-
beautiful pictures. It is all about simple little drawings that ac- er than other of images. And, what is most beautiful, is that all
tivate people’s attention and support understanding, retention other images can be constructed with only these basic shapes.
and engagement. In fact, people’s brains are more active when
looking at drawings that are not perfect, but slightly ambigu-
ous. Or, in other words:  

Simple visualization is powerful and it is memorable

even if – heaven forbid! – it looks like chickens drew it.
Sunni Brown
Dave Gray extends this set: Dot, Line, Angle, Arc, Spiral, Loop, Settings:
Oval, Eye, Triangle, Rectangle, House, Cloud.
16
1. Since this exercise is built on a certain sequence of con-
structing and deconstructing pictures, it is better if you
have an even number of people in each group, so that the ABC
last person will construct the objects and then compare
them with the opening picture.
2. The number of people can be odd, but the number of free
panels on papers should be same as the number of people
in the group. Otherwise, if there are more panels, people
will get the paper they started with and it is boring for
And other teachers and experts of Visual Facilitation bring even them to construct the object they have seen before.
more basic shapes, but what we all agree on is that basic shapes 3. It is strongly recommended to use a thicker paper, such
are your entry point to advanced shapes and with these basic as watercolour paper. It is essential that the paper is not
shapes you can already do a lot. To prove it here, we would like transparent enough to see what is drawn under the sheet.
to offer you some exercises you can either try out alone or with
Flow:
a group of people, which is of course more fun.
1. Prepare the sheets for participants in advance. The rec-
Playing Derrida ommended width is about 10 cm. The length depends on
the number of pre-folded panels; each should be about 6
Objective:
cm. It is important that the number of panels is equal to
To learn using basic shapes for drawing bigger concepts. the number of people per group, plus one more for the
Materials: opening picture.
2. The opening picture should consist of simple shapes: a
Tables and chairs, pen for everyone, prepared sheets of paper
house with triangle roof, air balloon, TV, etc. You need to
with an opening picture, pre-folded.
draw them in advance in the first panel.
3. The opening pictures should be different on papers at the
same table. Which means, if you have two groups of six
 and pass the paper to the right, when everyone is ready, so
the receiver can only see the second panel.
17
5. The next person cannot see the initial picture but should
guess and reconstruct, what it was or could be, by using the
ABC
simple shapes first person provided. This reconstruction is
drawn in the third panel. When the second panel is folded
back, pass it to the right again.
6. If the number of people in the group is even, then the last
round is to reconstruct the object and then everyone can
unfold the paper and see the transformation of the initial
picture to the final one, through a series of deconstructions
and reconstructions.
Tip:
If you want to go deeper into deconstructing pictures and art,
you should check out this guy: Ursus Wehrli, a Swiss comedian
people at the table, you need just one set of six pictures
and artist. He created a book called “Tidying Up Art” and also
and 12 pieces of paper with seven pre-folded panels each.
gave a very entertaining TED talk which you can find online.
If you have three groups of eight people, you need three
sets of eight pictures and 24 pieces of paper with nine I remember this part of the training where we were con-
pre-folded panels. structing and deconstructing things, so I understood
4. Each player receives one paper with a pre-drawn image. that basically every drawing consists of a few basic ele-
ments and that was a huge discovery for me. So, now I
Now, the task is to deconstruct this image into basic shapes:
think that I can draw everything using all those basic
triangle, rectangle, circle, line and dot (see the example
elements and that is easy, actually
picture). They should draw these shapes in the second
Solvita Jirgensone, participant at VF+ training
panel, right under first. Then fold the opening picture back
Playing Picasso Tip:
18
Objective: 1. Don’t draw the silhouette of the picture. It would be the
easiest way, but the essence of the exercise is to understand
To learn how to use basic shapes for drawing even more nat-
that any photographed picture can be reconstructed with ABC
ural pictures.
basic shapes, at least to the extent that you can still under-
Materials: stand what is going on in the drawing.
A4 size tracing paper, pencil and eraser, old magazine with dif- 2. Sometimes participants jump into details, trying to “over-
ferent pictures for everyone. shape” the picture by being very precise. Too many details
also steal time for reading them. So, the simpler, the better.
Flow:
What helped me here very much was to see that it’s ac-
1. Ask everyone to find a picture they like in a magazine.
tually a low threshold to start. We used this semi-trans-
2. Place the tracing paper on top of the picture
parent paper on magazines and discovered that com-
3. Try to reconstruct the picture by drawing simple forms: plex things indeed consist of simple things. So I would
rectangles, triangles, ellipses, dots and lines. In other words, strongly suggest to popularise these small and easy ex-
you are going to simplify the original picture into basic ercises so people can really see that it is a low threshold
shapes as far as it remains understandable, whether it is to start.
a person at a table or beautiful valley with a rising sun, or Uku Visnapuu, participant at VF+ training
whatever else there is in the picture.
4. When you think you are done with one, move onto the Banners, Frames, Containers
second and so on.  
5. It is called Playing Picasso, because he started with quite Frames are easy-to-draw elements which help you to structure
realistic paintings at the beginning of his career and then your content, to set focus and to increase the reader’s ability to
went on to the simplification of detailed pictures, down to capture an overall idea and retain information. With frames
just several lines, still keeping it recognisable. you can cluster information and put it literally “into boxes”. By
doing so, you separate certain sections of information and text
from each other and make it explicit that “this here is some-
19
thing and that there is something else”.

How easy it is to make things look more interesting; new

ideas on frames, connectors; got to be creative, easy ABC
things that can be useful in so many areas.
Yulia Jefanova, participant at VF+ training

You can call them frames, containers or boxes. Basically it is

about drawing a line around some words. They can be modi-
fied, shaped and reshaped in many different ways. It is just up
to your imagination and creativity. They can give hints to what
kind information you are actually dealing with. For example,
speech bubbles can be used for statements, thinking clouds for
thoughts and ideas, banners for headlines and titles, etc. The way
you place the frame can even hint towards the “quality” of the
content, e.g. on an axis between more formed and less formed.

Two little tips: Write or draw your content first and then put
your container or box around it to make sure you have enough
space. And yes, boxes are nice and useful but,“Don’t become a
boxaholic!” (B. Agerbeck)
Arrows, “Connectors” Characters and Figures, Emotions 20
Simple arrows are useful visual elements to build connections Draw little stick figures and characters to liven up your content
between the different elements of your content. By using eye- and make your posters, presentations and educational mate-
catching and visible arrows you can make visible relations, pro- rials more human. Simple figures and characters are essential
ABC
cess directions, dynamics, hierarchies, etc. Thus, you can guide to illustrate and show any kind of process, because human be-
the reader’s eyes and attention through a picture, story or pro- ings are usually involved in it as well!
cess flow and make it easier for your audience to follow, to keep
Different people have created and used different characters. Here
the overview and to see the “big picture”.
you can find a compilation with examples of the most common
ones, plus the ones we like. They are all easy and quick to draw.
Try them all, choose the one you like the most and make it your
own. However, in practice basically everything which has two
arms and two feet can be a character. So once again: It is all a
matter of your own imagination.

You can add a nose and eyes to make clear where your char-
acter is looking to. If you want to add emotions to your little
creatures and bring them more to life, it is worth taking a look
in the mirror and watching yourself for a while, making some
emotional face expressions. Try to look very sad, super happy
or wild and angry. Which part of your face is actually chang-
ing and how? Which part stays more or less the same? Usually
the eyebrows and mouth are changing the most, while the rest
of the face remains the same. So, these are the relevant parts
of the face to put emotions into your character. The follow-
ing scheme which is called the face- or expression-matrix will
make this quite clear and offers you already nine different face
21
expressions and emotions by basically combining only 2 lines:
eyebrows and a mouth.The following scheme which is called
the face- or expression-matrix will make this quite clear and ABC
offers you already nine different face expressions and emotion
by basically combining only 2 lines: eyebrows and mouth.  
Lettering already, however lettering is a more recent and more attractive.
Don’t get us wrong, the term “lettering” is older than “typogra-
22
We have already discussed that images communicate to the phy”, for instance the famous Trajan pillar is an example of let-
brain faster and are more flexible for understanding, can be tering, which later inspired typographers to use the same form
ABC
read in any language and engage an audience. However, im- in printing. But nowadays, handwritten and handmade art is
age together with text sometimes works even better, especial- back in fashion, therefore “lettering” is the new “typography”.
ly, if you have to pass down some certain information and you
don’t want to leave it just to the image, which people can under- CAPS vs Regular Handwriting
stand differently. So, text is sometimes just a backup to an im- Facilitators of different educational events give some informa-
age, sometimes vice-versa, the image just illustrates the text and tion to the audience or formulate the task and, obviously, for
makes it less formal. Anyway, a good visual facilitator knows better communication do it not just verbally, but also visually,
how to operate images, but he is also familiar with the basics e.g. write it on a flipchart. This is very professional, if we keep
of lettering. in mind that people learn differently and that there are people
who experience difficulties understanding foreign languages
Yes, lettering! This is where we think we must explain the dif-
acoustically, so for them, written text is an invitation into the
ference, because in some resources written letters are called ty-
next exercise. However, participants can also miss acoustic in-
pography, however this term applies to ready-made type forms,
formation and written text can distract them, for example, if it
the type you find on a computer word processing programme
isn’t readable. In most cases, it happens because the text is writ-
or the physical letters you use with old printing presses. When
ten in the most comfortable way for the facilitator— with reg-
you write the text with hand, writing down letterforms, or cut-
ular handwriting, just at flipchart scale—which doesn’t mean
ting them from paper, shape them from clay, etc., we are deal-
that it’s comfortable for the audience. This complex or pattern
ing with lettering. In lettering, each letter is unique. In typog-
is hard to break: we live with our handwriting our whole life,
raphy letters are similar.
we get it from school and learn to take notes quickly and read
Also, we like to speak about lettering, because we find this term them later. So, we think, through the prism of own experience,
fresh and cool. Typography has been a trend for several years that our handwriting must be perfectly understandable to others.
The easiest way to break this pattern and try something dif- Single Line
ferent is to switch to capital letters. From school we remember
23
This one you must remember from first
that caps (usually) stand separate and do not flow from one grade. If it already looks boring and reg-
into another. They have a clearer form and are more readable. ular, then check out one cool thing about ABC
That is why we start our journey in writing with caps. Moreo- caps – they also consist of basic shapes.
ver, if we look back into the history of mankind, alphabet sys- A is a triangle, B is a line with two sem-
tems also started with caps; small letters came later, when the icircles, C is one semicircle, and so on.
need to write texts down faster came along, and here we are.
Double Line
However professional letterers can write words and texts in dif-
This is already a level up. Instead of pull-
ferent ways and make any style completely recognisable and
ing one stroke, pull two and see how
readable. So, if you are sure that your regular handwriting is
different it is already, compared to sin-
completely okay for your audience, keep going. If you have
gle stroke letters. It is saying: “Hey, I am
doubts, start using caps and then after some time try again
important, I am a title.”
with small letters and see if there is a difference. And, of course,
check the list of links and resources on lettering in the end of Triple Line
this cookbook. When double-stroke is not enough and
you still want to make a bigger accent
If you happen to be an advanced letterer already, or think that
on your text, use three lines. Who is im-
you know the basics of flipchart lettering, you can skip the next
portant now?
three chapters and we will meet you back in Colours.
Level 1
Level 0
Cartoon Letters
Okay, you didn’t skip! Great! Here we will take a look at those
simple steps which you can try already in your next class or Mike Rohde in his “The Sketchnote
meeting. These are quite simple steps, however they have dif- Handbook” writes that after you prac-
ferent moods and are suitable for different purposes. tice three strokes letters, you may want
to try to outline the letterforms and,
through this exercise, practice creating letters with volume, where contrast between thick and thin strokes was a special
where the main stroke is constructed from empty space, which feature. You may find this kind of letters in fashion magazines
24
you outline. nowadays.

This letterform has a special feature: firstly, it is more playful Serifs ABC
and reminds us of titles from cartoons, which we liked so much Even boring single stroke letters have
in childhood. Secondly, tadaaa!, you can colour these shapes a chance to get face lifting and create
in whatever colour you like, expanding your letterer toolbox some mood if you just decorate the edges
from just marker to also crayon or felt-tip pen, which we will of letters with short horizontal strokes –
discuss in the Materials chapter. serifs. It makes the letterforms more
playful and live. If bored with strokes,
New Style
add small circles, so letters can look now
This one is very popular now on the In-
like an alien alphabet. Squared serifs remind us of “Wanted”
ternet and in custom lettering because it
posters from western movies, wouldn’t you agree?Condensed
is almost as simple as single stroke. But,
and Extended
watch what happens: all vertical lines
now turn to into boxes, and horizontal You can continue playing with single
lines remain single stroke. It gives a nice stroke letters and try to stretch them
contrast between lines and makes the vertically or horizontally. The first op-
composition more dynamic. If we are tion usually helps a lot, when there is not
working with letters like A, X, V, then so much space on the flipchart and you
the ascending stroke (the one going from down left to upper have to fit a word, such as “entrepreneur-
right) remains thin and descending (the one going from up- ship”, into a certain sized container. The
per left to down right) is thick. You can also decorate or col- second option gives you the flexibility to
our the boxes. fill the space, if a word is very short. Also, depending on mean-
ing, you can use these two styles, for example, if you have to
And yes, we called it New Style, because it reminds us of the
visualise “high value” or “wide perspective”.
approach to typography at the beginning of the 19th century,
Level 2 Geometric 25
This subchapter we called Level 2, because for practicing let- Here you can finally really go con-
terforms from this part you need to refresh your knowledge of ceptual and try to create your own
Basic Shapes and Perspective. alphabet out of basic shapes. What ABC
if all 26 letters were boxes, or what if
3D
there was a circle in each of those 26?
Now let’s imagine our cartoon letters
are not two-, but three-dimensional, as
Volume and Shading
if they were made of stone and appeared
to us with some kind of perspective. The Neuroscientists—the same guys who proved that three out of
principle is the same. Draw 2D letters, four neurons in our brain are responsible for visual informa-
imagine the horizon line and the per- tion—did a little more of our job and figured out that, even if
spective point behind the letters, pull an image communicates to our brain almost instantly, unlike
imaginary lines from the letters and decide how deep letters text, there are images and there are images.
should look.
In everyday life we very rarely see two-dimensional pictures,
With 3D you can also colour each letter in two colours, for ex- because we inherit a three-dimensional world. Of course, flat
ample, the front is bright because it is facing the light and the images talk to us from street navigation, service pictograms,
side is darker because it is in the shade. even the screens of our smart phones, but still, we recognise
three dimensional images even faster. Which is a signal for fa-
Actually, you can turn 2D into 3D not just by pulling lines to
cilitators too.
a perspective point, but, following the same principle of light
and shade, draw the shadow behind the letters, as if they were To draw a 3D object, you can recall technical drawing classes
made out of cardboard and stand on your desk. from high school, where next to the X and Y axes there is also
the Z axis through which drawings become three dimension-
al, however, a bit artificial. Doodlers usually use a very simple
tool which is called one-point perspective. When you draw an even less recognisable than a side projection. The one with a
object, you have to imagine for a second the horizon behind it slight angle is usually the most recognisable, because this is
26
and also imagine that if the object would quickly move away how we usually see the cup – from the vantage point of our eyes.
from you, then at which point of the horizon would it disap-
ABC
pear. Then you pull invisible lines from this point to the an-
gles of the object and define how deep is this object towards
the horizon. So, in addition to height and width we now have
depth. The rest is just pulling lines. The horizon can be right
behind your object, but also above and below, it just has to be
there if you want to use perspective. Even a flat piece of paper What if we are dealing with a ball? How exactly does a circle
can have a perspective. turn into a ball if it is round from all sides? Well, here we can’t
use perspective, but now we meet two new friends: shadow and
shade. Shadow is the silhouette of the object on the surface and
shade is the darker back side of object itself. Advanced visual-
isers usually use more shading than shadow, however you very
often find either one or the another, or both together. It is up to
you to decide how you want to use it. Just keep in mind the ad-
vice from our neurologist friends.

The same works for more complex objects, like a house or even
a letter. It is usually easier to learn perspective with objects that
have corners. But, what about round objects? Here, instead of
horizontal lines, you use ellipses, like an eye, and the higher you
fly above the object the more open the eye is. A full circle would
mean that you are right above the cup, but a top projection is
Colours 27
This is the shortest part of ABC. Firstly, because Visual Facili-
tation is possible with only two colours: a white surface and a
black marker. But, secondly, the topic of colour is so huge that
ABC
we won’t go very deep into the physics of light, difference be-
tween RGB and CMYK systems and arguments about the psy-
chology of colour. Instead we would like to tell you, that using
colours in your visual simply makes it more natural: if it is to
remind us something we’ve seen before, it’s better to use col-
ours since we remember by heart that sun is yellow and clouds
are white. The images we think with are also colourful, unless
these are piano keys, a chessboard or a glass of milk, etc.

Nevertheless, here’s a bit of science. Johannes Itten—a famous

teacher of the Bauhaus school—developed the model of the so-
called colour wheel, which teaches us two things. First, that all
colours are connected through different tints and shades and
that you can walk from yellow to blue if you take a shortcut
cyan-blue will give you green; cyan-blue and magenta-red will
through green. The second thing it teaches us is that the colour
give you violet. So violet, orange and green are now secondary
wheel is a great way to see which colours are allies and which
colours. All the colours that are between secondary and prima-
are opponents and how we can use them.
ry are so-called tertiary. What this means practically for you is
First things first. According to this model, yellow, cyan-blue that if you need to draw an orange for another visual, but only
and magenta-red are all primary colours which exist in nature have a red and a yellow crayon, pencil or paint, mix these two
in pure pigments. You cannot get these three by mixing other and you will get orange (as well as the other colours of this part
colours. Instead, by mixing primary colours you get all the oth- of the wheel), just use the right proportions. So, three crayons
ers: yellow and magenta-red will give you orange; yellow and in your pocket will give you all the other colours, more or less.
Secondly, the colour wheel is good when you want to enhance mean by “strategical” use you may ask? It’s quite simple: cre-
your visuals with colours and manipulate an audience’s atten- ate your own colour palette with the colours you like, but make
28
tion. Colours which are neighbours in the wheel work togeth- sure that you use your colours in a meaningful way. Relate col-
er and create some kind of harmony. So, if you prepare a visu- our to certain ideas to ground and organise your information.
ABC
al with violet-purple and dark-blue they will work pretty well Draw outlines with dark colours and fill in the spaces after-
together, creating a sort of visual unity and dialogue. Howev- wards, give some contrast with darker colours and highlight
er, if you want to make a special accent in your visual, or im- important aspects with brighter colours. It’s as easy as that ;-)  
mediately catch the attention of the viewer—colour one object
light-orange or yellow and it will be noticed very quickly. Composition
Also, there are so-called warm colours (yellow, red and or- Once again a topic that can never be fully studied as it cannot
ange) and cold colours (blue, light green and violet). In our be fully studied in life. Composition actually resembles life a
brains warm colours invoke images like sun, sweet orange, lot, therefore we all have this inner feeling of comfort or dis-
warm Christmas socks and cold colours conjure up images like comfort when looking at some piece of art, or just random ob-
cold ocean water, ice and cool peppermint gum, so you may jects. When we analyse their size, we are either bigger or small-
also want to use this in your visuals. However, this warm-cold er than the object, we see balance and imbalance because we
division is usually very personal, or subjective, for every facil- grow with this and can walk straight or lay down, we like the
itator and participant, so instead we prefer to manipulate the music, because it has rhythm, which we get from the beat-
connotations of colours: shade is black, clouds are blue, grass ing of our heart. So, it is really everywhere. Also in your visu-
is green, sun is yellow and fruit are red. The visual should re- al memory. So, how do you position your images and texts in
mind us of life, remember? a way that makes people like them, even without going deep-
er into the content?
To summarise all this a bit: be aware that colours – as almost
everything mentioned in the ABC above – can support learn-
ing and foster understanding, but can also create confusion!
Therefore, we would rather recommend to use a limited range Some advice is natural. For instance, our scientist friends proved
of colours (maybe 2-4) in a “strategical” way as opposed to (al- that every time we see a new object in our view we first meas-
ways) making full use of the rainbow-spectrum. What do we ure it by checking corners, to figure out its size and then find
the mid-point. We don’t even use our direct view, peripheral is
enough, but if there is something important in the corner then
29
it catches our attention. Remember concert posters with names,
dates and time of the event, in most of the cases these are in
ABC
the corners. So, use corners for titles, topics, names of speak-
ers or references, also signatures. If you are using a template for
a visualisation of some process, then place where you are now
with your group in one corner and where you want to get in
the opposite. You can also use the middle point as the centre of
your visual if you are going to develop your thoughts around it.

The middle point is a centre of symmetry and it is a quality we

also take with us anywhere we go. The human body is symmet-
rical, it divides the space into left and right, so you can also pull
the middle line and structure your visual with two columns.

Dividing space into thirds is also very often used by painters,

photographers and designers, because we are surrounded by
threes: past-present-future, front-middle-back, right-straight-
of life. For instance, in western culture we read from left to right,
left, father-mother-child, etc., so we find three very natural and
so pictures also evolve in the same direction, like the famous
also structure and read the world through this. By the same
Bayeux Tapestry. The same applies to visuals: very often we set
principle, not only does dividing space into thirds work, but
the starting point at the left and our goal is on the right side.
also positioning the objects at the crossing points of the thirds
Apart from that there is something called a diagonal, which
gives a very nice visual impression.
breaks the horizontal and vertical statics and makes compo-
Some rules of constructing composition come from culture. sition more dynamic. But, diagonals are different. Reading
They are connected to certain patterns we follow in other spheres from left to right we combine it with the traditions of western
architecture which tends to grow to the sky, so we consider the Visual Vocabulary, Icons, Symbols 30
diagonal growing from bottom left to upper right, a positive or
ascending. It would be interesting to see how Visual Facilita- Pictures can provoke emotional reactions that support learning
tion works in countries where writing and reading works right processes. Visualisations and images contribute to the under-
standing of a process or topic by helping people to grasp an idea
ABC
to left, or even top to bottom.
more easily. Sometimes, a simple image can even explain more
Also, analogue wristwatches teach us that a circle starts at the than a lot of words – just think about traffic signs for instance.
top and then evolves clockwise, through the bottom to the top
again. Many diagrams pick 12 o’clock as the starting point. Here we usually mention two types of images: icons and sym-
bols. As with many things of our century, these have a story
too. It originates from ancient cultures which one day decid-
ed to start documenting their everyday routine and send mes-
sages to each other. It is a hard task to invent a writing system,
even nowadays. Back then it was even harder, so they used a
simple method: foot is foot, bird is bird, ship is ship. This is an
icon. We understand what it depicts. But documenting devel-
oped, trade relations upgraded, etc., there came a need to ex-
plain more complex things: a foot became “to walk”, “to run”,
a mark for shoe maker; a ship became a “a delivery”, “a port”,
“to sail”, etc. Pictures became a means of identifying some-
thing more than their direct meaning, people made an agree-
ment on what they mean, so symbols came along. A picture
of lightbulb is an icon of a lightbulb, but is the symbol of an
idea now. A cup is an icon of a cup, but it is also the symbol of
a coffee-break. Our alphabet is, however, only symbols. None
of the letters look like the sound they describe, maybe just O
which reminds us of an open mouth.
The same happens in visual language. We widely use icons
which are read by the brain first in their direct meaning, but
31
then, depending on the agreement within the group, commu-
nity or culture, we give extra meanings to the pictures we use.
ABC
But, how can we create a good visual vocabulary? In order to
achieving open
develop and provide meaningful and strong imagery, it is real- heartfulness
ly helpful to be clear about the core point of what you want to
say or communicate. What is your message and what image can
underline or even replace it? Where do you want the group to
be or move to? How can it be visualised quickly? What details
can be left out and what is essential?
costs international evaluation
Take a look at examples created by participants of Visual Facil-
itation+ and Facilitarium training courses on following pages.

In fact, the process of simplification and reduction to a subject’s

essence is very important in this regard. According to a con-
cept by Scott McCloud – a leading theorist on comics – “ampli-
fication through simplification”. It can even be said that sizing
leadership creativity
down an image to its very essentials, by taking away (unneces- non-violent
sary) features and making it more and more abstract, actually communication
allows the viewer to put more meaning into it. In other words,
a simple stick figure can be more effective than an elaborate
and well-drawn character!

european
federalisation expectation team
 32

ABC
non-conformity learning learning group dynamics myth
chaord can be fun

methodology discussion
analysis discussion team work holistic approach

intellectual professional
informal property target group team building growth generation gap

sustainability
group agreement competition minorities
human resource management inspiration
 33

ABC
project organising process
TIMETABLE confusion brain storm facilitation

team-building now organisation

challenge communication strategy

interpretation priority
safety responsibility inclusion feedback

strategic aim
deadline developing exchange plan choice
 34

ABC
integration creativity development reflection
organisation european union

search
efficiency skills design funding
deadline

programme sustainability
development office work project erasmus+

development time results

problem success stakeholders
 35

ABC
attractiveness war and peace in love world map
generalisation
responsibility

politics education stereotype

balancing needs agenda listening

conflict learning
dynamic more energy competences
outcomes job coffee break

values
taboo genetics curiosity exaggerate
care
Here are some more useful tips for creating your dictionary:
1. Think of the situation, where the word or concept belongs –
36
What kind of activities do you relate with it? For instance:
cooperation and agreement may involve many handshakes.   
ABC
2. Think about the first image which is popping up in your
mind when you hear the word. Trust your intuition. The
chances are quite high that other people will also relate to it.
3. When you cannot come up with an idea for an image right
away, deconstruct the word and draw the meaning of its
single parts such as “Brain+storm”, or “time+table”, etc.
4. And, one more time: “Simplify and don’t be super detailed!”

Creating and constantly developing your personal visual vo-

cabulary is of course not an easy task. But, you can see it as a
very enriching experience to reflect and rethink the concepts,
words and topics you are working with on a daily basis. Think
them through from time to time in order to see them from a
different perspective and gain more clarity about them.

Drawings, especially if they are in the forms of meta-

phors convey powerful messages very quickly. It can
help people connect to the things that have resonated
in the group, but have not been explicit so far. It can also
help people to discover processes or connections that,
if you put into words, would take much more time and
wouldn’t be as profound. Visual facilitation can bring
both this profoundness and instancy into the process.
Uku Visnapuu, participant at VF+ training
Chapter III.
Toolbox
When you find the benefits of drawing to perform group work and fill it in. The project, with a lot of white space for eve-
and using visuals for facilitation of your same visual can be used with another ryone’s contribution. Firstly, the youth
38
own or a group’s learning, it is always group, and another group, whilst the start to see the overview. Secondly, they
interesting to see how you use it. Some frame remains the same. The objective can understand the structure, patterns Toolbox
of us draw flipcharts instead of using may differ slightly, but participants’ con- and how things are connected. And,
PowerPoint. Some prefer to visualise text tent is always new. thirdly, they can start to fill the white
exercises and tasks and turn text into space with their own ideas. What could
Templates are very flexible tools. They
more engaging images and graphic rid- be more fun!?
can be filled-in in advance and used for
dles. Some just like to doodle for taking
the presentation of your idea(s) to oth-
personal notes, or even practice Graphic
ers; they can be given as a task and filled
Recording on large scale canvases. There
during group processes, or they can be
are many ways. Here we collected some
used for summing up; and finally, you
examples of visuals from our friends
can use templates for personal use. What
and participants which serve different
is important is that the same template
purposes and can be a ready solution,
with the same layout and set of visual
inspiration or idea for your next learn-
symbols can be helpful in very differ-
ing activity.
ent situations. It is up to you to decide
where and for which purpose you would
Templates like to use it.
Templates are the most interactive way
Can you imagine situations where you
of using Visual Facilitation. Templates
want to do a project or a plan with your
are something that invites people to col-
youth? For getting funded you need to
laborate and participate. What makes a
fill in a long application and your youth
template different from other visuals? A
may barely understand it. So instead,
template is something that has been pre-
then you take a big, big sheet of paper
pared by someone in advance, so that
and fill it with all of the elements of the
participants can use it as a graphic tool
Template: Just an Example This is a template — a map, a sketch or different methods. It is not just a power-
some visual, pre-drawn by someone in ful tool for facilitating the meeting, event,
39
What It Could Look Like!
advance, that can later be filled-in by eve- project and process, but also for prepar-
ryone in the group or class. It can be used ing or harvesting. Toolbox
in every kind of group work, with very
Template: Preparing Think about certain tasks before an important meeting or event. Make a meaning
and you can make a difference!
40

outcome
Toolbox

headline

purpose
need team and plan

principles design

target group
Template: Harvesting Harvesting is kind of looking back at the tool to make a meaning and learn from
process and collecting all the learning what has been done.
41
points, good ideas, etc. It is a powerful

process harvesting
Toolbox

good ideas
learning
moments

could be better
went well
Templates can also be a good method of you want your students to listen to a it later. But you can´t be sure. So, make a
making learning easier and more fun. piece of text and write down most im- template for listening and students can
42
They also help you to teach students portant things. You actually have an idea fill it in. It is fun for them and easier for
meaningful notetaking. For example, of what you want from them and you use you to harvest later. Toolbox

OUR PROJECT outcome

organisational success

team success

personal success

autumn winter spring

Template: Listening and Your students and participants of training can think about themselves. Here are
few examples.
43
Reflection

Toolbox

who? what?

teacher &
teaching
wow!!!

exercise worksheet listen to the text and write down things

you heard about the teacher and teaching
 44
MY COMPETENCES
vision
where do i want to go? Toolbox

my knowledges

who i am my skills
today?

successes my principles
what steps have
i already taken?

supporters challenges
 45

thinking about myself Toolbox

values people

work skills
name
And this is an example of how you can help them to think about last year. This way
you can also make your own templates to harvest from lessons, the school year,
46
project(s), etc.
2015 summary of the year- think about some things before setting new goals! Welcome 2016 Toolbox
Feel free to use and share :) Dream to take
Was
along
Was Was eye
challenging... surprising... opening...

Surprising Pleasant
Surprising Pleasant

Moments Myself
I found... The world
People who
Somebody else
Sorry
were...
Teaching
Sorry Teaching

Discovered about...

Was painful but fair

Changed me
Saw Heard
What I heard about
Important myself that...
things that I...
I am grateful for...
Said Did Surprised me Wasn´t fair
I appreciate a lot...

Idea that still needs Glad that I tried

I am proud of to work on but let it be...

What is behind a template?

As you have already guessed, behind a 1. Why I am doing this? Why do I want to do it?
template is a powerful question and lot 2. How and where will I use it?
of meaning. Before making a template 3. For/with whom will I be using it?
you need to ask from yourself: 4. What is the outcome of using the template?
Template: Thinking about the Context
47
CONTEXT
what is the context of my
desired outcome
Toolbox
presentation, meeting, project?

core message

purpose
your template

target group

situation
Where and Why Will You Use the Visual? 1. What is the meaning/purpose of this project?
If the answers to these questions are clear to you, then you 2. Why are we doing it?
can start thinking about your template. This means that you 3. What is the desired goal(s) and outcome?
start questioning again, although this time it is not about the 4. Who is engaged in the project – the core team, partners,
context of the visual, but about its content. What do you need target group(s), funders, etc.?
to talk about or harvest from the process, meeting, listening 5. What are the values and terms of our cooperation?
exercise, project, etc.? 6. How do we reach our result, the outcome?
7. And, you can always think about other parts like:
There can be a lot of things on your visual. For example, if we opportunities, challenges, implementation, evaluation,
think about working on a project idea: media plan etc.
Template: Thinking About the Content
48
What are the Main Things You Want to Tell/Show?

Toolbox
Template: Manual for Designing And then you start to design your template. How to design a template? Look
at the manual!
49
the Visual/ Template.

Step 8
Toolbox
So- you know why you want to do and use the visual.
MANUAL- how to design a visual You know the content and context, and all you need,
is the visual itself. Now you need to design it.
And now your visual is ready.
Write your name down on the right
ollow these the 8 steps and you will succeed! side so everybody knows that it is
your great work. Congratulations!

Step 6
good luck with using it!

Step 1
Take a white paper. As big as you wish your Now take the post-it’s off and start to write
visual to be. Don’t forget to check how big the headlines and content, if you have it.
is the wall where you want to present your Then draw the symbols and frames. Always
work. Be sure your visual fits there. write first and then make he frames!
Also erase all the things you drew with
the pencil before.

Step 7
Step 2
Draw a frame to your paper. Now take a
Now draw the background and start colour-
ing. Be wise with using colours and pictures-
the content is always the most important.
pencil and divide your paper into nine Your visual is just supporting it!
parts. You will erase it later but then it is
easier to see how many parts you can use.

Step 3 Step 4 Step 5

Think about the bigger picture, the theme.
Now take post-it’s and write Lay the post-it’s on your paper and play
with them a bit. Maybe something can be Do you want it to be like a landscape
down all the headlines. or a sea? You can draw a bit with the
Each one on a separate sheet. put togehter, something to be taken away
or added. Which things are connected? pencil already. What kind of symbols
What leads to another ? you bring in? Don’t forget to leave some
And so on. room for the white space!
And some other templates to use in different situations.
50
Who is in the room?

Toolbox
Running the meeting in an effective way.
51

MEETING outcome Toolbox

time

agenda
place

purpose

principles

participants
Template to help with strategy.
52
Lay out all the content and people will understand this complicated document.

Toolbox

OUR STRATEGY vision

Opportunities

what and why?

action plan

key areas

team
challenges
mission
More Templates from
53
Practitioners
From Markus Engelberger
Toolbox
“The shown template is an overview and a
visual summary of a change process in a
Viennese NGO, collecting/saving and dis-
tributing food that is still edible to “poor”
people in different social organisations,
that would otherwise just be thrown away,
for instance in supermarket chains.

I used it in the kick-off an event on the

process. I chose the bicycle metaphor,
because we worked on different ques-
tions together but it was themselves who
would make the bicycles move forward,
towards the finish line. The board next
to the starting line shows the process
goals (that should be reached at the fin- relate to the quarters of the year(s) in road after the finish line, going towards
ish-line). The signs with the process- which the process should take place, so “2020”, reminds them that our process
loop-arrow represent reflective elements they relate to the time-aspect and give is part of something bigger – a bigger
along the way (meetings in which we orientation. The “zoomed in” flags on change process – for which we devel-
evaluated the process). The little hut on the left side provide room to fill in the oped visions in a workshop in July 2015
the left side represented a strategic team small operational goals already reached (represented by the group of people on
meeting (Klausur in German) they had or still to reach within each quarter (so the left edge of the visual).”
in October. Q3, Q4, (2015) and Q1 (2016) they are kind of like milestones). The
From Melanie Pichler
54
“It is basically a feedback template/book-
let. It is used in a school project for pu-
pils between 13-15 years in the form of Toolbox

a little A6-folded-booklet. It is part of

their Lapbook.

They participate in four workshops dur-

ing the summer semester. In the feed-
back booklet they can rate each work-
shop and give a comment about it. We
will collect it at the end of the project,
as an evaluation of the project and the
workshops.”

What is an A6-folded-booklet? A4 pa-

per, folded one time, would give us two
times smaller format — A5. Two times
folded A4 gives us A6 or four panels. In
Melanie case we could fold it once more,
and get 8 panels. Then we would call it
A7-folded-booklet
From Deniss Jershov
This template is about planning and
55
managing a youth project. It was used
in an international youth work seminar Toolbox
and inspired by a National Geographic
article about one tribe in Africa, where
honey is the most wanted delicacy in
their whole existence. Men from this
tribe go out to climb trees and hunt for
honey, which sounded like the meta-
phor of a project. Based on a canvas of
the tree, where top is “where” you need
to get, the template was upgraded with
the main questions and key points that
teams need to consider, when they work
on a project.
From Torben Grocholl 2015, La Rochelle, FR. The little some- of the seminar. Apart from that, the tem- 56
“We created this simple template as a tool thing in the lower left corner symbol- plate is quite easy to understand and very
to support the final individual reflection ises the “agora”, which was created as a much universal, I think.”
and the planning of the next steps at the kind of logo, or visual element, to be used Toolbox

Seminar “Youthpass Learning Agora” throughout all drawings and illustrations

From Facilitarium training course
57
“During our previous training course
“Facilitarium” – which was also dedi-
cated to the topic of Visual Facilita- Toolbox

tion – we used few visuals for daily re-

flection. These are also good templates
because they are quite universal and can
be used in different situations. For ex-
ample, when you need to reflect on a day
or sum up a class.

The first template is the well-known

five fingers, which is often used with-
out any visual component, just a hand.
But, it can also be drawn on a pa-
per and become a graphic template.
The thumb is something you liked,
which was good, or that you appreciated
and could give a thumb up to. The index
finger is used to point out something, for
drawing attention to something impor-
tant, just for ourselves, or the group. The
middle finger is a well-known opponent
to the thumb and usually means some-
thing you didn’t like; something that
you weren’t satisfied with. Inside the ring
finger there is a blood vessel that goes di-
rectly to your heart (well, all vessels do,
but that one must know a shortcut), so
this is why we wear a wedding ring on
58
it. But, in our template it is something
that struck you emotionally and some- Toolbox
thing you take into your heart. The little
finger is something that there was very
little of during the event or class, some-
thing that there wasn’t enough of. The
middle of the palm is a place for noting
down what you would like to take with
you, something that you can carry away
in the palm of your hand. Simple, huh?
A template in your pocket.  

The second template uses the metaphor

of an animal that everybody likes. In
our case it was a bunny which lived at
the venue. The questions for reflection
are connected to body parts: Ears – what
was the most useful thing you heard to-
day? Mouth – what was the most in-
teresting thing you said? Heart – how
did you feel? Head – what you definitely
wouldn’t like to forget? Hands – which
skills did you develop? Feet – what
moved you the most? Fluffy tail – what
was the most beautiful?”
Layouts 59
This part is something between visual vocabulary and com- already a visual form in itself, but it is also very easy and in-
position. Here we collected examples of how you can organ- viting to add some symbols, icons, pictograms, etc.
Toolbox
ise your visual depending on its profile. Apart from position-
ing content on the format it is also important to pick a suita-
ble visual match for the structure and aim of your next visual.
Every visual practitioner uses their own invented (or adapt-
ed) canvases and maps, and it is indeed up to the facilitator to
pick one. So check out the ones we brought up here and think
of the ones we forgot to mention.

Mind-map
Originally the term “mind-map” was popularised by Tony Bu-
zan, however the principles it includes trace back to earlier cen-
turies. Mind-map works because, unlike linear text, it gives us This mind-map was prepared by Uku Visnapuu for a semi-
the opportunity to see more information with one glance. If we nar on topic of Global Education, organised by NGO Mondo.
need to add something we just add one more branch or cloud.
In a text however, we would need to delete and rephrase the Thermometer
sentence. This great concept deserves its place in the team of If mind-map is a, so called, cloud structure, where informa-
the most popular visualisation tools. tion is spread all around the middle point in many directions,
thermometer is from the other, so called, linear world.
The mind map is a good starting point to enter the world of
“visual thinking”, to go beyond the plane textual form. To struc- Information here works along just one line, vertical, horison-
ture and re-structure content and information, to see the big- tal or diagonal, doesn’t matter. The key feature of the ther-
ger picture and grasp the idea, to see and make visible connec- mometer is the scale, or progress, from minus to plus, from
tions, relations, find gaps and patterns, etc. The mind-map is cold to hot, or as in one more case from Uku, depicting stages
of professional development, “used as interactive mini-lec- and, if you are accurate with the proportions, the audience can
ture notes for participants of a training of trainers where par- measure how far this certain event or mark is from the begin-
60
ticipants were invited to estimate their expected development ning or end of the story. If there are many marks, it is also eas-
over a 6 months trainings period by drawing a line, and then ier for the audience to compare the gap between the two events Toolbox
we made a visual summary of it all.” in comparison to the whole duration of the story.

A timeline will work when you have to plan a project which is

limited in time and, normally, all projects are. It can also be
Timeline very helpful when you plan your organisation development
Timeline is another simple and yet powerful way of visualising strategy, a certain set of actions, anything that contains stages,
information, which obviously could explain its popularity in etc. In the classroom, a timeline will help you to give a perfect
contemporary infographics. Of course, in reality it is popular overview of historical or political events, or even whole peri-
because very often we have to visualise some events, projects, ods and eras. You don’t even have to draw: spread your arms
plans, which have a beginning and ending point. So, a time- and show events using elbows, shoulders and body parts. An
line first of all gives us an idea of the duration of something, example: if spread arms represents the timeline of existence of
so just by looking at its size we can already imagine how long our planet, then the history of mankind would be just a tiny
the story is. You can also add more time marks onto timeline bit of a nail on the third finger of your right hand.   
Road Circle
61
This is very much like a timeline. It is also often used to visu- A circle is a basic shape and is a very popular form in visuali-
alise some kind of a process with a start and end point. Apart sation. Apart from its perfect geometrical value, it can also be
from the duration aspect, it often includes different stages and used to symbolise the wholeness of something. It’s often used Toolbox

steps that need to be done during a certain period of time. Very as example of a complete process, for example, when you go
often, roads lead to a rising sun—a profit or a goal—or just to from A to Z making a full circle. Sometimes it is also com-
a place behind the horizon—a certain point in the future.    bined with a timeline, like in this example, which is a record-
ing of a documentary, telling us a story of young girl and old
lady, drawing parallels between their existences. So, the circle
here is a metaphor of a complete story, but it also consists of
two parts, reminding the viewer of the flow of the film with
the most crucial quotes. The questions in the middle fill the
space in the story, but also invite participants to think about
the message of the film.
Pie-chart
62
One more circle based visual is the well-known pie-chart. It is
widely used in infographics when the task is to show a piece
of the whole and outline how big or small the piece is in com- Toolbox

parison to the rest of the circle.

Venn Diagram
Introduced by John Venn
in the late 19th century, it
Bulls Eye / Target is also a widely-known vis-
When many circles meet together they form a bulls-eye, which ualisation of possible logi-
divides the space of the visual into a number of fields: the one cal relations between fields
in the middle is the target and the ones around it serve as or concepts. It can consist
markers approaching the target. We used the one on the left of two object on the inter-
for observing the progress of participants’ self-development sections of which the core
during the training Visual Facilitation+ training course: all component is born, but very
participants started at the periphery and aimed to get clos- often it is three circles. One
er to the middle each day. Tanya Starodubova—participant of popular example is the con-
VF+ training—went further and played this layout the other cept of competence, born in the intersection of knowledge, at-
way around: during one of her events she had participants put titude and skills. Or IT, born on intersection of math and tech-
their fears into the middle and observed how far participants nologies.
could get away from them.
Matrix Stairs
63
You must remember matrix from the face emotions part of this Like trees, stairs have many connotations and metaphoric
book. It resembles a classical diagram with two axes dividing meanings: it is a process of moving along a certain path, usu-
a working space into four sectors, where the top right is usual- ally divided into stages – one stage per step. The steps may also Toolbox

ly the most efficient and the bottom left is the most inefficient. symbolise challenges, if it is the way up. Stairs generally lead
Our example would be a matrix of the widely-know DEOR to a positive or negative result, depending in which direction
(dissemination and exploitation of project results) which ap- you are moving, up or down.
plicants of Erasmus+ are familiar with. The vertical axis could
be the scale of visibility of a project and horizontal scale would
be the involvement of youth into the process. Your task is now
to find a place for different types of promotions for your pro-
ject and see which are more efficient in terms of visibility and
which give more power to youth. Where would a closed Face-
book group go? And where would you place a presentation of
your project in local schools and youth centres?

Tree
Trees are nice. They have many meanings and hidden meta-
phors. Apart from its vertical vector, leading up to the sun, trees
also have a trunk as the main static axis, or component. Then
come the branches as sub-categories, or sub-directions, which
 Landscape
64
A landscape is not quite a layout, its rather more of a canvas; a
very popular background for visuals. Firstly, we like looking
at different landscapes, it is very natural and pleasing for us. It Toolbox

explains why it is so widely used on many visuals in this book.

But often, a landscape also symbolises different key elements
and connotations: horizon – goal, destination; river, abyss – ob-
stacle to overcome; mountains – challenge, etc. If you take an-
other look at the templates in the previous chapter you will see.

end with leaves and fruit which symbolise the outcome(s) or

goal(s). Furthermore, trees have roots which help trees stand
still and also mark the starting point. A tree is often a metaphor Abyss
of a process, which has roots (basis) and branches (actions) and The abyss mainly has three connotations on visuals: firstly, it
fruit (outcomes). It can also be used as a form of mind-map, is a visualisation of a pit, where the main protagonist of the
when you don’t want to use abstract circles and lines. You can visualisation definitely doesn’t want to end up – a problem, a
stick to the trunk as the main topic and then thick and thin dead end, a difficult situation, etc. The second connotation is
branches as the ideas growing out of it. more promising: it symbolises the obstacle which has to be
overcome in order to get to the other side. The third aspect In international youth work we
helps to elaborate the idea of who is on the other side and how love to use a canvas of an iceberg
65
we can reach them: partners, students, target group, sponsors, when we introduce the concept
stakeholders, etc. of culture, where dances, dresses, Toolbox
architecture, food are in the visi-
CHANGING THE SITUATION DESIRED SITUATION
ble part, but they are all based on
beliefs, the concept of space and
time, philosophy, family relations,
etc. Another example where you
could use this canvas could be to increase visibility and dissem-
ination of the results of your project, where behind every pres-
entation and action there is a lot of planning and preparations.

PRESENT SITUATION

Iceberg
The iceberg is a well-known concept and metaphor of something
that is huge, the biggest part of which is not visible to us. So, this
canvas is used when you have to introduce to a group or class a
topic of which very little is visible, but usually perceived as the
whole, however there is a lot more going on “under the water”,
which becomes the basis of the visible part. For instance, it could
be a political campaign, which visibly consists of speeches, meet-
ings and debates of the primary candidate, but what is not visi- There are definitely many more ways to layout and metaphorise
ble is the labour of dozens and hundreds of people, speech writ- your message or content. We mentioned here only a few and
ers, technicians, PR, journalists, fund-raisers, etc. hope you become inspired and invent your own. Good luck!
Cases 66
Here we collected more examples of visuals which our col-
leagues use during their activities. These are not quite tem-
Toolbox
plates, because they are prepared in advance and used for a
single case. They use several icons, metaphors and layouts at
once. They give good examples (and inspiration) of other ways
we could liven up communication with visuals.

The Value Machine (by Markus Engelberger)

“The Machine was created in order to define the five core values
of the organisation, which was needed for future decisions as
well as defining an organisational model and mission-statement.
1. Q1: Is the value important for everyone here?
2. Q2: Does the value affect the success of our actual core
business?
3. Q3: Will the value be important for making our
organisation´s vision come true?

The first step was to collect in the strategy group all values that
seemed to be important. Then, each value was “put in” at the
top of the “machine” and then passed on through the differ-
ent bubbles and pipes. Depending on how the strategy group
answered the questions, the values finally reached the “TOP
5”, “the exotic ones”, or the “laboratory”.
The rules: Only five values fit in the “TOP5”. If a sixth value
is added, another one has to be removed, in order to make it
67
five again. The removed ones (and other ones that made their
way directly there), go to the “laboratory”. Their values could Toolbox
be kept for the future (not being in the “TOP5” doesn´t mean
that the value is not important at all) and also be combined
to create new values that might be thrown into the machine
again to pass the questions. “The exotic ones” are the place for
the values that drive only a single person of the strategy group.
They might be considered, but are not of importance concern-
ing the mission statement, etc.”

The 5 Pillars of Identity

“The 5 pillars of identity” is a model is from the German psy-
chologist, H. G. Petzold (*1944). According to it, the identity of
a human being is based on five pillars: the body and the percep-
tion of the body, the social network which surrounds it, work
and accomplishment, material security and moral and values.
We adapted this model for our work with young people
and created this template. They can colour it in and
have an active part through this. After filling out the pil-
lars we can see which pillars should get more filled and
start a conversation about how that could happen. Our
youngsters understand it very easily and enjoy working
with the template.
Magdalena Burtscher
Youthpass 8 key competences
68
I am usually drawing a picture like this when I am ex- I often present key competences and every time try to do it
plaining the overall concept of Youthpass in EVS train- in a different way. What bothered me is how would it be pos-
ings. The simple structure makes it easy for me to draw sible not only to visualise the key, which is simple, but also Toolbox
live in front of the group, while presenting and talking, the competence. And what is more paranoiac in my case:
and it helps the participants to grasp the overall con- how to explain the 8. So, from the key and simple composi-
cept without getting lost in details. tion of thirds I went further to something else, which already
Torben Grocholl exploits the 8, but in different context, and first thought of
gods with many hands, where hands symbolise something
practical, which is almost correct, if we speak about compe-
tences. But, it excludes knowledge and attitudes, so I went
to another 8 and thought that chess pawns, just like our
competences, protect us in everyday situations. And to de-
velop it further, when you push your competence really hard
and it makes it to the end of the board, it becomes a queen,
which is even more powerful and universal, and can help
you to win the game.
Deniss Jershov
Patenting Process Erasmus+
69
This is one more example of how you can turn an already rath- This is a presentation of Erasmus+ submitted by Melanie Pichler,
er visual, but rather complex scheme into a nice visual, with- a participant of Visual Facilitation+ and now a practicing visu-
out losing the point or the information. It was produced by aliser. In this presentation Melanie has shown “the steps, which Toolbox

Aija Auzina, a Visual Facilitation+ training participant, and are necessary, if you are planning to apply for an Erasmus+
serves the purposes of explaining the patenting process. Aija grant (from the project idea to the application)”. The visual
uses it during educational activities she organises back home. language she used helps to identify the aims, the target group,
and also shows the most important stages in the process in the
form of stairs. Also, notice the composition: a rising diagonal,
angles with title, target group, information on Melanie’s organ-
isation and also the final destination for those taking the steps.

“The template helped me to focus on a clear and struc-

tured presentation. And it also reminded me on certain
points which I wanted to say. I could also refer to it,
when participants were asking a question.
I achieved my concept and skills of presenting Eras-
mus+ and also got new ideas for the presentation. While
70
drawing, I got the idea of a water landscape. So next
time I would use the landscape of water and waves in-
Toolbox
stead of steps and on the right top maybe a beautiful
island. And the star-person would sit in a boat.

Erasmus+: Youth in Action is a complex funding pro-

gramme and it is challenging to give a good overview of
it. The Visual presentation – in the shape of a big picture
template – gives your audience a good overview, shows
connections and the whole process. It also helps the
presenter to have a clear structure and anchor points.
It can also help to be clear about the core message of
the presentation.

So, it is useful, if you want to show a complex process,

which includes (why, what, who, how = steps, output).“
Melanie Pichler
Chapter IV.
Visual
Games
We use games a lot on our trainings. They bring a playful mood Materials:
into the process, which can sometimes be quite exhausting (if
72
One marker/felt-tip pen/pencil/pen per person; a sheet of A4
you stay focused for long time). Games are also good teachers or A5 paper; some surface for drawing.
and what you find in the selection below is not necessarily an Visual

attribute of Visual Facilitation training, but can be used during Flow: Games

other learning events and activities. This is because they also 1. Ask participants to warm-up a little. Just raise the hand
develop other soft skills, such as focusing, non-verbal commu- with the marker in it and try to rotate the wrist for 10–15
nication, attention, etc., and can also be great energisers and seconds, as if you were a conductor.
communication exercises. Because art unites! 2. Now take the paper and draw an unbroken line, as if you
were, again, conducting. Try to wake your hand up by
Free-hand just doodling. The line can have sharp corners or smooth
arcs – it doesn’t matter.
We found this game in a local art school. It is a regular warm- 3. Now, ask everyone to try to see and recognise some shapes
up exercise in the illustration class. The main objective is to or objects in this mess they just doodled, and outline it.
provoke the imagination, train the eye and learn to see and 4. If the shape is still not very convincing, doodlers can add
recognise objects and shapes where they hardly exist. The in- more lines to make it clearer.
itial objective in the class is to come up with some character, 5. Instead of outlining you can also colour the shapes.
style or environment for future illustration. But, in the Visu-
al Facilitation world it is a perfect exercise to prove that eve-
ryone can draw, as long as they can imagine, and also a good
warm-up exercise.

Objective:
Creative warm-up, visual thinking, focus and attention.

Target group:
Everyone; number of people: not important.
Tips: Flow:
1. Objects which are easy to recognise in this exercise, when
73
1. Invite participants to sit in a circle with an A4 sheet of
you do it for the first time, are different flowers, birds, but- paper.
terflies, sails of ships, etc. With the second or third at- 2. You are all going to draw the same picture, but you need Visual
Games
tempt, people usually start to see more complex things. a starter. Ask for volunteers, who would like to draw a
2. When you see that participants feel comfortable with picture. The picture should fill all the paper. It can be
working with their own doodles, you can invite them to free plot: an island in the sea, with ships around, clouds
work in pairs. They can draw random lines and then offer and sun above, fish underwater; or, a building in the city
it to another person to outline the shapes. with windows, car parked in front, rainclouds, birds in
the sky; or, someone’s bedroom with furniture, paintings
Drawing in a Circle on the wall, flowers on the table, etc. Just feel free to draw
anything you are comfortable with.
Objective:
3. Ask the first person to start drawing. They can decide
Creative warm-up, group building, focus and attention. Also which direction the circle will go and if it is going to be
patience, it seems to us. To go into more depth, you may find a landscape or a portrait drawing. Let’s imagine that it is
that it also trains drawers to use clear lines and simple shapes; going to the left and it is a landscape.
not to go too sophisticated with their pictures. Overall, this 4. Important! The second person from the left can see the
game is great fun. starter picture and tries to draw exactly the same picture
Target group: on his/her sheet. The third person can only look at the
picture of second person, the fourth can see the picture
Everyone who knows the basics of drawing (at least one per-
of third and so on. People in the circle can only see the
son in the group). It is good to have minimum of 12 partici-
picture of the previous person. It will be a temptation to
pants up to 60, or even more.
look at the pictures of others, but try to stick to the rule.
Materials: 5. In order to save time, the second person can copy first
Sheets of A4 and one marker per person. This exercise works person’s picture line by line. Waiting for first person to
best if everyone can sit on the floor in a circle. But, tables are finish the picture will take about 2-3 minutes and if you
also ok, if they are in a circle.
 multiply it by the number of people, it can take up to
40 minutes. Let people copy their neighbour’s picture
74
line by line, and you will complete the exercise within
approximately 10 minutes. Visual
Games
6. When the first person has finished drawing, they give
everyone a signal: “Done!”, “Ready!”, “Finished!”, etc. If
the second person thinks he/she copied everything and
is also done, they also give a signal and so on. First person Last person

7. When last person is done, you can now raise your heads
and your pictures and show them to everyone in the circle.
You will be able to compare things, like for instance how
different are the first and last pictures and how careful
and accurate were the drawers.

Tips:
1. The more detailed the first picture is, the bigger the chance
that drawings will be inaccurate. At the same time, people
tend to make the size of certain objects bigger or smaller,
which is perfectly normal.
2. Depending on time, you can make another round right
away. You can also run this game regularly to see how
people progress and perform with better precision during
the exercise.

First person Last person

Drawing in the Air Tip:
75
Try not to draw some specific objects or buildings, like the
Objective: view from your window, or Notre-Dame de Paris. People in
Visual and spatial thinking, focus and attention, non-verbal the audience might not be aware of these objects. At the same Visual
Games
communication. time, don’t use very obvious shapes that will be guessed with-
Target group: in a few seconds.

Everyone; number of people: not important.

Drawing on the Back
Materials:
This game is very similar to the previous, however it is also sim-
Chair, paper, pen for everyone.
ilar to the one about drawing in the circle. The objective is to
Flow: train concentration and enhance abstract thinking.
1. Ask for a volunteer, whose task will be to draw something Objective:
in the air in front of the rest of the group. The volunteer
Creative warm-up, ice-breaker, group building, focus and at-
is free to choose an object to draw, it can be something,
tention, non-verbal communication.
which is already in the room: a chair, a table, a smartphone,
a lamp, etc., or it can be a free association: a bus, a castle, Target group:
a Christmas tree, etc. The simpler the better. Everyone; number of people is not important. It is crucial to
2. As the volunteer starts drawing the chosen object in the have two teams.
air with their index finger, the rest of the group starts to
copy the volunteer’s lines on paper, to see what the object Materials:
is. The first who recognises what it is, names it aloud and, Chairs for everyone, pen and paper for one person in each group.
if the guess is right, the winner of the round sits in front
Flow:
of group and draws in the air. The first volunteer can join
1. People should sit in two rows, one behind another. The
the group and continue working with a real pen and paper
person at the front of each row holds the pen and paper
and trying to guess the next drawing in the air.
 2. The game starts with the persons at the back of each row. Target group:
They are shown a simple picture and now have to “send”
76
Everyone; number of people: not important.
the picture to the person at the front of the row.
3. This “sending” is done in the way that last person draws Materials: Visual
Games
with a closed marker, or just a finger, the same picture A4 paper, markers or felt-tip pens in different colours.
they were shown, but on the back of the person in front.
Flow:
This process is continued down each row…
This game is almost the same as one about drawing in the air,
4. ...until it reaches the person at the front of each row, who
but this time the person in front of the group should describe
now must draw the picture on their sheet of paper.
an object with words, while others should draw what they hear
5. When both front drawers are done, the pictures are shown
described. For instance: “It is a circle on top of an oval, there
to the rest of the group along with original picture.    
are two more circles on top of the first circle and two circles
Tip: inside first circle, a little bit up from the middle, under these
It is up to the participants to decide if they want to get the full circles is an arc. Below the oval there are two more ovals, and
picture on their back and then to pass it down all at once, or two more, one to the left and one to the right of the main oval.”
to draw line by line. The second option involves more concen- That was supposed to be a teddy-bear.
tration and may be very hard, because at that moment, partic-
Tip:
ipants need to “read” and “write” at the same time, which in-
Try to be precise, but not too precise. When explaining the
volves many senses and brain resources.  
position of the details of the object, specify if it is top, bottom,
left, right, more to the middle, more to the top, etc. Also, con-
Telling the Picture sider that people are using pen and paper, so what they need
Objective: to “see” in order to recognise your object.
Creative warm-up, visual and verbal thinking, group build-
ing, focus and attention.
Drawing Collaborative Characters 4. Now from the neck lines participants should draw the
main part of the body, from the neck to the belly. Any
77
Objective: chest, male, female, clown, businessman, robot, etc. Again,
Creative warm-up, energiser, ice-breaker, getting to know each draw the belly lines a little into the third panel, and fold Visual
Games
other the second body part back. Pass the paper along.
5. The third part is to draw from the belly to the knees. Don’t
Target group:
forget to take the lines a little into the fourth panel and
Everyone; number of people: not important. fold the third part back before passing the portrait along
Materials: to the next person.
A4 paper, markers or felt-tip pens in different colours. 6. The fourth panel is to draw from the knees to the feet.
7. When you are done with the feet, unfold the paper and
Setting: look at the portrait you just created.
Divide participants into groups of four people, so each group
Tip:
can sit together around the same table or on the floor.
Again, depending on the group, you can give some hints to draw
Flow: a man or a woman, or a book character, but it is more fun and
1. Each person gets one sheet of A4 paper and a writing in- creative to limit it to just a portrait and have four sections. The
strument (pen, marker, felt-tip pen, etc.). group will do the rest.
2. Ask everyone to fold their A4 sheet so that everyone will
have four panels, one after another. Line by Line
3. Now you are going to draw a character together. Ask
everyone to draw a head on the top panel. Any head. Just Objective:
draw the lines of the neck a little into the second panel, Creative warm-up, energiser, ice-breaker, group building, non-
because now you will need to fold the head back, so next verbal communication, visual thinking.
person can only see from where they should continue the Target group:
portrait. Pass the paper to the next person.
Everyone; number of people: from two to infinity.
Materials: Save the Bunny 78
A4 paper, markers or felt-tip pens in different colours.
Objective:
Settings: Creative warm-up, associative thinking, visual thinking, non- Visual
Games
Divide participants in twos, threes or fours, depending on the verbal communication.
dynamics of the group. Working in pairs is simplest.
Target group:
Flow: Everyone; number of people: from two to infinity.
Each group of two, three, four or more people should receive
Materials:
one sheet of A4 paper and one writing instrument (pen, mark-
er, felt-tip pen, etc.) per person. The task is to draw a picture A sheet of A4 paper and a writing instrument (pen, marker,
together, which is pretty simple. But, the drill is that they have felt-tip pen, etc.) per person.
to draw it line by line, one after another. Another thing is that Settings:
they can’t speak during the game, the only way to communi-
1. Big table or many tables, where a group can sit together.
cate and figure out what they are drawing is to actually draw.
You can also sit on the floor.
Tips: 2. If necessary, you can divide participants into smaller
1. If the group is “cold” you can give them a topic. Like, groups, but then each group will need a surface to work on.
“Let’s draw a flower!” Then they at least know what they Flow:
are drawing. But it is more fun if they don’t know what is
1. Every person draws a very simple bunny in the bottom
going to appear on the paper and just start to improvise.
right or left corner of their sheet of paper. Then, at your
2. It also doesn’t have to be “line by line”. It can also be dot
signal passes the sheet to their left.
by dot, if they are drawing a rainy day or a simple face.
2. Now every person should add to the picture something
However, if it is line by line, ask them not to make these
that is about to kill the bunny, like a falling meteor, a
lines very long and complicated. The more turns they each
hunter with a rifle, a wolf, etc. Again, when everyone is
have, the more unexpected the outcome will be.
ready, instruct them to pass their sheets of paper to their
left.
 3. Now, every person should draw something that eliminates
the threat, like a webbing that catches the meteor, or
79
Greenpeace who stops the hunter, etc., so the bunny stays
alive. Pass again. Visual
Games
4. Now everyone should draw something that eliminates
what eliminated the initial threat, so the bunny is in danger
again. Pass again and repeat several times, adding one
after another objects that either raise the likelihood of
the bunny’s survival, or don’t give it a chance.

Tips:
1. The drawings don’t have to be perfect. What is important
is that they are recognisable to the next person, so they
can understand the qualities of the object and figure out
a way to eliminate it.
2. Play 7-8 (or more rounds) to see how far peoples’
imaginations can take them.

Low-tech Social Network

Objective:
Getting to know each other, networking, making visible re-
sources, backgrounds, relations and common interests.

Target group:
Everyone; number of people: from two to infinity.
Materials: person you do not know (well) yet. This can be done with
a time limit, or throughout the whole event.
80
Paper, pens, markers, wall space (big blank poster, flipcharts,
pin board, etc.). 4. The result will be a visible network full of links, connections,
discovered common friends and interests. Visual
Flow: Games

1. Creating profiles: You can prepare templates for this or Tips:

leave it to the participants. You can also give some in- There are many possible variations for this exercise. Just think
structions about what kind of information should be on a little bit about your context and the setting where you want
their profiles (depending on the purpose of the game and to use it: What kind of activities do you want to stimulate with-
the topic of the meeting or target group). The participants in the group? What kind of information should be collected
create their own profiles or work together in pairs and in- and made visible on this picture? For instance:
terview each other. A profile picture can be used or not 1. During international events stick the profiles on a pre-
(usually it is fun!). made map to show the geographical diversity of the par-
2. You can ask participants to present their own profile (or ticipants.
someone else’s) in front of the group and/or stick them 2. Modify the questions for the profiles according to either
on the wall/poster. your or the group’s needs.
3. Create the Network! Ask everybody to draw lines and 3. To keep this activity going through the full length of an
make connections with people you already know or with event we have had good experiences by making it a little
who they have something in common. Ask them to label competition. The participant finding the most connections
those connections. Invite people to also name professional got rewarded with a little prize at the end.
connections or things they have in common with others
to show who knows who, from where and why. This will
ideally reinforce communication between participants,
support group-building and networking. We all know:
It is always great fun to find common friends and figure
out surprising things you might have in common with a
Picturising Words, sentence to the back and then pass it along in the chosen
81
direction.
Verbalising Pictures
5. The third person has to verbalise the picture, how they
Objective: interpret it. This continues until the paper travels around Visual
Games
Creative warm-up, associative thinking, visual thinking, open- the whole circle and arrives back at the first person, or
ing topics. This game is similar to the Derrida exercise, but in- until there is no empty space anymore.
stead of drawing and drawing, we will combine drawing with
Tips:
writing.
1. The aim is not to guess the sentence or draw the same pic-
Target group: ture, the aim is to release your creative spirit and think
Everyone; number of people: fun starts with six to seven people. fast and free.
2. It is even more fun when you guessed the initial picture
Materials:
or saying to ignore it and add something completely new
Pens and A4 paper for everyone. and crazy.
Flow:
1. Every person gets one sheet of paper and a pen. Guess My Picture
2. The first step is to write down a random short sentence, Objective:
which makes sense. It could be a line from a song, a famous
Creative warm-up, associative thinking, visual thinking, open-
quote, slogan, etc.
ing topics, energiser.
3. Now everyone passes it to the left or right. It doesn’t matter
for the first round, but matters for the second and those Target group:
that come after. Everyone; number of people: fun starts with three groups of
4. The next person’s task is to draw the sentence, how they three, or more.
understand it. To translate it into an image. When the
Materials:
second person is done, they have to fold the opening
Pens and paper
Flow: depending on how much competition is fun and joyful
for everybody in the group.
82
1. Prepare a selection of concepts, words, etc., which are ei-
ther fun to visualise, or relevant for the group and the top- 4. Sometimes, when a concept is really hard to draw,
ics they are dealing with, on little paper cards. participants start to cheat, by pointing at something that Visual
Games
2. Split the group into smaller teams. can give a hint to what the word is. Remind them it is a
3. Pick a card and show it to one delegate from each group. drawing exercise.
4. The delegates have to draw the word from the card without
using words, letters or numbers, etc., in silence. Collaborative Group Memory
5. The teams have to guess the correct word or concept.
Objective:
6. The winning team gets a point.
7. The game continues... Reflection, visual thinking, associative thinking, group building.  

Tips: Target group:

1. You can visualise almost everything in this game: topics, Participants in training courses, seminars, workshops, class-
concepts, movies, whatever the group is interested in or room lessons, long-term educational activities, everyone; num-
working on! ber of people: from two to infinity, just try to form teams.
2. In our trainings, we love playing this game (as a starter) to Materials:
create a joint visual vocabulary which is based on the needs
Flipchart paper or large sized paper roll (e.g. packing paper),
and interests of the participants and their professional
markers, colours.
contexts. Therefore, we collect all kind of terms from the
group and put them in a big box before we start playing. Flow:
3. There are many variations of this game: small groups 1. Divide participants into smaller groups (You can also ask
competing with each other, or one person drawing in for volunteers, day by day).
front and groups competing with each other, or one 2. Assign each group to a certain day or session of the event.
person in front and everybody against everybody, with or
without the “hangman” rule, points, scores, ranking, etc.,
3. At the end of the day or session each team has to fulfil Tip:
the task of creating a visualdocumentation of the day or
83
This exercise might require a little introduction and prepara-
session on a poster in a pre-given format (e.g. landscape). tion for your participants to get familiar with some basics of
4. The summary can be presented the next morning to start using visual language (see ABC chapter). Visual
Games
the day by looking back and recalling what has happened
previously.
Chapter V.
How to
Move On?
It’s great that you have made it until here! We hope you enjoyed and theories you deal with in your work or projects, do
it and that you got some useful ideas and inspiration from read- research, sketch and draft icons and symbols. Sketch an
85
ing the book, or some parts of it. If you want to continue your object 50 times to make it really “your own”. Play with the
journey on the visual learning path here we have prepared a shape of the object, make it very tiny, blow it up, change How to
Move On?
number of possibilities for you to explore:   the proportions, etc. You can also meet at the local pub
to practise and play drawing games with others, usually
1. “Steal like an artist!” is great advice from Austin Kleon.
this is quite fun.
Luckily we are not at school anymore and copying is ac-
3. Draw every day! Start implementing visuals, step by step,
cepted as a method of learning and developing things fur-
into your everyday life and work. Spice up your shopping,
ther without getting punished. So, actively look for inspi-
or to-do-lists, with little drawings, make a little template
ration around you! The internet is a wonderful and almost
for your Skype meetings, sketch random objects from your
infinite resource, but don’t forget about “the real world”. It
desk, etc. Why not establish a creative habit or routine
offers loads of visual inspiration, just take a look around:
around drawing?! Here we can give you two nice examples
advertisements, magazines, newspapers, street signs, stick-
from our friends which might trigger your imagination
ers, graffiti, flyers and much more. Look for stuff which
and motivate you to start your own project: Our friend
you find worth stealing and go for it. Build on this. Draw
and colleague Julia from Austria started a drawing journal
and redraw, merge different things into something new,
quite some time ago. She is drawing an image in it every
modify and adapt ideas and images according to your in-
day, which symbolises each day in her life. So far she has
terests and for your own needs.
filled already more than one full book with her drawings
2. Practice! According to the “10,000 hour rule” by Malcolm
and it is still going on and growing every day. Elsewhere,
Gladwell it takes roughly 10,000 hours of practice to
Kati started an impressive drawing project once which you
achieve mastery in any field. So no stress, just keep on
can now even find at the book shops in her country. She
doodling! It takes time and practice to develop and to
transcribed popular Estonian movies into little pictograms
become fluent with your visual vocabulary and visual
and fulfilled her dream of publishing her first book. There
language, just as with any other language. Collect symbols,
are many more inspiring blogs online with examples of
icons and pictures and compile your personal visual
what wonderful things people have created and done.
dictionary. Note down the most important words, concepts
 4. Get your personal sketchbook at the local art shop! Choose Flipchart paper is a nice medium size format and usually avail-
a material, colour and format that is appealing to you and able at seminar rooms or in the stationery shop around the cor-
86
which is easy for you to carry around. Remember: The best ner. You can also go bigger by sticking more sheets of flip chart
sketchbook is the one that you can always take with you! paper together! Rolled packing paper (white or brown) is an- How to
Move On?
The same goes for your markers and pens. Choose them other nice and cheap option if you decide to go big.
wisely, they are extensions of your hand ;-)
For colouring, many of our colleagues in the visual field use
“Find the courage to find time for yourself. That’s one. dry pastels, however normal coloured chalk from the class-
The second: don’t be afraid of new things. And, the third, room also works to a certain extent. Be aware that you need
see your aim always in front of you, keep it simple and
some kind of fixative spray for protection if you want to keep
don’t lose that aim.”
and re-use your posters. Others prefer block-shaped wax cray-
Aija Auzina, participant at VF+ training
ons or coloured markers.

Materials The most common marker types are probably the ones with a
chisel tip, or a bullet tip. The chisel tip is useful for strong and
Regarding the materials you’ll need, our advice is: Start with visible handwriting; the bullet tip is thinner and many peo-
some basic tools like a black marker and paper which is readily ple use it for drawing and outlining. Markers and pens with
available for you, you’ll probably find some colours (markers, a brush tip are already a bit more artistic and can be used for
felt tips, pencils, crayons, etc.) around your desk. Later, you can advanced lettering and drawing. As always it is a matter of
visit your local art shop and take a look around to find some your preferences.
inspiration there. Try out different materials, feel free to ex-
periment, or stick to the materials you like and feel comforta-
ble with. These will be your friends and companions on your
visual journey… You don’t need much to get started!

In our experience, the following materials proved to be useful

for working with groups more visually: Simple A5, A4 and A3
sheets of paper make sense for flexible usage in different settings.
Further Reading 87

How to
Move On?

David Sibbet. Visual Meetings:

How Graphics, Sticky Notes, Sunni Brown. The Dan Roam. Show and
Idea Mapping can Transform Doodle Revolution: Tell: How Everybody
Unlock the power to Can Make Extraordinary Mike Rohde: The
Group Productivity, 2010
think differently, 2014 Presentations, 2014 Sketchnote Handbook:
The illustrated guide to
Brandy Agerbeck. The visual note taking, 2013
Graphic Facilitator’s
Guide: How to use your
listening, thinking &
drawing skills to make
meaning, 2012

Siiri Taimla, Mark Taylor, Buzz

Bury, Tanel Rannala. Graphic Austin Kleon. Steal Dan Roam. The Back
Express: First Steps to Graphic like an Artist: 10 Things of the Napkin: Solving
Facilitation in Youth Work, 2014 nobody told you about Problems and Selling
being creative, 2012 Ideas with Pictures, 2013
Michelle Walker.
Building your visual
language library.
12 great icons.

Scott McCloud.
Understanding Comics:
Heikki Toivanen. Friend Leadership: The Invisible Art, 2004 Ursus Wehrli. Tidying up Art, 2004
A Visual Inspiration Book.
Authors 88

How to
Move On?

Deniss Jershov, born in Estonia in 1976, has Torben Grocholl, born 1984 in Berlin, has Kati Orav, born in Estonia in 1981 and has
been living many lives, but currently lives studied Political Science and Communi- been interested in teaching and leading
in Tartu, teaches graphic design and works cations in Vienna and Copenhagen. He since childhood, so, no surprise, that cur-
as a trainer and facilitator locally and in- currently lives in Graz/Austria and is rently she is working as a trainer and pro-
ternationally. He believes in creativity as working as a freelance trainer and facil- cess manager. She believes that creating
the ultimate purpose of every human being, itator in the European youth field and right conditions, asking right questions and
but at the same likes to find proofs and evi- non-formal education. He is passionate using supportive tools can help people to
dences of why some tools work better than about creative facilitation and the power discover creativity and potential to make a
others. of visual language. change. One of her great missions in life is
to promote graphic visualisation as an ap-
proach to simplification of strategic thinking
and project management, and also to help
people to find the courage to doodle.
Feedback 89
Last but not least, we are very curious and looking forward to
hear from you and get some feedback: How to
Move On?
1. What did you find most interesting, useful or not useful
about this book? What is missing? What would you like
to read and learn more about?
2. Which tools and methods did you try out and what are
your experiences of working more visually? Does it change
anything? What is the impact? What is still difficult? Share
your experiences and stories with us!
3. Did you develop or discover any nice visual tool, template
or game which proved to be useful for educational
activities? Please share it with us and the CLC community!
4. What are the things you stumbled across and you would
like to develop further? What are the things you still
wonder about? What is confusing and/or not clear yet?
Tell us!
5. If you come across some nice resources, books, articles,
videos, etc., feel free to let us know and to share it with the
Creative Learning Cookbook community online!