Art elements and principles DO belong in your charts!

Let's master this visual language together.

In yet another treasured conversation, Heather Martinez shared that she would be sharing the work she and Avril Orloff had developed for the IFVP Online Learning Series at the 2024 International Visual Practitioners Conference.

I nodded loudly as she described her mission to help folks embrace elements of art, design, and composition their live work with clients.

Heck yes.

by Brandy Agerbeck

What you need to know first:

All of these principles are learnable and practice-able.
No need to be intimidated by them.
When we put capital-A Art on an unreachable pedestal, we forget that these principles are at work all around us, all the time.
From the snootiest of high-brow to the loveliest of low-brow places.
These principles are a visual language.
Ignore them? You will not communicate clearly.
Get fluent in them, and your charts will speak clearly to your clients.
Avoid these principles? You will be doing your clients a disservice. They deserve the best work you can do.

And...

Get this...
When you master these principles your work not only gets stronger and more valuable (happier clients, stand out from the crowd) — your work gets EASIER.

Again, these principles are learnable and exactly what I have taught people all over the world.

We can make mastering these elements a joy!

Heather invited me to point you towards where to learn more together.

Before I cross-reference these specific principles to my books and courses, here's the Big Picture answer:

If you are relatively new to the field, and want to be a more confident and well-rounded visual practitioner, I recommend:

Gold Star Graphic Facilitation

Module 4 focuses on the drawing skills of graphic facilitation. We cover core principles and every element of The Essential Eight.

Learn more

The Graphic Facilitator's Guide is the book that corresponds to this course.

You are an experienced professional and want to deepen your practice in this realm, I recommend:

The Agerbeck Method

While my signature visual thinking course isn't specifically tailored to visual practitioners, you will see below how perfectly it aligns with Avril and Heather's teaching.

Learn More

The Idea Shapers is the book that corresponds to this course.

Next, let's get into more detail —

Heather Martinez's work on the Neuland GraphicWally® using the roll of black paper.

LINE

...is Essential #4 in The Graphic Facilitator's Guide and Gold Star Graphic Facilitation.

In The Idea Shapers, the chapters on Connectors and Containers focus on LINE.

Module 5 of The Agerbeck Method is LINE.

The deep dive course on LINE is Lines of Thought which is included in Studio membership.

CONTRAST

CONTRAST and REPETITION are taught throughout the books and courses.

The fundamental principle is make the same visual choices in your charts for the same kind or level (see #3) of information.

Keep up the pattern until you need to break it for CONTRAST or EMPHASIS or if you have a new kind or level of information to capture.

HIERARCHY & EMPHASIS

...is touched on briefly in Essential #4 in The Graphic Facilitator's Guide within Essential #1, TEXT. See also the chapters Size of Ideas and Think in Levels.

Much of Module 3: Thinking, in Gold Star Graphic Facilitation focuses on this.

Throughout The Idea Shapers and The Agerbeck Method this is SCALE.

The Pyramid chapter, and all of Module 6, focuses on SCALE.

The deep dive course on SCALE is Pyramid Power which is included in Studio membership.

PROXIMITY

First, I 💛 that Avril and Heather used this exact word.

This is sprinkled across The Graphic Facilitator's Guide and Gold Star Graphic Facilitation, but not specific focus.

In The Idea Shapers, the chapters on The Cluster and The Buffer focus on PROXIMITY.

Module 2 of The Agerbeck Method is PROXIMITY.

The deep dive course on PROXIMITY is Visual Listening which is included in Studio membership.

MOVEMENT

Arrows are Essential #5 in The Graphic Facilitator's Guide and Gold Star Graphic Facilitation.

In The Idea Shapers, the chapter on The Flow focuses on MOVEMENT.

Module 9 of The Agerbeck Method is FLOW, and addressed how we create MOVEMENT and a sense of direction in our visual thinking.

REPETITION

See #2. ☝️

COLOR

...is Essential #3 in The Graphic Facilitator's Guide and Gold Star Graphic Facilitation.

In The Idea Shapers, the chapters on The Spectrum and The Trio focus on COLOR.

Module 4 of The Agerbeck Method is COLOR.

The deep dive course on LINE is Lines of Thought which is included in Studio membership.

BALANCE

While this is a core design principle, I see this differently in visual practice.

When we are working live, capturing our clients' conversations and presentations, plenty of what happens is not balanced.

And should not be balanced for balance's sake.

Yes, you should be meaningfully creating your chart's overall composition.

I call this SHAPE. We let the SHAPE emerge from the work itself.

It might be lopsided and lumpy. Great.

It might be pleasingly balanced. Great.

Shape of Conversation and Putting it Together in The Graphic Facilitator's Guide and Gold Star Graphic Facilitation address SHAPE.

In The Idea Shapers, the chapters The Integrator and The Flow focus on SHAPE.

Module7 of The Agerbeck Method is SHAPE. And overlaps Module 9: FLOW.

The deep dive course on SHAPE is Shape Making which is included in Studio membership.

WHITE SPACE

Yay! WHITE SPACE!

It is the sneaky ninth Essential in The Graphic Facilitator's Guide and Gold Star Graphic Facilitation.

In The Idea Shapers, the chapter The Buffer is about WHITE SPACE.

We talk WHITE SPACE in The Agerbeck Method in Module 2: PROXIMITY.

There is no deep dive specifically on WHITE SPACE, but we discuss it a heck of a lot during our Drawing Bees in the Studio membership.

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