Digital Roam

This one time at brand camp...

Tom Fishburne is the funniest brand manager alive. (Probably the smartest too -- especially when it comes to seeing what really goes on in the alternate universe known as "product marketing".)

Tom just published a new book of his marketing cartoons called "This One Time at Brand Camp". It is good. I mean, really good. It's not just that these are great cartoons (they are) nor that they are timely (Tom's brilliant take on greenwashing is alone worth the price of the book), it's that Tom gets inside the mind of marketers better than anyone I've ever come across... and then draws it out in a way that will be beautifully painful to anyone who has ever wondered "where in the heck did they come up with THAT slogan?"

Anyway, enough words. Here's my Post2Post review:

I had a chance to ask Tom to single out his favorite single cartoon. Here's what he picked, and the story behind it...

From Tom: About 8 years ago, when I first started drawing cartoons in business school, I took a trip to Paris with my wife and stumbled across a gallery filled with cartoons by Jean-Jacques Sempe (who I later learned does covers for the New Yorker, among other things). I had a Wayne's World "I'm not worthy, I'm not worthy" moment. They were screamingly funny and poignant all at the same time, but none of the cartoons had any caption or dialog.  He did it all without a single word, just by how he drew it. 

 

Since then, I've thought the highest zen master form of cartooning was where you didn't need to even say the punchline. It's deceptively hard to do.

 

I like this cartoon because (even though it does have a title), all of the humor is in the scene. We've all heard the expression, "you can't cut your way to growth", but most organizations are equipped with cutting tools, not with growing tools. And, if we've ever been passionate about innovation, sometimes you feel like that lone farmer in the center, planting the tree while warily looking at all of the naysayers. But, you do it anyway, even against those odds, because you believe so much in the idea. And every once in a while, the idea blossoms and proves all of the naysayers wrong.

 

In the case of the inspiration for this cartoon, the cutting tools won the round, but I kept at it, and eventually got it to grow.

I love that story. What I love even more is that when I read Tom's book, I marked my own favorite cartoons with post-its. My top choice?

The same cartoon.

SXSW: vote early and often!

I had so much fun launching The Back of the Napkin at the SXSW conference last year that I'd like to go back to Austin again this year. I've got a whole bunch of new visual thinking stories, tools, and concepts to share, but I need your help.

To be accepted as a speaker at SXSW, you need to have people vote for your idea on the Panel Picker. I've got two events I'd like to do this year, and if you're interested in either, I'd love for you to vote for them.

The first is a panel discussion called Shift Happens: Moving from Words to Pictures. Tom Crawford of VizThink has pulled together with me and the amazing Lee LeFever of CommonCraft, Dave Gray of Xplane, Sunni Brown of eyescience, and visual facilitator Marilyn Martin. We'll be sharing ideas about how pictures are taking over the world. Should be cool.

The second is a solo presentation I'd like to give called Convincing with Pictures: First, We Throw Away all the Computers. During this session I'm going to take a different route and introduce concepts from my second book. Among them:

• Why computers are killing our ability to see the obvious.
• Why making things simple has become so complicated -- and how to make the simple simple again.
• The neurobiological reasons why a hand-drawn sketch is always more compelling than a slick presentation.
• How to paint the Golden Gate Bridge. (No, not a painting OF the bridge -- I'm talking the bridge itself.)

Anyway, it should be a lot of fun.

There are about a zillion other great panels too, so check them out and vote. Again and again!

DANGER! DANGER! Voting deadline is Aug. 29!

The ultimate master class of visual thinking. With Kermit.

Every once in a while we stumble across something that we connect with so deeply, we're left transformed and breathless with wonder. So it is with Kermit.

This unbelievable clip is from the Ed Sullivan show of 1966. Wow.

Click here to watch.

I've always known that I was only only standing on the shoulders of giants. Now I know that those shoulders are green, and about 10 inches high.

As Mr. K, the visual guru says, "You gotta rewind into the cosmic infinity of everything, see... cause I am a bonafide, true-blue, guaranteed-or-your-money-back visual thinker."

Ah. To learn from the best.

Back of the Napkin workshop in DC on Sept. 11

Since the publication of The Back of the Napkin, many people have asked when and where they can attend my visual problem-solving workshops. I'm been pretty booked at private business events, so it's tricky to schedule open workshops.

But on Sept. 11, 2008, Gartner has asked me to lead a half-day "Back of the Napkin" workshop as part of their Gartner BPM Summit in Washington DC.

This workshop will be available to anyone attending the full conference, so if you'd like to know more about how to solve problems with pictures, this is a good opportunity.

During the three-hour session, you'll learn how to use the entire visual thinking problem-solving toolkit:

Including the SQVID:

And the <6><6> framework:

With these tools in hand, you will be able to start solving any problem (BPM or otherwise) with a picture immediately.

To attend, you'll need to both register for the conference and register for my workshop (an additional fee of $100).

I hope to see you there!

Yes: I really do draw on napkins

I've received a bunch of notes asking if I actually draw on napkins, and if so, what kind.

Yes, I do draw on napkins. They're not the best drawing surface, but when I want to show someone how quickly a sketch can be created, I like napkins. And since everyone knows that napkins are intended to be thrown away (and recycled!!), many people are less intimidated drawing on them than expensive paper.

I use "Vanity Fair Everyday" napkins.

They are available in all major grocery stores. I like them because they are tough enough to make a good writing surface, have a flat smooth finish, and have compressed enough paper that they limit ink bleed. (Avoid paper towels: they will suck all the ink out of a pen in a couple minutes.)

As for pens, any ballpoint works, since they minimize ink bleed. That said, the best napkin-drawing pens that money can buy are Pilot "Permanent Ink Markers".

Unfortunately, the very best are only available in Japan or stationery stores that stock directly imported Japanese drawing materials. Here in San Francisco we are lucky enough to have a major Japanese shopping center where the Kinokuniya Bookstore chain has an amazing stationery store.

Photo from bettybl.

All this aside, the point is to find a surface that is not intimidating. That may sound odd (how can a paper surface be intimidating, right?) but it really does make a difference. If you want people who might not be comfortable drawing, you have to given them tools that feel spontaneous.

A pencil and a notebook work too.

Guy Kawasaki has a smart momma

Guy Kawasaki was intrigued enough about my visual thinking approach that he interviewed me here and posted about it here. Thanks Guy!

But then he went further and asked me to put my money where my mouth was and prove that a potentially complex idea really can be made more clear through a picture. He pointed me towards Alltop (one of his many brilliant online tools) and asked me to come up with a simple visual explanation of what it does.

My final analysis:

Alltop helps you find your nuggets.

We're both happy with the result. That's the best reaction any picture can generate: smiles of comprehension!