The Illustrated Professor

Saturday, August 1, 2009.

A couple of weeks ago, I gave a presentation at Saint Xavier for VizThink Chicago titled “Handmade Ideas.” 

My original intention was to share some connections between visual thinking and cartooning, particularly focusing on Jessica Hagy’s www.thisisindexed.com, one of my favorite vizblogs.  (And by “vizblog,” I mean blogs that are primarily image-oriented.) 

I was also going to share some of my cartoons and how they help me capture ideas in my professional and personal life.

Anyway, as I began preparing the presentation, I decided that what I really wanted to share was another idea altogether, so I changed the title to “Handmade Thinking.”

In other words, I became less interested in sharing ideas already converted into images, and more interested in the process whereby effective images get produced.

If “visual thinking” is understood as a thinking process that employs images to solve problems and communicate ideas, “handmade thinking” is a sub-category of visual thinking.

Handmade thinking is primarily focused on the process of discovering images through drawing that most effectively capture and embody our ideas.

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When we sketch out ideas by hand, seeking the right image, we sometimes come upon the images that are so appropriate for the idea and occasion that they become iconic and metaphorical. 

Many of my students’ drawings of what happens when they read are good examples of iconic and metaphorical images. For example, this drawing that analogizes reading to diving.

In my teaching, I want to use handmade thinking in two ways.  First, I want to find images that communicate effectively the ideas I am trying to teach.   That’s why I’m developing a graphic vocabulary of teaching.

Second, I want to help my students learn to use drawing to better capture and embody their thinking about what they are reading, what they are writing, and what are hearing in class.  And that’s why I’ll be assigning various “visual” projects in my classes this fall, such as reading visuals.