Let’s work more visually

Why visual clarity is so important for engineers

Engineers are mostly focused on technology but they could reach more when they change the way of communication.

„Make things clear“, Source: www.HolgerNilsPohl.de
Visual I created to demonstrate the difference between process thinking and product thinking.

Why visual clarity is so important

Steve Jobs already knew that good design is fundamental to the success of products. A product is not always a physical element. A product can also be an idea or a process. Nils’ workshop was all about learning how to “visually formulate” products to make them easier to understand for other people.

  • FontAwesome (typical Icons are created to break down a special message/context, so they are perfect for usage)
  • Icons8 (free source for different icons)
  • Pinterest: I created my own pin-walls to collect cool ideas and visuals I found online.
  • Google: Just use the Google Picture search and type in something like “checkmark icon png”. The *png is recommended because then you mostly get icons with transparent background. Because of copyright just use that when you have something internally.
  • Tip: Holger also have a daily draw session on LinkedIn which is very cool for learning
First just learn some basic visuals like people, buildings, etc.

The power of colors

Besides visual, the use of text is another area enormously important for visual clarity: color. We, engineers, have probably never dealt with colors in our education, but here is my personal experience. It is much better to attract the attention of the audience if a consistent color scheme is used — it is not for nothing that many companies put a defined color scheme into their PowerPoint templates. Really limit yourself to a consistent color scheme. If you want to think “out of the box” or need a good tool to create color schemes, I can recommend the Adobe power wheel. Generally, valid color gauges are already preset there and you will get great combinations. Personally, I like the complementary scheme a lot.

Use defined color schemes to highlight your bullet points and headlines

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✦ Helping Visioneers to shape the digitized future and bring their ideas to life. As an engineer and entrepreneur I would like to inspire and generate sparks. ✦

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Jan Wokittel

✦ Helping Visioneers to shape the digitized future and bring their ideas to life. As an engineer and entrepreneur I would like to inspire and generate sparks. ✦