The Visual Mind
Upwards of 65% of us are visual learners so we need to see ideas and concepts to understand them. Visual learners can get lost in too much text and forget information very quickly if there is no visual attached to it, but visuals must have relevance and be strong to have an impact. This is why it is so important for us all to learn to communicate, teach and externalise our ideas visually.
Thinking in pictures triggers more centres throughout our brain and makes more connections across our brain than thinking in words alone.
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"Learn how to see, realise everything connects with everything else"
Leonardo da Vinci
Thoughts and ideas need to be externalised in order to create the neural pathways necessary for innovative, imaginative minds. When we talk and think in words we generate ideas that are sequential and linear.
When we draw our ideas and think in pictures, we generate ideas that are non-sequential, place-based and connected in multiple ways. This is critical for the imagination.
Visual Capabilities Include
Seeing, Looking, Observing, Watching
Inner Vision (insight, foresight, hindsight, oversight)
Imagination (using the mind’s eye)
Externalising ideas as graphs, maps, data visualisation
Visual Mapping (connecting ideas spatially)
Visualisation (internal & external)
Presentation Skills (visual storytelling)
Innovating (seeing possibilities)
Engaging with VR, AR & 3D and other visual digital technologies
Meditation (observing the self)
Comprehension (processing what we see)
Decoding (communication)
Appreciating or making visual art and/or visual communication
Learning to see
Vision is our dominant sense – it’s how we comprehend the world around us. Visual language systems are much broader than other language models and being visually literate makes for more accurate, well rounded judgement – “a picture is worth a thousand words”. Visual skills help us see more possibilities.
Traditionally our educational system has been built on the assumption that teaching is necessary for learning to occur. Accordingly, education has been seen as a “process” of transferring information from a higher authority (the teacher) down to the student. This model however just can’t keep up with the rapid rate of change in the twenty-first century.
imagineer.me equips teachers and imagination seekers with the knowledge and skills to inspire students and explore their own creative potential. Students who are visually literate and imaginative become motivated and self-directed learners who quickly adapt to challenges and ambiguities and learn to chart their own pathways to solving complex problems.
Benefits of Visual Skills Include:
Improved capacity to develop powerful concepts and solutions (innovate)
Improves visual representation & comprehension (PowerPoint, charts, graphs, data visualisation etc.)
Enhances ability to think simplistically
Self-expression and ordering of ideas
Reaching the disengaged
Attention grabbing, helps memory retention and therefore learning
Helping participants associate images with words or concepts.
Teaches participants how to build the neural pathways required for expanded thinking
Prepares participants for innovative environments where they can thrive
Learning to see new possibilities
Ability to make new associations (re-imagine)
Better problem solving
Personal strategies for dealing with uncertainty and ambiguity
Demonstrated longer concentration span
Learning to listen to others without an intent to reply or be right
Strengthened focus
Enhanced observational skills
Improved verbal skills
