Design Thoughts -- Visualize Value Workshop

Summary

Notes from Jack Butcher's Visualize Value workshops on visual communication and the "Build Once, Sell Twice" model. The TRAIN framework for designing a content system is the most actionable takeaway. Core insight: visuals parallel good writing -- look for transformations, contrast, beginning and end.

Why Visuals Work

• Visuals parallel good writing -- look for transformations, contrast, before-and-after paradigms
• Iterate on designs (same as writing)
• Use pre-cognitive visual types (the kind of visual processing that happens before conscious thought -- like graphing)

Visualizing Techniques

• Symbols -- use a smiley face or recognizable icon to convey meaning instantly
• Comparison -- two images side by side
• Metaphor -- visual stand-in for an abstract concept
• Scale -- show relative size to make a point

TRAIN -- Design a Content System

A five-element framework for consistent visual content:

1. Typography -- Sans-serif is modern and clinical; Serif is traditional and sophisticated
2. Restraint -- "Make one decision to save 1,000 decisions." Constraints make you more creative.
3. Alignment -- Create relationships between floating elements. Rely on grids and rulers. Let things breathe.
4. Image Treatment -- Add a shape, mask the image with it, desaturate and adjust contrast/exposure, play with layer effects (Screen)
5. Negative Space -- Keep it minimal. Let graphics have room to breathe.

Build Once, Sell Twice

• Make content that points out the problem
• Make the product that is the solution
• What secrets can you show? What hidden tools or processes can you reveal?

Publishing Principles

• Publish often
• Form improves with repetition
• Iteration beats invention
• Publish consistently with templates -- look, feel, message, frequency