#unpackingthinking

[unpackingthinking]

The idea to use Visual techniques to make successful impact, is not tight-lipped secret. In a more tacit way we have encountered these tools in many forms like the vision boards, using post-its, checklists, sifting and sorting ideas, metaphors etc, without being understood as tools for visual impact or the thought to take them to a meeting or a classroom.

Visual tools also appeals to people from non artistic background looking to make an impactful presentation, or carry out it their personal practice. The biggest benefit is they keep the discussions alive. Having a room to park ideas, discussions and annotations in a classroom/boardroom makes it easier to connect back to the topic. They do trigger curiosity, playfulness and while  procrastinating help in offering of valuable inputs.

But do they generate a deeper understanding?

Yes,  and as our brain processes more visuals than text, these tools help engage with learners who are otherwise detached.

Consideration to add to these tools are - 1) These tools resolve “how” but leave the “what” from the equation. As an enabler they are a trigger of conversation, but visual thinking or making thinking visible are two different ideas, it is a more complex idea. It is more of an orchestrated - facilitated patterns of conversation developed between a student and a teacher. For these tools to guarantee development of cognitive skills the routines need practice. The facilitator then genuinely needs to engage with students by asking probing, clarifying, questions and making assessments at every step. If my goal is to create an understanding about the of battle of Palassay, then using templates like Graphic History/context mapping etc help is comprehending the otherwise complexity of the text however what follows is more critical because that will take the student beyond the mastery of facts and figures. 2) Also, at some point David Sibbet speaks about making notes visual but the ideas is to translate into personal understanding and then draw. What we might need to look out for in a classroom scenario is, whether these visual notes are just a drawing of a teachers comments or are they actually  translation of a students understanding or are they just literal word to sketch translation? Is it a mere distraction from the context? 3) At what level do these tools help the students think about thinking? What is its relationship with metacognition?  Graphics and Visuals are great enablers to develop metacognition, by making thinking visible a teacher encourages a student to step back and look at where the thought came from, analyse what the route. Hence, I call Visual Leadership tools an arsenal of templates for impact more than a visual thinking tool because it does not consider patterns, routines and facilitator of these routines out of the equation. more without being understood as tools for visual impact or the thought to take them to a meeting or a classroom.

[unpackingthinking]

Seven weeks of Human Centred Design process spent immersed in three phases of design process, Inspiration, Ideation and implementation, necessarily not in the same order, its often about  shifting gears.

The weeks were spent building deep empathy with the people you are designing for,generating tons of ideas,building tons of prototypes, sharing what you have made with the people you are designing for.

The wicked question for us was, How Might We Enable More Young People to Become Social Entrepreneurs? Hence started the process ….

Phase 1 Inspiration

Find inspiration in people, places,events, analogies, interview as many as you can, build your questions in a open ended way, manage face to face interviews  to note their expressions, ideas, what they say and don’t say, take photos of the environment, capture your learning. Define tasks clearly winning the group, usually a note-taker and a interviewer helps to get more depth from an interviews.

Phase 2 Ideation

An interesting phase where you turn learnings into opportunities of design! The process of synthesis follows ; capture learnings, organise your learnings into themes, based on your interviews build expressions of your understanding as insights,build a direct response to your insight by forming How Might We questions, eventually generate simple and crazy ideas !

Phase 3 Implementation

The time to let your idea in the market. More feedback and prototype !

[unpackingthinking]

Prototype for design project Lobby experience!!

Several empathy interviews were conducted with in-house guests and non resident guests in order to understand their needs and expectations from the lobby experience. After extensive brainstorming sessions, the final prototype of the lobby experience was developed keeping in mind the feedback received during the empathy interviews.

[unpackingthinking]

Session with the Concierge Team

As a leader people need to look up to you to take you seriously. Today’s class was an example of breaking the barrier , the biggest one that we have identified so far is "language."

Priyanka and I took the class in Hindi for the bell desk employees. Our class was all about explaining our prototype Hyatt box and reaching out to them for their support. We think they did awesome. To my surprise they were extremely supportive. Connecting with guests comes naturally to them, which is an amazing quality which most of us in the hotel probably don’t have. Their biggest strength is to recognise the guest who needs assistance!

So a quick 15 minutes brief later we shared a sheet which will have all the details of guests and their feedback. I will be monitoring it on a daily basis. We realized being a leader is easier said than done! You have to prove to your team you are willing to go an extra mile because you believe in what you do!

What is our biggest asset?

[unpackingthinking]

A SNEAK PEAK OF Design Project 4 : REDESIGNING THE DINNER EXPERIENCE AT CAFE (Hyatt Regency Delhi)

Four empathy down and it flares out more than we imagined!

[unpackingthinking]

What does it mean to merge play with visual learning?

As  an adult my mid-life crisis revolves around the inability to pen down my thoughts visually, my mind isn’t visually challenged but drawing isn’t my strength. Over the years the voice to write over draw has left me handicapped. But I see children draw without any inhibitions and I wonder when was this quality in me destroyed and moreover the question how can we preserve it in younger children. Scribbling on the walls with crayons, making a mess on mud, painting with hands on sand are a process of visual learning, in their own way children are learning to articulate their thoughts and find meanings in them, it is not vain but a masterpiece if you indulge with them in a conversation. The free play with objects and materials of art begin to create early impression of visual learnings, does this imply all have an equal opportunity to use visual skills for thinking process? because it does seem like growing up we have the inclination. But I agree, it depends on the opportunities an environment can offer. Ever walked into an art gallery with a child wondering what is going on in their minds? This excursion could leave impressions for a lifetime, either they would abhor the idea of walking into another gallery or they will love to explore more!  Engaging a child in a playful conversation about what the art means to them can build the confidence to embrace this beautiful medium of communication. They key here lies with the instructor or the guardian to facilitate a non judgmental environment, so we grow up without the fear of making visual connections. What if as adults we has a space to play with only one rule that is draw, scribble everywhere ?

[unpackingthinking]

Moving play beyond the classroom

UNICEF’s recent campaign #EatPlayLove foregrounded on the idea of play and its impact of early childhood. Apart from voicing many corelations between nutrition, play and learning and better growth, the programme talked about the responsibility of parents in developing the habit of play in early childhood. The campaign beautifully focussed on the ways a parent can play with their child to encourage curiosity, explorations and providing learning by just playing the child. It listed out various ideas of play that could be used by a parent. Also, play has many interpretations for every age group. Designing a free-play curriculum, this sounds like an oxymoron to me, because if its free play how do you design it? It is a time allowed for children to just play. If I begin to design an hour of play then what are the qualities of Play that I let go and which qualities that I retain? What does it mean to build curiosity in a child? A child is naturally curious new spaces, new objects, working of their own body all spark curiosity. For children encouraging free play means making them carry this ‘curiosity’ as a timeless quality of play and learning into the classrooms and personalities. Does being curious lose its shine in a systematic knowledge driven environment? The campaign shared the burden of the teachers or school to promote play by entering it to the homes. While we are all faced with the dilemma to use play in the right context. 

Why is there a age limit to free play putting an expiration to the curiosity of a growing adult?

[unpackingthinking]

We make the road by walking

In order to start, it should be necessary to start.

Amongst many things I am grateful about, this August I took my first step to begin giving my thoughts a home to practice. My learnings from the PPDE contact sessions were too valuable not to be shared. I wanted to experiment and get on the field. Subsequently I joined hands with a very dear friend, who set the wheel in motion to form Atisa - an NGO registered under Society’s Registration Act 1860. Our focus is to develop methods of thinking for children of government/private schools in Nawanpind, a rural village in Pathankot.

This is just a humble beginning.