Visual Telephone

Topic: Visual Telephone

Date: November 12, 2009
Run by: Teija Springman
Notes by: Matt Adams
Attendees: Marvin Gaviola, Lyra Pitzman, Kinsey, Tim May, Matt Adams, Kerwin Carmbot, Teija Springman, Nitya Waklu

Libations: Coke Zero, Coke Classic, Drop Top Amber, Mirror Pond Pale Ale
Ingredients: Notecards, pens, whiteboards

Agenda:

4:00 - The Game of Telephone

We began VTS by drawing immediately. We all took a notecard and wrote a simple phrase of business terminology on it. Next we passed the cards to the person on the left and they were to draw a picture of the phrase. They then covered the first card with their drawing and passed them to the left again. The next person had to look at the drawing and write words describing the scene on it. Next person, drew that, next person wrote what they say. We repeated this until the original owner got their concept back. At the end, we had some pretty silly evolutions.

4:30 - Building a Visual Language

Next we recorded a bunch of common business words and terms on the whiteboard then split into two teams to create simple visual versions of the words. We presented the results tot he classroom.

5:00 - Storytelling

The two teams took opposite groups of business visuals then set upon the task of creating and drawing a fictional story that included every image from the previous exercise. Hi-jinx and hilarity ensued. The teams took turns telling their stories to the classroom.

4:50 - + / △

Getting Ideas onto Paper

Topic: Getting Ideas onto Paper

Date: November 5, 2009
Run by: Matt Adams
Notes by: Matt Adams
Attendees: Michael Pearo, Brud Giles, Debbie Zetik-Kurz, Jennie Thede, Sean Cowne, Phillip, Kord Davis, Paul Thompson, Guonan, George Champlin, Tim Pfiffner, Matt Morasky, Brooke IllaHuston, Marvin Gaviola, Lyra Pitzman, Tim May, Matt Adams, Kerwin Carmbot

Libations: Coke Zero, Rolling Rock, Miller Highlife, Mirror Pond
Ingredients: Frameworks, whiteboards, chart markers, chart paper, 3x5 notecards, Postits

Agenda:

We had a great turnout today for the return of public VTS!

4:00 - Introduction

After attendees gathered and took their seats in the Ant room, we welcomed everyone and gave a brief background to the history and culture of Visual Thinking School at XPLANE.

4:05 - 2-minute Drawing Lesson

Marvin gave a quick drawing lesson using basic shapes proving, once again, the everyone can draw.

4:10 - Icebreaker

Everyone folded a notecard in half and wrote their name on one side. On the other side, using the techniques shown by Marvin, people drew stick-figure drawings of their favorite things to do in their spare time.

4:20 - Intro to Frameworks

Matt espoused the three main categories of the XPLANE visual content frameworks as a starting point for the upcoming group activities. Also shared were examples of how the frameworks were used for real projects.

4:30 - Breakout - Group Exercises

People split into five groups of three or four members and were directed to choose a Big Book of How topic as a starting point for their visual project. The groups then split up to different corners of the studio and got to work trying to figure out how to convert the copy-based explanations into compelling visuals using the frameworks as reference.

5:20 - Regroup - Presentations

Everyone brought their newly drawn works and gathered again in the Ant room were each group took turns presenting their work.

5:45 - + / △