Silence in design makes sense sometimes. So when I make a chart for a federal client’s report, it’s not me speaking. So most likely, I should not be seen in the design. In these instances you would not recognize my work. It’s just clean and minimalist with colors based on the project. But there are […]
Articles
Visual note taking and focusing on the Big Idea
If you’re interested in approaching your work in a more visual way, one place to start might be with visual note taking. You can start small by just pulling out a notebook and sketch out a few pictures at your next meeting (keep it to yourself, nobody else has to see). The hard part about […]
Evaluation’s four missing Ps according to Rakesh Mohan
Today we have a guest post from Director of Idaho’s Legislative Office of Performance Evaluations and all around great guy Rakesh Mohan. The post is his, I just added the cartoons. Do you know what happens when I tell someone that I’m an evaluator? I get a blank look, because people do not know what […]
Science is not as tidy as it looks
I’ve recently rediscovered Robert K. Merton. As a student I knew a little about his social roles work but I knew very little about the person. That is until I happened upon On the Shoulders of Giant: A Shandean Postscript which is equal parts history and parody. It didn’t take long before I knew that this […]
They don’t like to try new things? Time to double deliver
I work in a pretty conservative company. But even in a risk-averse climate there are lots of opportunities to do interesting creative work. The trick to taking risks in these types of environments is to come prepared with a fallback. I’ve mentioned David Kelley‘s notion of double delivering before in passing (the quote below comes from […]
The courage to move beyond bullet points
Last week I got to hang out with my friend and data visualization rockstar Stephanie Evergreen, who stopped by my company for a day of talks. Her ability to connect with academic audiences is just amazing. At one point during the day I remember turning to look into the crowd and I could just see lightbulbs […]