Welcome to Learn Visual Communication, your monthly reminder that visual communication is an advantage in every profession, and a skill you can absolutely learn.

As I mentioned last month, I’m trying out a shorter format for these monthly issues.

So today, we’re focusing on one thing:
What helps when a clear idea gets tangled on the way out of your head?

Let’s get into it!

The other day, I had an idea for a visual.

In my head, it made perfect sense.

Then I opened a blank page and felt the usual tangle of thoughts weave its way in:
the point, the layout, the words, the style.

This is the messy middle. I know it well.

After years of working as a designer, I’ve learned not to fight it. Instead, I use a wonderfully ugly solution.

I call it Scrappy Sketching.

Before I try to make anything polished, I make a rough version first. It might be circles, arrows, loose shapes, or labels that only make sense to me.

The point is simple: get the idea out of my head and onto the page before it vanishes.

Once I can see it, creating the visual that explains the idea gets much easier.

And it’s not just me. Research on drawing supports this approach.

A 2024 review in Nature Reviews Psychology describes drawing as a cognitive tool: a way to make the invisible contents of the mind visible.

Drawing brings together perception, memory, motor action, and meaning-making. In other words, it gets more of your thinking system involved.

That matters because ideas are hard to improve when they only exist in your head.

A rough sketch turns the thought into something visible enough to work with. Once you can see it, you can move pieces around, simplify, and decide what matters.

There’s also relief in making the first version intentionally messy.

Once it no longer has to look good, your attention can move back to the idea.

The goal is not to prove you can draw.
The goal is to see what you mean.

Do you ever focus on making a visual look “good” before you’ve clarified the idea? I’d love to know. Just hit reply.

References

If you’re new here, I’m Eva.
I help professionals without design backgrounds develop visual fluency and build reusable systems so their expertise becomes clear, structured, and recognizable.

And yes, Figma is my go-to drawing tool.

More on that soon. 👀