Visualizing 2024

Hello, Visual Communicators! 👋

As we are tapering off our year, I cannot help but think of all the wonderful things I have in store for you in the next few months.

But first, we need to say a proper goodbye to 2024.

In this issue:

• Visual Frameworks for Looking Back on Your Year 👁️

• An Illuminating Insight 💡

• A Fun Drawing Game for Dinner Parties ✏️
  

Let’s get started!

🧘 Mindful Design

Look Back on Your Year Visually 👁️

How often do you pause to reflect on your year? Chances are, not often enough. Here’s why it’s worth trying:

• Clarity at a Glance: Condense a year’s worth of experiences into key visuals, making patterns and lessons easy to see.

• Reconnect Emotionally: Visuals spark emotions, helping you relive meaningful moments and gain new perspectives.

• Different Perspectives: Condensing a year’s worth of experiences into symbolic visuals and rearranging them can help you spot insights that might otherwise be overlooked.

Start sketching your year—it’s simpler than you think and more powerful than you imagine.

How to Begin

Here’s how:

1. Grab Your Tools: Pen and paper or a tablet.

2. List Main Events: Write down key moments from your year.

3. Add Simple Icons: Sketch a small icon or shape next to each event.

4. Include Notes (Optional): Add brief comments or insights for extra detail.

From here, we can play with different frameworks. Here are a few to try and what they might look like:

1. The Timeline: Draw a timeline of your year, marking key milestones, achievements, and memorable events. Add colors, symbols, and sketches to make it uniquely yours. For an eventful year, consider printing it as a New Year’s card to share with family, clients, or partners as a meaningful way to reflect and connect.

2. Mind Map: Start in the center and branch out to themes like career, personal growth, relationships, and fun. Add visuals or keywords to summarize your experiences in each area.

Matrix: Choose two variables to analyze—one for the X-axis and one for the Y-axis. Here are some possibilities:

• Emotional Impact: sad/happy vs. temp/perm

• Time vs. Energy Allocation: quick/time-consuming vs. draining/energizing

• Stress vs. Meaningfulness: low/high stress vs. pointless/worth it

• Personal Growth: easy/hard vs. low/high growth

• Achievement vs. Effort: low/high success vs. draining/energizing

Experiment with different combinations to capture a range of insights.

If you are drawing on paper, I recommend cutting out your icons. so you can move them around. Position your event symbols in the places where they make the most sense. It is okay to keep your visual scrappy, we are seeking insights, not beauty.

The Most Crucial Part

Reflect on what you see. Does anything surprise you? Ask your inner wisdom what lessons you can take from this. Note insights to guide your plans for next year

The Benefits of Looking Back

Reflecting visually isn’t just about reviewing the past—it’s about designing the future. By seeing what worked and what didn’t, you gain clarity on where to focus your energy. Plus, this process strengthens your visual communication skills, helping you convey emotions and insights more effectively.

So, as the year winds down, grab your favorite pens, markers, or digital tools, and start sketching out your year.

A single glance at your visual snapshot might reveal more than words ever could.

Thanks for joining me! Stay tuned for more visual communication insights, tips, and insider tricks. Until then, keep creating!

Eva 📚👁️💬