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“

Creativity arises out of the tension between spontaneity and limitations, the latter (like the river banks) forcing the spontaneity into the various forms which are essential to the work of art or poem.

” ~Rollo May
BooksDan Roam

The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures

Rating (3/5) Rating

Complex ideas explained and simplified through the power of visuals. That is the essence of ‘The back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures by Dan Roam.

In this book Roam takes you through various steps on how to illustrate complex ideas understandably.  Using techniques such as getting a complete picture (the overview), a string of events (the scenario) and many more to sell your idea more effecively, and get abstract thoughts out on paper in a way everyone can understand. And understanding is the first step to selling ideas.

Liked:

  • Practical: Learning a new thinking framework (visual thinking) in just a matter of hours
  • Illustrated (of course)  and putting his theory into practice by giving comprehensive illustrations of the theory
  • Dan Roam addresses specific business cases he helped solve through visual thinking

Disliked:

  • At 300 pages the book is quite lengthy – even though most pages are filled with illustrations it might make you want to skip a few paragraphs here and there because the picture already explained it, or because the paragraph feels a little redundant.
See on amazon.com »

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