“Visualize this thing that you want, see it, feel it, believe in it. Make your mental blue print, and begin to build.” – Robert Collier
Ideas are the epitome of the purely abstract – and yet, these continue to power key concepts that operate at the heart of modern civilization. A range of ideas helped formulate multiple concepts that dominate domains as varied as architecture, trade, commerce, justice, transportation, warfare, nation building, politics, philosophy, music, mathematics, engineering, etc. In modern times, the idea of using data and information to fashion better trade and commercial paradigms (and practices) helped re-ignite our engagement with the domain of the possible. This assertion is borne out by observers that note, “In the seismic shift awaiting us, referred by some as the Industrial Revolution of Data, we have to get better and more efficient at creating innovative data visualization that make the complex easy to understand.” Such observations (and other coherent arguments) compel the human species to visualize and organize ideas prior to exploring the nature, texture, contours, ramifications, and implications of contemporary ideas. In such contexts, the flowchart presents a competent (and uniquely equipped) platform that promotes the concept of visualization and subsequent analysis.
A linear (but highly visual) trajectory bears potential to create an interesting narrative when we pursue the objective to visualize and organize ideas. For instance, a commercial operator could design a stylized flowchart that spotlights the high points of profit attained over a ten-year period. Such an illustration allows the operator to explore/analyze the underlying inputs, events, and phenomenon that powered high profit in certain quarters and years. The diagram emerges as an elongated visual narration, punctuated by data and numbers that project the troughs and crests of commercial performance. Subsequently, designers can seek co-relations between events and high points of profit as a means to explain different levels of commercial performance. Each apex can be connected to enrich the narrative, while descending lines drop to the baseline and connect with underlying causes, issues, etc. We note such a representation allows us to visualize and organize ideas and draw conclusions that can drive business strategy for future quarters.
Certain forms of on-screen animation can assist in the mission to visualize and organize ideas for modern audiences. Such a stance is key to generating momentum and buy-in that boosts the reception of an idea in the minds of readers and audiences. For instance, the potential gains that accrue from a freshly re-configured value chain can emerge as animated numbers that illuminate a new business plan inside a digital flowchart. The various stages and sub-stages in the visual narrative could include a host of suppliers, vendors, dealers, retail operations, warehouses, new product development plans, reactions from customer segments, etc. We note such an approach to visualize and organize ideas must remain premised in extant business data appended to realistic projections. The flowchart essentially serves as a test bed for prototyping new instances of business strategy designed to further the commercial objectives of the sponsor organization.
Data represented in visual formats helps generate new meaning; this assertion gains additional relevance when designers and analysts extract patterns, trends, and co-relations from tranches of visual data. Flowcharts can complement such efforts by enabling analysts to visualize and organize ideas in pursuit of a singular, overarching objective. For instance, a technology evangelist could create large buckets that signify objectives inside a flowchart, each appended with multiple lines of enablers, situations, and a host of associated factors (such as market demand, consumer preferences, regulatory oversight, scope for commercialization, business benefits, pain points, resolution devices, among others). Multiple synapses, when connected intuitively across the illustration, help the emerging image to gain heft into a potential business case that could disrupt legacy paradigms. Subsequent editions of the illustration could refine the core idea and empower the evangelist to present brand new alternatives to existing systems and mechanisms. In light of the above, we could state the modern flowchart melds with data streams to generate momentum in ongoing projects to visualize and organize ideas.
Context, when denoted by size of stages inside a flowchart, can impart unique lines of meaning to any effort that seeks to visualize and organize ideas. Such a technique could potentially frame a narrative from the perspective of assessing the benefits of a new idea. For instance, a manufacturer of modern automobiles could intelligently deploy such techniques to validate decisions that will power the design of a new line of passenger cars. In such an instance, context could appear in the form of potentially lucrative price points, consumer preference for certain design elements, new engine capacity, powertrain systems, ergonomics of a vehicle, recent trends in consumer demand, development costs, the scope of battery-powered mobility in target markets, among other factors. These factors, when positioned inside a flowchart, allow said manufacturer to explore and analyze the idea of designing new cars from multiple, different perspectives. In essence, the flowchart serves as a decision-making tool that, in preliminary expressions, also helps to visualize and organize ideas.
The multiple stages of a business plan can find clear expression inside flowcharts designed to visualize and organize ideas. Nested formations that denote new ideas (or radical micro-strategies) can emerge as the defining theme inside an illustration. In line with this, major stages could include departments such as marketing, new product development, accounts, executive functions, human resources, information technology, client servicing, etc. A novel aspect emerges when designers seek to explore new ideas through sub-stages clustered in the periphery of major hubs. Each sub-stage takes shape as the location of contesting ideas that seeks to impart fresh impetus to traditional concepts of conducting business. The ensuing visualization radiates various levels of brainstorming on the part of analysts and designers. That said, the very acts of analysis, omission, and commission emerge as the defining moments that spotlight the essential pursuit to visualize and organize ideas. In addition, said illustration gains visual complexity when revisions impart greater levels of depth to various stages; in allowing this, the flowchart gains the status of an evolving blueprint that can power the future of modern enterprise.
Blocks of color, when molded into visual shapes, could help generate insights through the agency of a modern flowchart. Such a technique hinges on spatial visualization and can assist in the mission to explore new ideas. An architect, for instance, could consider a bucket list of ideas when tasked with the mandate to design a new bridge. Allotted budgets, timelines, construction materials, the choice of sheet metal, physical dimensions of the envisaged structure, the distance covered by said structure, load factors, the variety of restraints, the mapping of stress points, roof trusses, the co-ordinates of connecting to natural surfaces, etc. could represent the different elements positioned inside a flowchart. The application of color allows the architect to create fluid visual representations of the bridge and define the limits of said project. In addition, calculations – when depicted in visual form underpinned by colors – allow designers to transmit material information about the structure under construction.
The exploratory ideas, lines of knowledge, and suggestions contained in these paragraphs allow us to appreciate the value of the modern flowchart. These illustrations, when intelligently designed, empower a variety of creators to organize their thoughts and pursue new projects, test and validate new ideas, and service the most complex client requirements in a competitive world.
