JAM on the WACOM site

JAM is featured on the WACOM site with an editorial... click here to check it out! Great oppertunity and funny perspective on our story. THANKS WACOM!

VIZTHINK holland - Good Vibrations!!!

Amsterdam 20th of November was the scene of the 2nd VIZTHINK holland session.
the results will be given back to the community as soon as we have converted them to a suitable format for everyone to view. The pictures of the day can be viewed on flickr at this link--> visual linking!

INFORMATION DESIGN

"In your quest for the right words thou shallt find like minded knights..."

Ok... the word combo which opened up a whole new world of visual thinkers and do-ers are INFORMATION DESIGN and what we do (as JAM) just became a little clearer by seeing what this "industry" has been doing for many years. After a very inspiring talk at an Industrial Design Alumni meeting, I even received a clue about a person who is regarded as the signmaking king. The name is GERD ARNTS and you can find some of his work on http://www.gerdarntz.org/home

VIZTHINK Holland blog online

In an effort to start up communication with other visual thinkers JAM and GriDD have joined forces to create a platform for the online exploration of visual thinking and doing. Complimented with a monthly gathering of the minds we hope to contribute to the greater visual community organized on vizthink.com. Check it out here!

The International Forum of Visual Practitioners

How do you miss this...? Visual Practicioners...Visual Do-ers...peteto...petato

I LOVE SKETCH!!!

ILoveSketch from Seok-Hyung Bae on Vimeo.

Program 25th of September

wat is innovatie - take 1

What is VIZTHINK HOLLAND doing on the 25th of september?

If you are interested in exploring the range of your visual thinking and its effects in business and personal development, please let us know by the 13th of september. You can contact us by clicking on to our site (on the right) and dropping us a line via the contact page.
Hope to see you there!
(Het evenement is overigens gewoon in het nederlands...)

Chrome by Scott McCloud

Check this very inspiring work by Scott McCloud about their new browser window.
Click here

VISUAL THINKING COMMUNITY UNITE! 25th of SEPTEMBER at the JAM offices!

Good chances happen fast! JAM has joint forces with Vistago and GRIDD to organize the first visual thinking event of the dutch chapter of VIZTHINK . The goal of the event will be to do some inventory about the dutch visal thinking community and what they are all up to and consequently start up the discussion about how to define visual thinking as a growing supporting force in developement, innovation, marketing, & strategy. As a community we can share our experiences to help visual thinking grow into its rightful place!

invitations will follow, but if you read this and are interested to join the event, just mail me on dennis [at] visueeldenken [com].

PORTAL dutch VIZTHINK...on wiki

In the effort to create a global visual thinking network JAM has joint forces with GRIDD and VISTAGO to create the Dutch chapter of VIZTHINK. The wiki can be checked out here.

LINK 2 the JAM ACADEMY

The JAM Academy is an initiative of JAM Visual Thinking. It was created to bridge the gap between talented visualizers and experienced visual thinkers.

In a one day crash course we teach 5-10 visualizers how to use their drawing skills to solve business problems. The visualizers perform a real life business cases together with the client, guided by experienced visual thinkers. During the day they work towards the optimal goal: To help the client make significant steps in their project. The resulting visuals give the client new insights, an overview of their problem and the means to communicate this effectively.

Take a look at the Academies for an impression of these events.

the 10 and a 1/2 commandments of visual thinking

Dan Roam has made an addendum to his great book "on the back of the napkin"!



Check it out on this link!
http://www.changethis.com/44.03.TenCommandments
Tanx Martien and Armand!

JAM INTERVISON - 4th of July, 2008

On Friday the 4th of July JAM organized an intervision day for some of the freelance artists who work for us on a regular basis . Every visual thinker who attended has sufficient visualization skills, which they developed in different ways coming from different backgrounds.

Morning: warming up
To get the day started we began with a simple sketch-warming-up. By letting the group speed-draw several 2D or 3D objects with a 10 second time limit and the group shouting out drawing subjects. After this quick session we followed up with a session centered around metaphors. While the number of sketches on the wall grew we could start to discuss the apparent differences and overlap in visual results… We explored the choices made and discussing the way to tackle certain abstract subjects like trust or unraveling.




Afternoon: Dutch Society
After lunch we split up into groups to visually tackle our shared visions on the subject: ‘What is society?’. The 4 groups, consisting of 2 to 4 people showed some interesting differences in their visual strategies, or how they used their visual skills to define their visions and translate those visions to presentable posters.

The first group (4 persons) used their sketching skills as a brainstorm-tool. By associating on each other’s visuals, they enriched them in order to get grip on the subject. This ‘brain-drawing’ was helpful for investigating opinions, but a shared visual translation of the subject wasn’t achieved. This was seen in their presentation: 3 different posters with a shared theme of playing cards, visualizing a social dilemma.

The second group (2 persons) made a visual which came into existence by doodling of the 2 members of the group, sometimes even in 1 drawing. This made the image grow organically… its was enriched by mutual associations and questioning. The final drawing was highly detailed and somewhat unclear, but fun to watch and supporting the story told.

The third group (3 persons) came up with a lot of ideas and directions, but because the ideas were discussed instead of visualized, it was hard to get to a shared focus. The presentation depended on the visual note-taking of the discussion and was therefore very fragmented. Nonetheless the different views were powerful, simple, illustrated and clear.

The last group (3 persons) used metaphors as a tool to search for a common point of view on the subject. Knowledge was used to ask the right questions. At first the members were drawing individually, while discussing. All the visuals made were spread out on the floor. Their design-proces was literally at their feet, making it possible to refer to it or be inspired by early ideas. At a certain moment it was fascinating to see that a group could be totally focused on 1 member, when he was able to speak and draw at the same time, where the doodles supported his talking.

By observing the groups there was an important lesson learned:
“A discussion without visualisation leads to straying, but supporting a discussion with visuals gives a natural focus.”


Remarks and questions
For JAM this was the first time we organized this workshop. We weren’t sure how to shape the day but we knew it was a good idea start sharing visions. One thing that was important was that there would be enough time for discussion and exchanging visions.

Some things which were said in the final discussion:

Asking the group about their personal experiences in this workshop the overall answer was that everyone got a feeling of solidarity. Most of the visualizers who were there are used to working alone. The value of this day was to come together to get to know more about how colleagues work and how they stay motivated to draw. This day was a good way to let yourself be inspired and actively share your personal point of view.

The attendees felt like visual pioneers and ambassadors who are at the start of the main development of a visual language. They want to create and try out new techniques and promote their value to the masses.

Challenging questions let to an interesting set of discussions.
What is it that makes a visual understandable?
Is the use of clichés a problem?
Should a visualizer be innovative all the time?
Is a visualizer allowed to repeat his/herself, which could lead to the problem of ‘image-inflation’, or should he/she always challenge his/herself.
Does a visualizer have a set of pictures in his head, a visual database, or is it all about a way of thinking? In what way is he/she a visual gateway or does the personal view have an influence on what’s been drawn? Or does a visualizer have so much experience that his/ her vision is just as important?


It was an enjoyable day and everyone went home with new insights. Enough reasons to organize another drawing day in the near future….

DAVE's W H I R L

DAVE's W H I R L

Check out Dave's Breakdown of visual language!

A new start... you are welcome at the GARAGE!

The 26th of June we will hve an open GARAGE for friends & family... Leave your mark!

The Course in Visual Thinking

It is great 2 C, That the Muppets really own all knowledge!
Check these little films out and go do some visual thinking.
Let us know where it gets dangerous 4U!

Part II of Muppet Thinking

The Muppets do VISUAL THINKING!

UV bodypainting at Dani & Wytze

After an already eventful day, I found myself on the road from a Dancing Sketching session in Utrecht to a Fluoresent Body Painting Party in Groningen. The day so far had been insightful in the sense of human behavior, but I had no idea what was ahead…except for the trusted feeling that anything Wytze & Dani are involved in will be accompanied by good vibes and great experiences. Their idea was to create a setting where all invitees could paint or be painted with Fluorescent Paints that would light up when seen under UV-Blacklight. After all the painting is done they had created an ideal arena to dance and experiment with pictures and dance moves!
The Notorious Wolf from Wolfs BodyMagic (www.bodymagic.be) gave workshops and came to go nuts on all those who were willing to be painted with his unique tribal style pimp jobs! Results…see below…

check out wytzes site:


My first try... Cloony Tattoo

Big german


Dragon Back... great to experiment with painting techniques


Let's Dance!

YUMANIX - part I

Genetics of Organization

Sometimes you come across people who resonate with your own thoughts about organization. In this case I was called in by Yumanix… a company (based in Utrecht) that is rolling out a program which it has been developing for12 years. Its main goal is to match people’s talents and companies goals so they can feed off each other and grow together towards a shared and fulfilled future. Getting into what they do exactly might be a bit much (12 years does not really compress well….), but the reason why they called JAM was to attempt to create the visual bridge between their body of thought and a tool which can be used to gradually fold out their new program. In simpler terms… they need to translate their accumulated knowledge into an understandable visual language. So…finally there is a real live request for a visual language that will serve as a cornerstone of communicating about “the genetics of an organization”… Keep checking for more!