“When an idea is important to a person or culture it will find its way to imagery.” - Joseph Campbell
There is a popular misconception in the business world that artistic skills are required to visualize ideas.
Many people are worried that they will look foolish if they try to visually show others their ideas.
In the beginning, I too had these same fears hold me back from getting up in front of a group and mapping out my ideas.
You will soon discover that the majority of people are not going to critically judge your visual elements as long as it illustrates your points.
By simply using stick figures, lines, arrows, and simple shapes such as squares and circles, you will be able to get your ideas across to your audience.
Besides, if you did bring in an artist you would still need to explain the idea to them before they could create the visuals for the idea. So either way you should at least make a rough draft of what the visuals should look like.
If you have read Dan Roam’s book The Back of the Napkin, you might recall the story of how Southwest Airlines started with a simple drawing:
Granted this drawing would probably not win any art contests, but the simple use of lines, dots, and text definitely gets the idea across.
Usually the hardest part of all of this is getting started.
You can start out with simple things like stick figures and simple shapes.
If you are concerned with your artistic abilities, I would encourage you to practice mapping out your ideas to build up your skills. You could then show them to select friends, family, or co-workers to get feedback on how you are doing.
Practice may not make perfect, but you will improve over time and get a better feel of what you are capable of drawing.
Now get out there and start visually mapping out your ideas!