VizThink Blog

The Functions of Panels: Frames and Flow

We always expected that there would be immergence at the conference, though during planning we weren’t sure exactly how it would show up.  Sure, we thought that groups would get together, new relationships would be built, and new ideas would be formed.  We also knew that people would be open and willing to help each other.  What we didn’t realize is how far it would go.  Throughout the event, people were sharing ideas, showing samples of their work that they were struggling with, and getting feedback and advice from people throughout the event.  We recently heard a story from one of our participants that was struggling with a particular piece he had been working on.  Throughout the conference he got dozens of pieces of feedback from a wide variety of attendees.  After incorporating the changes, sales of his product increased because of the visual improvements to his tool.  While that’s certainly not one of the things we planned for, it is great to see the willingness of the community to help each other and support the growth of knowledge and experience throughout the broader community.  That’s what VizThink is about!

While walking down the hall in the Westin at that same conference, I happened by one of the rooms and noticed one of our visuals (Reasons to go to VizThink) up on the screen.  Since  none of our staff was speaking, I paused a bit more than usual to hear more.  One of our facilitators, Neil Cohn, was doing a critique of the piece and then using the principles as a launching point for his discussion on the functions of panels.  Apparently, the night before, he was a bit worried that we would be sensitive to the use of the image, and of course, I walk up randomly at exactly the time he’s doing his critique.  It’s fun when things work that way.  So, after his session, I made sure to give him both a hard time (all in fun) and an invitation to a follow-up podcast to bring the topic to the broader audience.

During this 33-minute podcast, Neil and I discuss the role that panels have in maintaining flow, directing attention, creating a story arc, and bundling text with images.  We also spend some time talking about how design intent can impact those choices.  In our case we wanted to mix both guided attention and self-discovery which created a hybrid of approaches to reach that goal.  In this video, Neil uses our piece as a launching point to talk about the elements of visual storytelling.

Take a look…

Also, be sure to check back shortly for a review of Dan Roam’s new book the Back of the Napkin and a podcast with the author.