No abstract

An experiment was conducted to gather empirical evidence regarding whether the use of visualization is better than text in the communication of a business strategy. A total of 76 managers saw a presentation of the strategy of the financial services branch of an international car manufacturer. The visual representation of the strategy was chosen as the independent variable, and the effects on the audience were measured. Three types of visual support were chosen as conditions: bulleted list, visual metaphor, and temporal diagram. Each subject saw one representation format only. Subjects who were exposed to a graphic representation of the strategy paid significantly more attention to, agreed more with, and better recalled the strategy than did subjects who saw a (textually identical) bulleted list version. However, no significant difference was found regarding the understanding of the strategy. Subjects who were exposed to a graphic representation of the strategy perceived the presentation and the presenter significantly more positively than did those who received the presentation through a bulleted list.

Creativity is at the heart of successful research, yet researchers are rarely taught how to manage their creative process, and modern academic life is not structured to optimize creativity. Creativity in Research provides concrete guidance on developing creativity for anyone doing or mentoring research. Based on a curriculum developed at Stanford University's Hasso Plattner Institute of Design, this book presents key abilities that underlie creative research practice through a combination of scientific literature on creative confidence, experiential exercises, and guided reflection. By focusing attention on how research happens as well as its outputs, researchers increase their ability to address research challenges and produce the outputs they care about. Simultaneously, they may also transform their emotional relationship with their work, replacing stress and a harsh inner critic with a more open and emotionally empowered attitude.

This paper sheds light on the role of visualization methods within the design thinking process. It provides a conceptual framework showing illustrative examples of visualization for each phase indicating its functions and benefits. Based on a thorough understanding of the functions and benefits of knowledge visualization in general, this paper seeks to provide a first overview of the use of visualization in design thinking informing and supporting practitioners and researcher for more conscious selections of visualization methods in their design thinking efforts.