How to make complex things simple(r)

There is no shortage of people telling us to just make it simpler or easier to understand, shorter, more relevant et cetera, et cetera.

It’s good advice but quite often the »how« is left out. How do you make things simple? Because it is easily said but hard to do!

Making things simple is really hard

Simple is actually really hard because of something called the curse of knowledge. [1,2,3]

Once you are an expert in something it is very hard for you to imagine what it was like when you knew very little about the subject. To you everything about it seems clear and logical.

You have an elaborate model in your mind which represents all the different parts and you understand how they all work together. Another thing you know is the history of how things evolved.

This knowledge is stored in your long-term memory. You can retrieve it instantly without any mental effort.

Which is the exact reason why it is so hard to imagine that others might not know and understand everything the way you do.

Your mental model looks like the interwoven structure on the right in the image below.

My mental model is probably more like the simple blob on the left.

Here’s an example: If I am not a marketing expert I might think of an online ad as just a banner with some image and some text.

A marketing expert on the other hand will think about the brand, the visual language of the image, the wording of the text and the call-to-action.

Mental models of a non-expert (left) and an expert (right).

The challenge

How do you make something simple?

The solution

Use pen and paper and try to visualize it.

Draw it. Drawing slows you down and forces you to start »somewhere«. Use this »somewhere« to add and expand your drawing.

With a couple of boxes, lines and arrows you can explain almost anything. As you draw in your mind you re-take the steps that made you an expert in the topic.

A simple drawing showing a starting point and two different paths that lead to the same outcome. It could be different marketing channels you use for a product promotion or a sign-up process on a webpage.

The drawing does not have to be self-explanatory. You give meaning to the boxes, arrows and lines through explaining what they are and why you drew them.

Visual Thinking

This approach to thinking / communicating / problem solving is often called Visual Thinking. You might have heard of Dan Roam, Sunni Brown or Dave Gray — it’s what they do. They also wrote excellent books (1,2) about it.

If you have a pen lying around on your desk, just grab it and draw the things from the image below. Think of them as the building blocks for you images. There’s almost nothing that you can’t draw with these. You just have to — well — make it simple… ;-)

The elements of the Visual Alphabet. If you can draw these you can draw anything. The visual alphabet is often credited to Dave Gray.

As an example look at this drawing of how to build a house. 1) Get all required materials. 2) Build the box, add the doors, windows and the roof. 3) Plant a tree and enjoy living in your new house. Note how we only use the elements from above.

Try it — it’s fun!

It also makes you a better thinker, communicator and problem solver.

Need to sort a mess and get clarity? Grab pen and paper and start drawing!

Want to learn more?

I am offering consulting and training for Visual Thinking and Serious Games in german and english in and around the beautiful city of Vienna, Austria.

People use Visual Thinking to develop strategies, plan presentations, effectively communicate in meetings, explain product benefits to customers and in all forms of (agile) project management and product development.

You can contact me here and find out more on my website.

Alex Staenke
The Thinking Company