Why visual thinking works for problem solving

Our world is visual and yet throughout our mainstream primary and secondary education we are predominately taught to communicate through words and text (as I am doing here!).

Children in primary school use pictures to help decode text when they are learning to read but somewhere along the way the value of images for strengthening communication and decoding concepts seems to get lost.

The power of drawn images to decode and capture ideas and thoughts is why we use visual thinking in our work at Well Thought to reframe problems and create solutions.

Our brains think in pictures and when we organise and process information visually, we can unlock creative problem solving in a much more effective way, we communicate, and problem solve better.

Problem solving can be supercharged using visual thinking, breaking complex challenges into smaller pictures to see the problem differently which can often remove underlying, entrenched beliefs and objections. When you can see the underlying shapes and pieces of the problem often it can feel less scary or overwhelming, moving people through that feeling of being ‘stuck’ and start to identify where the blockers and opportunities may lie, new connections form and ideas are generated

Researchers estimate that about 60% of people are visual thinkers; they pick up information by seeing it and about 10% of the population are picture thinkers. Words do not stick easily for them; pictures do. Next time you’ve got a problem, try picking up a pen and drawing it!