Dan Roam and Nancy Duarte: Creative Process

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advice, communication, creative process, Dan Roam, Nancy Duarte

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What is your creative process?

Review: Dan Roam and the SQVID

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book review, currently reading, Dan Roam, design, SQVID, The Back of the Napkin, visual design

I recommend The Back of the Napkin by Dan Roam for budding visual designers.  It is a basic, building block text to help you get from Point A (death-by-PowerPoint) to Point B (truly visual visual presentation).  For those of you are just starting the path to thinking like a designer, this book will help you make that leap.  For those of you who know and practice the philosophies of Garr Reynolds and Nancy Duarte, this text isn’t a must-read.  For example, if you read this blog and feel confused by my Design Tips of the Day, definitely pick up your copy of Roam’s book to start developing those visual thinking skills.

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Of all reviews I read, I agreed with this one the most: ”Like many books, Back of the Napkin seems to have begun with a brilliant very short concept that someone (correctly) thought would sell like hotcakes if padded out into a full-length book. The author really does present significant insights, but the irony is that they would have been best summarized literally on the back of a napkin, rather than dragging them out into full book form. So it reads like a 300-slide PowerPoint presentation advocating brevity” (Source).

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One concept that I did love from Roam’s text was SQVID.  You can read about SQVID and peruse the ebook here.

Currently Reading…

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currently reading, Currently..., Dan Roam, Edward R. Tufte, The Back of the Napkin, visual design books, Visual Display of Quantitative Information

After cleaning the house from top to bottom for 3 hours, I was rewarded with a delightful present from the public library:

I’ve heard great things about Dan Roam, and, funnily enough, my friend and colleague Chiara Ojeda just purchase his Blah Blah Blah: What To Do When Words Don’t Work.  My library selection is The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures.

Since I’m on a visual design kick, I also requested Edward R. Tufte’s The Visual Display of Quantitative Information.  The book looks and feels really old-fashioned, and I am already in love with the gorgeous examples inside.  I’ve been told, however, to beware the first and to look at the second edition.  Apparently, the images and graphics inside the second edition are far superior.

You can expect reviews on both!

What great things have you been reading lately?