A productive afternoon...

11/16/2008 05:43 p.m. | Creative

I had another WeCycle meeting this afternoon. We recently got some feedback about needing some graphics in the business summary we have been working on. So, earlier this week everyone did some work on a big process flow diagram and theory of change and some very detailed charts, but nothing that could really be put in a two-page summary. So, this is where I was invited to come help.

I have always considered myself a professional with powerpoint, as I subscribe to a "less is more" philosophy. But, I also realize how difficult it is to create something simple. Thankfully, Office 2008 helps a bit with colors and auto-shapes. So, below is what I came up with.

It has a good look. The title is in the center, and stands out without being obtrusive. The red is for business, the blue for the community, and the green for the environment. There is a continuous flow, although it also has a start point. This isn't perfectly obvious, so I put it at the top. This will probably go into the business plan in its current state.

This might be one of the best simplifications I have done. I took something very big and shrank it down. I also did a bit of convincing the team to eliminate further detail. It can be very tough to simplify your own brilliant ideas. When you have worked on something to figure out every little detail, explaining the big picture is very hard, because you understand it very well and are more concerned with details. I have heard this called "The burden of information". By knowing too much, you have trouble explaining things to someone who knows too little. I have made this mistake before when doing things for CARPOOL like training new members or speaking with potential donors. In the movie Philadelphia, Denzel is constantly asking people to explain things as if he is a six year-old. This is a good philosophy for big ideas.

But again, I can't stress how difficult it is to make things simple. I feel like my diagram above is very simple and I am sure to some people it still looks complicated. (Feel free to let me know in the comments). But, it conveys information on a high level, and hopefully gives a stranger to the project a good idea of what we are about. I love doing stuff like this, and hopefully will be able to do more of this at work. Although, it seems the business world has some kind of desire for using 10pt font and 50 bullet points on every slide...

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