Definition

Visualization is a critical component of design thinking and innovation. It is a collaborative process, and teams will typically work together to create and refine their visualizations. By making ideas more tangible and easier to understand, visualization can help to promote collaboration and creativity and can ultimately lead to more effective and innovative solutions. It involves creating visual representations of ideas and concepts to help teams better understand and communicate their thoughts. Visualization is a collaborative process, and teams will typically work together to create and refine their visualizations.

Following the Process

The process of visualization typically involves several steps. The first step is to identify the problem or opportunity that the team is trying to address. This could be anything from developing a new product or service to improving an existing process. Once the problem has been identified, the team will typically engage in a process of ideation, where they generate a wide range of ideas and potential solutions. Visualization can help to make these ideas more tangible and easier to understand.

Types of Visualisations

Sketching

One common technique used in visualization is sketching. This involves creating quick, rough sketches of ideas and concepts to help teams visualize their ideas. Sketching is a fast and flexible way to explore different possibilities and can help to identify new and unexpected directions for the project.

Prototyping

Another visualization technique is prototyping. This involves creating physical or digital representations of ideas to test and refine them. Prototyping can help to identify potential challenges and opportunities, and can also be used to get feedback from users and stakeholders. 

Bar Charts

Used to compare quantities across different categories. Each bar represents a category, and the length of the bar corresponds to the value.

Histograms

Similar to bar charts but used for showing the distribution of numerical data. Each bar represents a range of values.

Tree Maps

Display hierarchical data using nested rectangles. The size and color of each rectangle represent different dimensions of the data.

Gantt Charts

Used for project management. They show the start and end dates of different tasks within a project.