A Brief History of Visual Thinking

... the first in a short series.

Caveat - I am not a historian, and what follows is neither definitive, nor complete. It is a short introduction to something I call ‘Structured Thought', a method I use in my advisory roles to organisations of all shapes and sizes across the globe, In this article I will introduce you to people that have been part of my journey to get me here. (Don’t we all build on the shoulders of giants?)

Other pieces will follow and on the journey I will reveal why structured thought exists, why it is different to other similarly named concepts and how it can help you prepare your business for the future.

---

A Brief History of T... THINKING❗️... Visual Thinking

The term ‘Visual Thinking’ was coined in the late 60s by Rudolph Arnheim in a book called (coincidentally) ‘Visual Thinking’. In the early 70s, two architects, David Straus and Michael Doyle developed visual documentation techniques to facilitate strategy and visioning sessions. Over time other early pioneers emerged with figures like David Sibbet through organisations like The Grove and Matt and Gail Taylor’s MG Taylor Corporation (an organisation I was tangential involved with back in the days of my first startup). At the time (the dawn of the internet), we were exploring ‘virtual collaboration’ even as Matt and Gail were working with Ernst and Young thinking carefully about physical collaboration (as part of a much larger picture.) This is an interesting piece if you wish to explore more.

If you were to stop a random passerby and ask if they’ve heard of ‘Visual Thinking’ chances are they would picture one of those graphic notetakers—cartoonists, who, for a time, seemed to populate every corporate hallway. Remember those days when no meeting felt complete without someone visually summarising the discussion in real time?

It Got Worse

Who could forget the infographic craze of the mid-2000s?

By the early 2010s, it felt like nothing could be published without a colourful chart or diagram. Yet, by the end of the decade, infographics seemed to vanish as quickly as they had appeared.

Why the decline? Perhaps it’s because the tools to create them became widely accessible, landing in the hands of individuals who lacked the structured thinking needed to craft clear, meaningful visuals. The result? A flood of poorly designed graphics that muddied messages rather than clarified them.

Yet, visual thinking itself has endured—quietly shaping the way leaders and teams communicate complex ideas. Through diagrams, sketches, and models, it has proven to be a powerful tool for making thinking visible—arguably transforming business problem-solving more profoundly than many other disciplines. And yet, despite its undeniable impact, visual thinking often falls short of its full potential.

Because Solving Today’s Business Problems Is Hard

.. in fact don’t be fooled. It always has been. It’s just that today it’s even harder.

Visual Thinkers have chased the holy grail of making problem solving easier for decades which in turn led to a number of books explaining how it's done. Dan Roam’s ‘Back of The Napkin’ is one of the more famous - a book that introduced the layman to what was possible.

The thread of consistency throughout all of this thinking is that;

• Ideas are represented visually

• The visuals can indeed should connect and tell stories

BUT

• Could someone tell the story of the meeting with only the visual reference?

• How are the actions extrapolated and monitored?

The Biggest Challenges of Visual Thinking

Photo By

In short ... without structure, visual thinking remains a creative exercise rather than a business advantage.

---

That's it for now. More to come.