Visual Thinking: Empowering People and Organisations through Visual Collaboration

by Willemien Brand

Visual thinking and drawing are both becoming increasingly important in today's business settings. A picture really can tell a thousand words. Visualization is a crucial part of the journey for companies seeking to boost enterprise agility, break down silos and increase employee and customer engage­ment. Visualizing thought processes can help break down complex problems. It empowers teams and staff to build on one another's ideas, fosters collaboration, jump-starts co-creation and boosts innovation.

This book will help brush aside misconcepti­ons that may have prevented you using these techniques in your workplace. You don't need Van Gogh's artistic talent or Einstein's intelli­gence to harness the power of visual thinking and make your company more successful.

With the right mindset and the simple skills this book provides you the skills to develop your own signature and style and start gene­rating change by integrating visual communi­cation into your business setting.

Genres: Design, Business, Nonfiction, Self Help, Communication, Productivity, Reference

144 pages, Paperback

Published March 30, 2017

About the author

Willemien Brand has turned her passion for drawing and design into her life's work. She graduated with distinction from the prestigious Design Academy Eindhoven and enjoyed an award-winning career as an industrial designer with ATAG before setting up the successful visual communication company Buro BRAND with its labels Studio BRAND, BRAND Academy and BRAND Business. The longer she worked in design, the clearer it became to Willemien that drawing and visual thinking are powerful tools that can break down complex problems, engage employees and build bridges between businesses and their customers. Now she shares this passion with companies throughout the world as one of the leading figures in the visual communication revolution.

Reviews

[Javier Castillo Suazo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. Maybe because I understand concepts and ideas better seeing pictures and visual models. Also, as an Agile-Lean Coach, one important part of my role is facilitating thinking at the team level and also at other levels of the organization. On workshops or any kind of working session (i.e. Discovering, Problem-solving, Alignment meetings) efficiency of time invested is not enough. I believe guide and engage participants is key for collaboratively generate insights and better outcomes for effective meetings. So this book is simple and easy to understand the basics of drawing simple objects and concepts, and then you can see many examples in teams or business scenarios, so you can be inspired and create your own visual facilitation. The methods and recipes are briefly explained, so if you don't know them already, you maybe feel like is not enough to bring them to reality. Visual Thinking at the end is not about drawing, but taking advantage of the thinking process and the collaborative and immersive approach to quickly co-discover and understand a problem, align vision, co-create strategies or objectives, experiment fast and cheap to validate your hypothesis. This is the Lean Startup way, and this book was created like this. So, you don't expect the ultimate Visual Thinking book, instead, you'll have in your hands an amazing MVP product with big potential.

[Suthep · Rating 4 out of 5]

ไม่ใช่แค่หนังสือสอนวาดรูป แต่มันคือหนังสือเกี่ยวกับการจัดการองค์กร

[Peaches · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though I'm not the target audience (I'm a professor, not someone working in a cooperation), I thought this book was accessible, engaging, and visually-appealling. It takes readers through easy steps to make art, which is needed, as many adults literally freak out if they're asked to create something. It also provides rationales for why to incorporate visual thinking that are persuasive.

I do think Brand was lazy about citing her ideas and I also can't give anyone 5 stars who can't be bothered to use an Oxford comma, which both APA and MLA require now, but I liked it.

The sketches of the author and contributors at the end are fun too!

[sarah semark · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m not sure exactly what I was expecting going on, but this wasn’t exactly what I expected it to be. I’m a designer, and a great deal of what was covered here was more of an overview of concepts, workflows, and processes that I’ve been using for years (and often know in more depth!)

That said, there were useful tips I picked up along the way, and some bits & pieces that sparked ideas, even if they weren’t necessarily new to me. I suspect that this would be an excellent book for non-design types who aren’t exposed to this sort of stuff on a regular basis.

[Steven Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

While this was recommended to me by multiple peers who have to do a lot of “white-boarding,” it was skimming through the sample pages that sold me as it appeared to be a reference guide of various pictures. A sort of “how to draw for corporate non-artists.” Yes, Visual Thinking, Empowering People and Organizations Through Visual Collaboration, by Willemien Brand is more than a book—it’s a practical toolkit for anyone who wants to communicate ideas clearly and creatively. While many professionals assume that drawing is reserved for artists, Brand dismantles that myth by showing that visual thinking is a skill, not a talent. This book positions itself as both a reference guide for visual storytelling and an art class for business professionals, making it highly relevant for roles that demand clarity, persuasion, and collaboration.
Brand’s approach is grounded in the principle that visuals simplify complexity. In business contexts—strategy sessions, product roadmaps, customer journeys—words alone often fail to convey nuance. The book introduces visual building blocks: icons, connectors, frames, and metaphors. These elements form a vocabulary that anyone can learn and reuse in presentations, workshops, and brainstorming sessions. Each chapter includes real-world examples: how to sketch a process flow, map stakeholder relationships, or visualize KPIs. These examples are not abstract—they mirror scenarios you encounter in product management and CXE readiness sessions.
Like other great storytellers, Brand emphasizes narrative flow: starting with context, highlighting tension, and ending with resolution. This mirrors how we craft customer journeys or Ignite session storylines—visuals become the backbone of the story rather than decoration.
As a reusable reference, the book provides a library of simple icons (people, devices, arrows, clouds) and layout templates. For someone preparing Ignite decks or lab guides, these shortcuts save time and elevate clarity.
One of the book’s most empowering aspects is its tone: it assumes you can draw—even if you think you can’t. Brand reframes drawing as “visual note-taking,” not fine art. The book starts with basic shapes—circles, squares, triangles—and shows how these evolve into icons. This progression builds confidence quickly. Brand encourages sketching in margins, using sticky notes, and practicing during meetings. The exercises are designed for speed, not perfection. The author repeatedly reminds readers: visuals are about communication, not aesthetics. A rough sketch that conveys meaning beats a polished slide that confuses.
Finally – use pens, markers, and whiteboards—no fancy art supplies. This accessibility makes it easy to integrate visual thinking into daily workflows.
As someone who believed “I can’t draw,” this book flips that narrative. It doesn’t ask you to become an artist; it asks you to become a better communicator. For Windows 365 product planning, where complex concepts like provisioning, AI enablement, and security baselines need to land quickly, visual thinking is a superpower. Brand’s methods make it practical, repeatable, and even fun. If you want a resource that doubles as a visual storytelling manual and a confidence-building art class, Visual Thinking is it. Keep it on your desk—not your bookshelf—because, Data Storytelling, and other great books on visual storytelling, you’ll use it often.

[Radoslava Koleva · Rating 2 out of 5]

Visual thinking is a massively important part of my work life. Without it, I'd be lost. I use it to understand problems better, take decisions, communicate my ideas to others, brainstorm, gather other people's opinions, etc etc. Even a simple meeting can be made so much more productive with a quick visualisation prepared in advance, so that as the group goes through the agenda, everyone is visually digesting what's being said and agreed.

Visualisations don't require drawing expertise and don't have to be time consuming. I find myself often doing one on FigJam (or any digital whiteboard) in advance of an important meeting, and it can be as simple as a visual sketch of the agenda 5 mins before the meeting. Imagine: in one corner you have the purpose of the meeting stated in bold, together with the problem statement up for discussion. In another, a diagram / process flow with simple boxes on how things work today. Overlayed, some red flags / emojis that illustrate what's the issue at hand which provoked this meeting to happen. And as discussion unfolds, I'd typically capture whatever is being said in sticky notes, distributing them across the board & using connection arrows as appropriate, and checking in frequently with the people who said it if my visualisation makes sense to them. By the end of such a meeting you have not only a useful document for future reference, you also have a sense of a really strong shared understanding of where we stand and what needs to be done next.

Taking it to the next level, you'd choose an appropriate visual collaboration technique for the specific topic you're dealing with. Think Fishbone, Decision Tree, User Story Mapping, Customer Journey Mapping... What else comes to mind? If you have any good ones you keep going back to because of their usefulness, drop a comment.

This book gave me an opportunity to reflect on the different business situations in which visual thinking can be valuable, together with examples of specific visualisation techniques appropriate for each context. It doesn't offer any new ideas; it's more of an anthology of existing techniques and why they are valuable. The author focuses exclusively on drawing as an analog activity, and on collaboration f2f. Given the way the world has evolved last few years, for me this makes it a bit obsolete and I'd much rather focus on visual thinking for the digital & remote-working world.

If you don't use visual thinking very much and/or are inhibited to try by a fear of not being 'the creative type', this book is definitely for you. Give it a try - it's easy.

[Sandra Navarro · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a person really drawn to visuals I really enjoyed this book. What sets it apart is compiling a lot of relevant frameworks and sort of proposing involving the whole company into them by engaging in the activities trough visual representations. Loved the keep the novice attitude throughout the book. And as you might expect, the book is filed with beautiful visuals.

Who might love this book?:
* visual thinkers
* art and business lovers
* coaches and consultants whose work relates to agile frameworks, innovation and team development
* anyone curious about business frameworks
* entrepreneurs and business leaders

[Kepo Buku · Rating 4 out of 5]

Salah satu bacaan awal tahun kami, buku pegangan nih buat kamu yang pengen lebih "Visual". Bukunya bisa ngasih insight lebih gimana cara menyajikan sebuah ide secara visual. Penting buat kamu yang pengen bikin presentasi atau pitch klien di kantor.

Selengkapnya dengerin reviewnya Hertoto di sini https://kepobuku.com/?p=235

[Chonlasith Jucksriporn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book does not only provide how-to visualize the idea into drawing but also give examples of using the technique in many modern daily work activits, like creating persona, design thinking, getting feedback.

[Laura Wheeler · Rating 2 out of 5]

First part was good about drawing skills. 2nd part about using graphic skills in business contexts was of less interest to me (my fault for purchasing anyway ) but also not well explained IMHO. Examples were vague. Explanations also. I've seen the same content done much better in other books.

[hatoriz · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is good for beginner to utilize drawing and visualization for leading meeting, workshop, brainstorming, provlem solving, communication, etc. The book provides guideline from basic drawing to template which are useful to begin to use in real working life.

[Carl Lens · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super fun book. Implementing in real life is still a challenge but practicing the assignments made me very enthusiastic.

[Michael Wolcott · Rating 4 out of 5]

A spectacular demonstration of the potential to make visual thinking possible. Gave great tips and techniques that are broadly applicable.

[Nichole Carter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great visual book, had some good takeways for getting people to think about their format and style of a graphic recording.

[Daniel Hollands · Rating 4 out of 5]

Started off with practical examples on simple to follow techniques for drawing, then moves into ways you can use your new skills to improve yourself.

[Emerald Fallarme · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is full of helpful information on working as a team, for both members and followers. It also contains great ideas on how to visualize concepts and where to start.

[Bas Langenberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very nice, practical book about getting into visual story telling. Not done with this yet, will need to practice some more.

[Nadja · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice pictures, not much information

[Momo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremely nice for those who want to approach to visual thinking. Practical example and very well explained.
I also bought the second book titled Visual doing, which I'm also loving it.

[Jean-Sylvain · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cet ouvrage donne des trucs pour communiquer visuellement au sein d'une organisation ou d'une entreprise.

[Veerle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fijn! Helder! Inhoudelijk zijn de theorieën mij reeds bekend, maar het visuele aspect is wel fijn!

[Thales Lopes · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very light and good introduction to visual thinking, with some good and useful examples to apply different visuals to businesses situations.

[Hrant · Rating 4 out of 5]

( ͡• ͜ʖ ͡•)👌

[Tum Kanapon · Rating 2 out of 5]

ตั้งใจนำมาฝึกวาดรูป แต่มีแค่ไม่กี่บทเท่านั้น ส่วนใหญ่เป็นเหมือนผู้เขียนสอนทักษะธรุกิจ การนำองค์กรแบบพื้นฐาน
และ Design thinking เลยไม่ตรงความต้องการ

[Kristen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Can’t believe this is even a book. Save your time and don’t read.

[Nevena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great facilitation step by step visual guide!

[Vũ Bích Phượng · Rating 4 out of 5]

🤔

[Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very complete and interesting, especially the part about team workshops which helped me a lot professionally!

[Aurelio Guerra · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did not find any useful content.

[Karla Dee · Rating 5 out of 5]

The caveman doodle is my fav. Also working on vision statement for VKC and this book covers making up a good one so I am currently contemplating a purchase fr fr