Paperclips - dreamstimefree_1178858I recently read an article in the April 2013 Fast Company magazine titled The Visual Shift.  It talked about Facebook’s $715 million acquisition of Instagram and Pinterest hitting 2.5 billion monthly page views. Writer Joe Stewart states, “The ability to instantly communicate through imagery now seems to transcend everything for businesses.” Sites like Facebook decided that images are more important than the written word.

I’ve been advocating for the power of visual imagery for over 21 years. Images activate the right cortex of the brain and can provide a message that cannot be recreated using text. The old saying that a picture is worth a thousand words is really true. When images are combined with words it creates a whole-brain experience that is more memorable.

When I first starting teaching idea mapping and mind mapping workshops there were occasionally some business folks who played down the value of including pictures in their maps. They thought it might come off as unprofessional. Guess they were wrong!

This image-filled idea map by Michael Shaw took 8 pages of text to describe. Have you made the Visual Shift? Join me for an Idea Mapping Workshop and you’ll never look back!

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