bikablo® posters – Interview with Martin Haussmann
Most of you are probably already familiar with the name Martin Haussmann. However, for the sake of completeness, we'll briefly explain why he has so much to say about the new bikablo® posters. 😉
Dear Martin is one of the pioneers of the field in Europe, not only the author of UZMO – Thinking with a Pen , but also the founder of bikablo® . And that brings us full circle, because he was, of course, at the forefront of developing the new Visual Dictionary and knows it inside and out. Conny Schwegler from the Swiss Neuland team interviewed him shortly before its release.
By the way: If you'd like to get to know bikablo, we recommend the new free online series from " bikablo meetup " in German and English. The next German event – Iconize it! Transforming ideas and concepts into images – takes place on March 8th. And there's also something new this year regarding poster design: The 99-minute Visual Skills Trainings are always held at 10:00 AM in German.
Dear Martin, the visual dictionary " bikablo® posters " will be released very soon. Following bikablo 1 , bikablo 2.0 , and bikablo emotions, it is the fourth book in this immensely successful series, developed in close collaboration with Neuland over the years. What is so special about this new work?
Well, Conny, the story behind it is quite special! We invited bikablo trainers and visualizers in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, the global trainer team, and our many thousands of alumni to contribute. Our goal with the book is to make it easier for people to design all kinds of posters. And that's why we asked the bikablo community: "What are your favorite poster templates? In what contexts do you use them? What methods are associated with them?" The submissions were one of the sources from which we drew the ideas for bikablo® posters . So, it's another visual dictionary from practice for practice.
This is what you can expect in the new bikablo® posters!
Does "we" mean that several people were involved in the conception and design?
You've known us for years and know that we're a community of like-minded people with very different skills. For this project, I collaborated with Stefan Böker from the core team of trainers as the image creator and illustrator, and Julie Junginger from the bikablo office as the graphic designer. And of course, I received plenty of advice and support from my managing director colleague Karina Antons and the office team in Cologne.
Tell us about the reason for creating a visual dictionary specifically for poster design!
We create training courses and products that we know people need. In this case, too, the impetus came from many people in our community. "Even with the pictograms and figures from the bikablo books, I find it difficult to draw a strong flipchart!" is a common refrain. Or: "My graphic recording poster looks so chaotic, how can I fix that?" Of course, the easiest solution is to attend one of our basic training courses or one of our advanced courses , which we also offer in collaboration with Neuland Switzerland *. But that doesn't work for everyone. Therefore, we've created a book that first summarizes our practical tips for poster design and then takes readers on a journey of discovery through the wonderful world of hand-drawn posters.
*Editor's note: Bikablo courses are also regularly offered at the Neuland Headquarters in Eichenzell.
Helpful tips for beginners and advanced users: The basics shouldn't be missing either.
Can you briefly take us along on this journey? What can we expect in “bikablo® posters”?
- Chapter 1 contains the 12 most important tips for flipchart design. From basics like "drawing a clean line" and a short calligraphy training session to the use of various color techniques, this 24-page book offers a mini visualization basics course.
- For the next chapter, we took a look at the "flipchart classics" of a typical meeting or training session, from the welcome flipchart to the evaluation poster, and designed fresh, easy-to-reproduce templates for them.
- Chapter 3 gathers the 10 best picture posters from our work (mountain, balloon, iceberg and so on) as basic templates and gives various application examples.
- Then follows a short revised interlude from our bestseller “ UZMO – Thinking with a Pen ” on the content conception of work posters and my personal favorite chapter “Method Templates”.
- The crowning glory is 10 new visual templates. Here, our idea wizard Stefan has developed familiar and unusual visual metaphors into concrete poster designs for visual storytelling and graphic recording. Have you ever staged a strategy poster at the North Pole? Or created a 360-degree feedback display from a satellite in Earth orbit?
Out of this world: The visual worlds include extraordinary templates.
That sounds really exciting, Martin. But tell me briefly: Why is the "Method Template" chapter your favorite?
It was the most time-consuming chapter of the book for me—and therefore the reason why we had to postpone publication repeatedly. The basic idea comes from our curriculum module " Visual Meeting Facilitation ": How can I quickly conjure up a mental model on a flipchart during a conversation that initiates a shift in perspective and gives the discussion a new framework? And how do I design this mental model so that it simultaneously serves as a "container" for the participants' contributions? It's an incredibly interesting approach. The methods behind it come from this training format, from our consulting work as visual process facilitators, and from our community. We also incorporated consulting classics like the Kanban board and the Business Model Generation Canvas, which we've given a fresh look.
Can you give an example?
You're probably familiar with Schulz von Thun's "Inner Team" concept. I can certainly explain it verbally to a coachee. However, it can be much more powerful if I quickly sketch it on a flip chart while explaining it and then have the coachee ask: "What situations challenge you? Which team members do you hear within you then? And how would you like to deal with that?" People often take such a poster, created through meaningful dialogue, home with them as a "change anchor." Method posters can, of course, be brought to coaching sessions, meetings, or large group conferences as templates. Or, as presented here, with a little practice, they can be spontaneously sketched on paper during a dialogue. That's why we've kept them very simple and explain the structure step by step in small, separate sketches.
Martin's favorite: an excerpt from the chapter "Method Templates"
All of this makes me very curious, and I'm looking forward to holding the first copy in my hands! One last quick question: is this only for flipcharts and pinboards?
Good question, Conny! In the initial draft, that was indeed our focus, because bikablo was a very analog company. However, the COVID-19 distancing rules also represented an important learning step for us towards virtual learning. Therefore, we specifically designed many poster templates in "bikablo posters" so that they can be easily drawn on a tablet and then used online, for example as a background for a collaboration tool like Mural or Miro. This is something we and many colleagues have almost become standard practice.