Let Me Draw You a Picture…
At a Glance
Discipline
- Applied arts
Instructional Level
- College & CEGEP
Course
- Visual Communication I & II
Tasks in Workflow
Social Plane(s)
- Individual
- Group
- Whole Class
Type of Tasks
- Analyzing
- Creating & designing
- Revising & improving
Technical Details
Class size
- Very small (< 20)
- Small (20-49)
Time
- Single class period (< 90 mins)
Inclusivity & Accessibility
- Diversity of engagement
- Variety of representations
- Variety of action & expression
Instructional Purpose
- Consolidation & metacognition
- Preparation & knowledge activation
- Application & knowledge building
Overview
The purpose of this activity is for students to synthesize and translate knowledge through visual thinking and communication.
Under the guise of play, the exercise incorporates draft, review, revision, and presentation with the same rigor as a more formal exercise. A relaxed atmosphere allows for spontaneous peer reviews as students share their work with classmates.
Students choose a subject to diagram that they have expert knowledge of. They are free to choose any graphic media, but are restricted to an 11×17 maximum format. By eliminating the performance stress of communicating something outside their expertise and allowing them to choose their favourite drawing tools, students are naturally confident and engaged in the activity.
Hand-drawing is an essential component of the activity that incorporates kinetic problem-solving.
This is a 2-hour in-class activity in a Visual Communication course. Ideally it would take place within the first few weeks of a semester, setting the groundwork for more formal exercises to follow.
Check out the workflow below to review the activity sequence.
Instructional Objectives
- Students will be able to communicate an idea through graphic media.
Workflow & Materials
Activity Workflow
Contributor's Notes
- Students are often hesitant to incorporate sketching and drawing into their problem solving. They also place more value in polished results than their rough, preliminary explorations.
- This exercise removes much of the performance anxiety related to drawing, helping to build confidence.
- Expert knowledge is leveraged to practice analysis, synthesis, and translation of ideas through visual thinking.
- The instructor needs to have time to quickly review drafts and revisions with individual students during the exercise. Peer reviews ease the feedback burden on the instructor.
- Instructors who are not confident or practiced in visual thinking and visual communication may have the same anxieties as students, and may wish to practice themselves before undertaking a similar exercise. However, this should not be a barrier to adopting visual thinking in a course. An instructor who is open about their own challenges and limitations can help students to embrace the task. Perfectionism is the enemy of an exploratory process in this exercise.
Applied Strategies
Published: 10/04/2026
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