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Services
Strategic Illustrations
I do comic style illustrations with a pedagogical twist and mindmap-like “thingies”, one-pagers. The illustrations that I do are used e.g. in marketing, presentations, publications and in strategic communication. They are used when things need to be explained in a simple way.
A hand-drawn infographic carries a powerful message
My illustrations make people stop and take a closer look at them. That’s why my illustrations have been used as huge prints or wallpapers on office walls and team locker rooms. Others have used them as welcoming presentations at their office spaces. A good strategy illustration also gets a lot of likes and attention on social media.
Strategy illustration is what I get commissioned for most often, and the reason is simple: a well-crafted one-pager makes a corporate strategy understandable at a glance. No lengthy slide decks, no long documents. One image captures the direction, goals and means so that every member of the organisation knows what it’s all about.
Getting the most out of strategy visualization
Over the past ten years, I have visualized the strategies of almost 200 Finnish and Nordic companies by hand. So I’ve seen the strategy materials of many companies, large and small (in confidence, of course!), as well as their earlier strategy visualizations. Here are a few tips for getting the most out of an illustrated strategy:
- Bring in the illustrator at the right stage of the strategy process. If your strategic thinking is still unclear, an illustrator can help clear the mental fog right from the start.
- An illustrator helps you tackle corporate jargon and worn-out clichés. Besides drawing and condensing, I’m also a pro at boiling down the texts in the visualization into plain, human language.
- A broader illustration package makes your whole strategy presentation look consistent. I usually include separate illustration elements taken from the big picture in the same package. These can be used in many ways in strategy communication.
- One big strategy picture can be a lot to take in. As a former teacher, the pedagogue in me has concluded that it’s worth breaking the picture down. That’s why my strategy packages include a PowerPoint presentation that builds up the big picture logically, one click and one piece at a time.
- If you’re in a hurry, live graphic recording of the strategy can sometimes be the best option. It gives participants a wow experience as well as support for remembering, understanding and learning. The illustration is ready to use right after the event, and if it needs a little polishing afterwards, that can be done at an hourly rate.
Illustrations on commission
In addition to strategy visualizations, I also do other illustrations on commission. In addition to strategy illustrations, the most popular are one-page process illustrations or various humorous illustrations to support important messages. How many images are needed and how extensive are the illustrations? And what kind of a schedule do you have in mind?
I’ve visualized nearly 200 company strategies. (Yes. That many.) I’ve noticed that there are usually a couple of reasons for a visual strategy:
- people want to talk about their company strategy in a lighter way than using a traditional Powerpoint presentation
- people want to make their company strategy easier to understand with the help of visual metaphors
- people want their core message to be told the same way even though the company is global and there are many people telling about the strategy
Strategy is often described as a journey. And then things happen during the journey. What kind of a story does your strategy tell? To my mind, it’s important to avoid both corporate jargong in the illustration and also the most used visual metaphors (lighthouse, do you see a lighthouse?). Do you agree?
There’s a place for a sketchnoter in many phases of the strategy process. You might need someone to grasp the main ideas in the beginning of your strategy journey or perhaps you need someone to lighten up things during strategy workshops. You might want to use a real-time graphic recorder in these kind of situations.
If I on the other hand work on your stategy on demand and remotely, I need some material to dig in. The end result is often a strategy one-pager that tells all the essential about your goals, vision and mission. This is the most popular form of strategy visualization that I create.
This is how it goes:
- The customer send in the material. It’s quite often a Powerpoint presentation (with a lot of bullet-dot lists) and there’s a wish that I could turn it into a one-pager. You may also send in a short video or we can have a Teams/Zoom session as a starting point. Anything goes.
- After you’ve sent the material, we can have a Teams/Zoom meeting if needed. If your material is clear and compact, we might not even need a meeting.
- And then I draw. (I also try to keep up with timetables that we set. Sometimes I succeed.)
- First version is out within 2-3 weeks.
- The customer comments on the first version either via e-mail or we can have another Teams/Zoom session.
- Let’s finalize the project.
The price includes a reasonable number of comment rounds. The final images are delivered as png images and pdf files. I also create an animated Powerpoint presentation of the one-pager. That way it’s easier to tell about your strategy.
And what does all this fun and laughter cost? A price for a corporate strategy one-pager (no traveling required) starts from 3700 e + VAT. Please contact Linda for more info, will you? For an offer request it’s advisable to think about e.g. the timetable and language versions needed.
A strategy only creates value once the picture is put to use. The best strategy picture doesn’t get buried in the intranet or a management team folder. It makes its way into info sessions, onboarding, social media, recruitment and onto the break room wall. The more often employees see the picture, the better the message comes alive in everyday work.
My illustrations have been turned into wallpaper for shared spaces. Strategy pictures have been printed on large panels, creating an 8-metre-wide wall image as a reminder of the goals. One illustration was even turned into a layer cake, so the strategy was literally served to the staff! My pictures have become office wall decals and laptop stickers. Coffee mug prints, info screen videos and mandatory screensavers… you name it. And in one organization, the colours and patterns of the strategy illustration even made it into the winning entry of the staff’s knitted sock competition!
The strategy lives, and so does the picture
When the strategy is refined or priorities shift (or the world goes off the rails yet again), there’s no need to redo the picture from scratch. Because I draw digitally, I can update the existing illustration: change texts, add new elements or remove outdated ones. Small updates are done at an hourly rate, and the process is much lighter than creating a new illustration.
Some examples of strategy visualizations
