Squiggle birds is a quick exercise that you can use to get people stretching their visual thinking muscles. It takes about five minutes and quickly, clearly demonstrates how little effort is really required to make meaningful, easy-to-read images. The main point of the demonstration is that our minds are already pattern-making machines, and very little drawing is actually required to convey an idea. The mind will fill in the rest.
I learned this exercise from my friend Chris Glynn, a fine teacher who teaches fine things.
Love it!
Definitely worth a try next time I encounter people who don’t like to draw
Just tried this with my team. We added to the exercise a bit. We did the squiggles and birds, but then did a round where each person added accessories or other details to each bird. This created a story or character that they then described to the group. It was really surprising how creative the stories and personalities were. I think the squiggle base prompted much more interesting results than if you simply asked someone to draw a bird and tell a story about it. Very fun!
Dave,
Thanks for sharing fine birds! It’s really fun!