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Image box

Image box

Use the power of images to broaden the discussion

Practice

Aim

Draw on the power of images to encourage your group to come up with lots of new ideas in a limited time frame.

This exercise is based on quickly alternating between the use of visual and verbal skills. Speed and spontaneity are key, as they enable our imagination to overtake our rational thoughts.

It’s about encouraging the broadest possible reflection on a given topic and going beyond what we already know, with the help of images.

Instructions

Time needed: 15 minutes to an hour

Materials:

A set of different images, equating to a minimum of 5 per participant (found on the internet, from magazines or catalogues, postcards, etc.)
Flip chart
Post-it notes
Something to write with

Before the session, gather together a selection of images and photographs (no words allowed!). You can download them from online image banks or cut them out of magazines or catalogues. Don’t bother searching for particularly nice photos, but prioritise collecting a wide variety.

Key steps

Set up
Prepare several areas that can each accommodate 3 to 4 people. Position a flip chart in the centre of each area with the topic written out clearly and briefly (prepare this in advance). Finally, spread twenty or so images face down around the flip chart, along with Post-it notes and something to write with.

Example topics:

improving the reputation of a tool amongst its target audience
refreshing the annual network seminar
creating a new product, etc.

Ask the participants to split into sub-groups of 3 or 4 people in the designated areas.
Give them a few minutes to work on the following instruction individually in silence: “Turn over an image and take note of all the related ideas that spring to mind. When you’re out of ideas, go to the next image and so on until the time is up.” During this phase, each participant keeps their Post-it notes to themselves.

For example, if the topic is “Improving the reputation of a tool amongst its target audience” and you turn over an image of a lemon, several ideas may spring to mind, such as: revitalise the project, inject some “freshness”, “if life gives you lemons, make lemonade”. And those are your 3 Post-it notes.
On to the next image!

Sharing of ideas within each sub-group
Invite the participants of each sub-group to come together and organise their ideas into groups, sticking similar ideas in clusters on the flip chart around the central subject
To help them, you could suggest that they take it in turns to present a Post-it note and if another member of the group has had a similar idea, these ideas are grouped together. Once there are no more similar ideas, they can then move onto a new one.

The participants must then give each group of ideas a title. Depending on how much time you have, you could also suggest they choose one image to illustrate each group of ideas.

Sharing of ideas with the whole group
Bring all the sub-groups together and ask each of them to share their titles (and images if applicable).
Lessons learnt
Ask the participants about how they view the topic now they’ve completed the task. For example:

How do you see the topic now?
What challenges emerged?
What concrete ideas emerged?
What might the next steps be moving forward?

Tips and advice

One image can evoke several ideas, but 1 idea = 1 post-it.
There’s no such thing as a bad idea: it’s simply about making links between each image and the topic.
The aim of this method is not to provoke a specific type of response. As facilitator, you can reassure the group that they are free to let their ideas flow without censorship.
Depending on the desired outcome, you may decide to ask the group to rank the ideas after the exercise.

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