Books on Visual Thinking

The best way to learn visual thinking is to pick up a pen and paper and start doing it. However, the following books have opened up my perspective and helped me improve my skills.

Visual thinking basics

To get started quickly, read Dan Roam’s Back of the napkin. Dan’s teachings are easy to apply and are great for a quick reference on your shelf.

Sunni Brown’s really fun book, The Doodle Revolution, is another book I love. You should also watch her “Doodler’s, unite!” talk on TED.

If you only use one visual thinking tool, use mind mapping. Tony Buzan popularized it and although I haven’t read his Mind Mapping book yet, his techniques have influenced me from a very early age.

Finally, you‘ll need to draw objects. If you absolutely hate this, Ed Emberley’s Make a World will sweeten your progression with this beautiful book containing examples of things drawn with very basic shapes.

These will get you going and give you many simple tools you can depend on.