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Back of he Napkin

"The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures" is a book by Dan Roam. Its drawing framework gives you accurate details about the six main types of drawings that correspond to his "6 Ws" framework for visual problem-solving. Here are the primary drawing types featured in the book:

The Six Visual Frameworks

Portrait Used for answering "Who/What" questions. These simple drawings help identify and represent people, objects, or concepts using basic shapes, stick figures, and recognizable symbols.

Chart Used for answering "How Much" questions. Includes bar, line, area, or pie charts to represent quantitative data and comparisons.

Map Used for answering "Where" questions. These drawings show spatial relationships, locations, and positions of elements relative to each other.

Timeline Used for answering "When" questions. Shows sequences of events over time, which might be simple (showing just a few events) or elaborate (showing many events grouped by category into parallel timelines).

Flowchart Used for answering "How" questions. These diagrams show processes, systems, and cause-and-effect relationships using connected shapes and arrows.

Multiple-Variable Plot Used for answering "Why" questions. These more complex drawings show relationships between multiple factors and help explain underlying reasons or correlations.

Key Drawing Principles

The book emphasizes that these drawings should be simple and hand-drawn, using basic shapes, lines, arrows, smiley faces, and stick figures - nothing that requires advanced artistic skills. Roam believes all other possible visual representations are derived from these six basic frameworks.

SQVID Framework

Roam also introduces the SQVID framework to help determine which style of drawing to use, considering whether the visual should be:

  • Simple vs. Elaborate
  • Qualitative vs. Quantitative
  • Vision vs. Execution
  • Individual vs. Comparison
  • Delta (change) vs. Status quo

These frameworks are integrated into what Roam calls a "Visual Thinking Codex" that guides readers through selecting the appropriate type of drawing based on the problem they're trying to solve or communicate.