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On Day 27 of this course let’s take a look at doodling visual metaphors and abstract words. This lesson is certainly a little different. We are of course still doodling, however a lot more thought is required to bring these doodles to life. In fact, a little creative energy on your part is called for, which of course you have even if you don’t think you’re creative. ????
Doodling Metaphors and Abstract Words
Up to this point, we have spent a lot of time doodling concrete objects within our home or environment. I am of course referring to things we can readily see and describe visually. Because we can see and describe these things it makes it easy to visualize them using doodles. But what about all those words that are not visible to our senses because they don’t exist in physical form? These are what we call abstract words. Abstract means that these ideas or concepts have no physical referents.
For instance words such as love, success, freedom, or serenity. Each of these words have specific meaning, and this “meaning” probably differs from person-to-person. It might even differ for each person at different moments of their life. If that’s the case, then how do we go about representing these words in a visual way?
The challenge for us as visual thinkers is to bring these words to life using doodles. This is challenging because it seems quite difficult to represent something visually that we have never laid our eyes on. But then again, with a little imagination, anything is possible. ????
While attempting to visualize abstract words it’s helpful to think of them metaphorically. A metaphor can be described as a thing regarded as representative or symbolic of something else. For instance when I say the word “obstacle”, what comes to mind? Maybe a barrier or fence of some kind. Or maybe a hole in the ground. Or maybe a person stuck in quicksand. There is no right or wrong answer. Different visualizations will come to mind for different people.
Let’s now look at this from another perspective. If I was to ask you to give me a word the represents a “brick wall”, what would that word be? You might be thinking “obstacle”, right? It makes sense. However, you could also be thinking that a brick wall is very solid and therefore it symbolizes “strength”. Again, that makes sense and you would be right. You’re right either way, and that’s I guess the beauty of using doodles to represent words. There are just so many possibilities. However, with so many possibilities this can certainly lead to misunderstanding if we fail to use these doodles in the right context.
Below are a set of concrete words that are visible to our senses. What I would like you to do is visualize these words in your imagination as a doodle. Or if you are up for it, actually doodle them. Here are the words:
- Trophy, book, coffee cup, computer, crystal ball, dice, eyes, candle, heart, keys, magnifying glass, phone, scales, star.
Having visualized or doodled these words, now think about what abstract or concrete words these doodles could represent. Below you will find some of the answers I came up with:
- Trophy: recognition, winning, reward.
- Book: learning, reading, study, journal, smart, intelligent.
- Coffee Cup: awake, alert, morning, caffeine, work, relaxation.
- Computer: technology, electronics, email, internet, research.
- Crystal Ball: the unknown, future, fortune, prediction.
- Dice: game, luck, gamble, chance.
- Eyes: look, vision, observe, perspective.
- Candle: hope, light, illuminate.
- Heart: love, friendship, relationship, caring, nurturing.
- Keys: answer, solution, open, lock.
- Magnifying Glass: research, mystery, clue, inspect.
- Phone: communication, talking, connecting, technology.
- Scales: justice, balance, fair, equal, law.
- Star: goal, shine, bright, wish.
Did you come up with a similar list of words? I imagine that we had some similarities as well as some differences, and that’s okay. However, for the most part I think you would probably agree that the words I came up are representative of those original concrete words.
What we just went through is very important when it comes to doodling and more specifically when you get into creating IQ doodles. We can see how a simple doodle of a physical object can be used to represent an abstract word. Of course, you might at times need to modify the doodle slightly in order to put it into the right context, but that’s okay. It’s just a part of the process. For instance, in one of my examples above I wanted to represent time flying. In order to make this work, I had to doodle a clock with wings. I therefore combined wings and a clock together to represent that phrase.
The key takeaway from this therefore is that there really isn’t a word that you cannot doodle in some way. All you need to do is think about physical objects that could potentially represent that word, and then doodle that object. Or, when words are a little more complicated you will need to possibly doodle a combination of objects working in tandem to get the idea of that word across in the right way.
Your Turn
I now have a very interesting challenge for you. Below you will find a list of random and at times very strange doodles. Your task is to give each of these doodles a label. In fact, write down as many different meanings for each of these doodles as you can think of using abstract words and phrases. Remember, there are no right or wrong answers here. It’s rather about stretching your imagination to get a sense of what kind of meanings you can derive from each doodle.
Check out how other Doodler’s went about today’s task
Below you will find examples of how other doodlers of all ages have gone about today’s task. I invite you to join in and share your doodles by emailing them through to info@iqdoodle.com. It would be an absolute pleasure to post your doodles on this page to help inspire others along this journey. ????
Please click on images to enlarge.
