The Art of Explanation

McCloud continues: Thus, when you look at a photo or a realistic drawing of a face—you see it as a face of another. But when you enter the world of a cartoon—you see yourself. I believe this is the primary cause of our childhood fascination with cartoons. The cartoon is a vacuum into which identity and awareness are pulled…an empty shell that we in

By representing time or duration visually, we have the potential to increase understanding

Chapter 10 Simplification

This simple example highlights another important idea in this book: context matters. Our ideas may be useful, actionable, and informative, but without context, they are limited. If they exist without a foundation or connection to other ideas, they are isolated, and that isolation limits their potential.

According to Roam, you can classify any problem into six problem clusters: Who and what problems—challenges that relate to things, people, and roles How much problems—challenges that relate to measuring and counting When problems—challenges that relate to scheduling and timing

The idea is to start an explanation by creating a sense of agreement. We want the audience to feel that they agree with the statements and are confident that the explanation is heading in a direction that they can grasp.

Context and Pain

What Goes into the Packaging?

Context—Context moves the points we have agreed upon into a specific place. It gives the audience a foundation for the explanation and lets them know why it should matter to them. For instance, you could say, “More of your hard earned income is going to pay for transportation.”