Graphic Jam

Choose this exercise

Purpose: Generate and compare multiple visual metaphors for abstract business concepts.

Use it when: Use when a team needs to design icons, slides, metaphors, or shared visual language for abstract concepts like quality or trust.

Skip it when: Skip when the meeting requires concrete text decisions or when participants lack interest in visual sketching.

Group arrangement: Individual sketching with whole-group gallery posting and review.

Timing: Based on the Gamestorming source range of 30 to 60 minutes; sized to 30 minutes for three prompt cycles.

Materials and tools

• 3x5 inch index cards (2 per person)
• 3x3 inch sticky notes (pad per person, minimum 10 sheets each)
• Medium-tip dark markers (1 per person)
• Roll of painter tape (for posting index cards)
• Large clear wall or whiteboard (at least 6 feet wide)
• Digital countdown timer

Before participants arrive

1. Clear a prominent flat wall or whiteboard area.
2. Place index cards, sticky notes, and markers at every seat.

Say this to open

Concrete things like a chair or a laptop are easy to draw, but abstract words like quality or teamwork make us freeze up. We are going to build a visual bank for hard-to-draw ideas. Take one index card and write down one abstract concept that feels tough to show in a sketch. No drawings yet, just the word.

How to run it

1. Nominate abstract words 4 minutes

   Say the opening script. Give participants 2 minutes to write 1 or 2 abstract words on separate index cards, such as alignment, risk, or integrity. Collect all cards into a central pile, shuffle them, and select three distinct words for today's session. Put duplicates or direct synonyms aside.

2. Sketch visual metaphors 15 minutes

   Run three consecutive 5-minute sketch rounds. For each round, tape one chosen index card at the top of a wall column and read it aloud. Give participants 3 minutes of silent sketching to draw a simple visual metaphor on a sticky note. For example, for teamwork someone might draw interlocking gears, people rowing a boat, or overlapping circles. At the 3-minute chime, give 2 minutes for everyone to post their sticky note under that card on the wall, then start the next round.

3. Gallery walk 4 minutes

   Invite participants to stand and walk along the wall. Ask them to observe common visual patterns, literal versus symbolic approaches, and images that communicate instantly without words.

4. Facilitated debrief 7 minutes

   Gather the room facing the wall. Point to 2 or 3 distinct drawings and invite the creators to describe their visual logic. Take 3 to 4 participant observations on what made certain metaphors clearer than others, keeping each speaker to under one minute.

Debrief questions

• Which drawings communicated the idea immediately, and what visual cues made that happen?
• Which abstract word was hardest to represent, and what made it difficult?
• Where can your team use these visual shorthand sketches in everyday presentations or diagrams?

Finished output: A wall gallery of sticky-note sketches showing alternative visual metaphors for three difficult abstract concepts.

Remote

Use an online whiteboard with three columns labeled with the selected words. Participants submit words via chat or private message, the facilitator pastes three cards on the board, and participants use digital pens or upload quick photos of hand sketches onto the board during the 3-minute drawing window. Run the gallery walk by having participants scroll individually across the board.

Hybrid

Remote participants sketch on physical paper and upload a photo to a shared digital canvas, or sketch directly with digital pens. An in-person facilitator takes smartphone photos of physical wall sticky notes and pastes them into the same digital canvas so both groups view a single combined gallery.

Access and participation choices

• Participants may use simple stick figures, diagrams, geometric shapes, or write a descriptive caption if drawing is physically challenging.
• Anyone may decline to post their sketch or participate solely as an observer during the gallery walk without giving a reason.

If the session gets stuck

Participants write explanatory sentences on their sticky notes instead of drawing.

Remind the room that drawings do not need artistic polish; encourage stick figures, arrows, and simple geometric symbols over text.

Too many submitted cards feature near-identical corporate buzzwords like excellence or alignment.

Pick only one buzzword and deliberately select two contrasting abstract concepts, such as friction, trust, or urgency, to provide variety.

Terms used here

• Visual Metaphor: An image that represents an abstract idea by showing an everyday object or scene that behaves similarly, like an anchor for stability.