Enhancing Your Visual Storytelling With Systems Maps and Tools
Complied by Linh Bui
This article is derived from the Workshop Visual Storytelling | March 9, 2023 (youtube.com) with Amy Rintoul (information designer)
Whether you're mapping user journeys, visualizing stakeholder relationships, or unraveling systemic complexities, the art of mapmaking offers endless possibilities for exploration, discovery, and storytelling in diverse fields and disciplines. From journey maps to stakeholder maps, each type offers unique insights into various aspects of a narrative, whether it's understanding user experiences, depicting actor relationships, or visualizing systemic structures.
In this guide, we'll delve into different types of maps, their definitions, considerations for their creation, and additional resources for enhancing visual storytelling.
Different Types of Maps
1. Journey Maps
Journey maps are immersive narratives that depict the step-by-step experiences of users as they interact with a system or process. These maps are invaluable for understanding user behaviours, pain points, and touchpoints throughout their journey. Typically, journey maps consist of stages or phases through which users progress, along with corresponding interactions and emotions at each stage.
Purpose: By focusing on real-life experiences, journey maps offer a qualitative perspective, enabling a deeper understanding of user interactions and uncovering potential system flaws.
Application: Use journey maps to showcase scenarios such as a patient navigating a healthcare system, emphasizing user-centric design and identifying opportunities for system improvements.
Considerations for creating journey maps:
Identifying key user personas and their goals.
Mapping out touchpoints and interactions across different channels.
Highlighting pain points and opportunities for improvement.
Incorporating qualitative data and user feedback for authenticity.
2. Actor and Stakeholder Maps
Actor and stakeholder maps provide an overview of the key actors, organizations, and entities involved in a system or ecosystem. These maps visualize the relationships, connections, and dependencies between various stakeholders, offering insights into power dynamics and resource flows.
Image source: The Stakeholder Map for the Traffic Citation System, Suzan Last (2019)
Image source: from Workshop How to Research Systems | February 9, 2024 - YouTube
Purpose: These maps enhance understanding by delineating hierarchies, dependencies, and communication pathways among actors and stakeholders, facilitating effective decision-making.
Application: Use the stakeholders and actors maps to Maintain visual clarity by using colours to differentiate between actors, establishing a clear hierarchy, and ensuring that text is legible and appropriately sized to enhance readability
Considerations for creating actor and stakeholder maps include:
Identifying primary actors, secondary actors, and supporting entities.
Mapping out relationships, interactions, and communication channels.
Highlighting dependencies, influences, and potential conflicts.
Utilizing colour coding and visual cues for clarity and comprehension.
3. Iceberg Model
The iceberg model is a metaphorical representation of systems, where only the tip of the iceberg is visible above the surface, while the bulk of the structure lies beneath. This model helps uncover underlying causes, patterns, and structures that influence visible events or outcomes.
Image source: Accessing Canada: A Scan of Issues, Trends, System Dynamics and Innovations in Accessibility, Institute for Community Prosperity (2024)
Purpose: The map provokes you to consider the underlying patterns, structures, and mental models to explore the root causes of social issues.
Application: Use the iceberg model while conducting secondary research to guide you through the exploration of underlying factors and systemic dynamics. By focusing not only on the visible events or outcomes but also delving deeper into the submerged layers of policies, practices, power structures, and ingrained mental models, the iceberg model helps uncover the root causes and systemic complexities influencing the observed phenomena.
Considerations for using the iceberg model include:
Identifying visible events or symptoms (tip of the iceberg).
Exploring underlying causes, patterns, and systemic factors.
Examining policies, practices, power dynamics, and mental models.
Recognizing the interconnectedness of various system layers.
4. Casual Loop Diagrams/ Feedback Loop Diagrams
Causal loop diagrams visualize the feedback loops and causal relationships within a system, highlighting both positive and negative feedback mechanisms. These diagrams help elucidate the dynamics, trends, and behaviors that emerge from interactions between system elements.
Image source: Affordable Rental Housing Crisis in Toronto (2020) by Map the System Canadian Finalist Ryerson University
Considerations for creating causal loop diagrams include:
Identifying feedback loops, reinforcing loops, and balancing loops.
Mapping out causal relationships and dependencies.
Understanding the implications of feedback mechanisms on system behaviour.
Incorporating feedback loops into other types of maps for comprehensive analysis.
5. Timeline or Chronological Maps
Timeline maps provide a chronological overview of events, milestones, and changes over time within a system or context. These maps help trace the evolution, progression, and historical context of a narrative, facilitating a deeper understanding of temporal dynamics.
Image source: Opioid Crisis in Canada by Canadian Finalist 2018 Mount Royal University
Purpose: While not traditional system maps, timeline maps serve as valuable storytelling tools, providing context on the progression of a system and highlighting changes that impact stakeholders.
Application: Utilize visual elements and colour coding to represent stakeholders or actors within the timeline, creating a cohesive narrative that showcases the system's evolution.
Considerations for creating timeline maps include:
Identifying significant events, milestones, and temporal markers.
Visualizing changes, trends, and shifts over time.
Incorporating actors, stakeholders, and system elements within the timeline.
Utilizing colour coding, annotations, and visual cues for clarity.
Infographics vs. Systems Maps
Image source: (from the left to right) Except Integrated Sustainability; Wildfire Crisis in BC by Canadian Finalist 2019 Simon Fraser University
| Infographics | System Maps | |
|---|---|---|
| Definition |
Infographics are visual representations of data or information, designed to be easily comprehensible and visually engaging. | System maps illustrate the relationships and connections between different components of a system or issue, depicting how various elements interact and influence each other. |
| Purpose | Infographics enable the audience to understand complex information quickly by presenting facts, statistics, and concepts in a visually appealing format. | System maps provide a holistic view of a system by showcasing actors, relationships, flows of resources, and impacts at different levels (local, regional, global). |
| Characteristics |
Infographics often focus on presenting facts, numbers, and key details in a concise and aesthetically pleasing manner.
|
System maps incorporate layers of information, highlight interdependencies, and emphasize the interconnected nature of a system. |
| Usage | Ideal for breaking up text, adding visual interest to written content, and emphasizing important statistics or information. | Essential for visualizing complex systems, understanding systemic relationships, and mapping out the dynamics and interplay within a system. |
Key Differences:
Focus: While infographics primarily present data and key information in a visually appealing manner, system maps emphasize relationships, connections, and interdependencies within a system.
Content Depth: Infographics typically offer surface-level information, focusing on visualizing facts and statistics, whereas system maps delve deeper into the structure, dynamics, and interactions within a system.
Purpose: Infographics are ideal for quick information consumption and visual communication, while system maps offer a more comprehensive and holistic view of complex systems and issues.
Infographics and system maps serve unique purposes in visual storytelling, with infographics highlighting key information in a visually engaging format and system maps providing in-depth insights into system dynamics and relationships.
Resources for Visual Storytelling
Several tools and resources can enhance visual storytelling and map creation:
1.Mapping Platforms
Platforms like Kumu, Canva, and Illustrator offer robust features for creating interactive maps, diagrams, and visualizations.
Kumu: Kumu is a free system mapping tool recommended on the Map the System Canada website. It provides students with free access and offers a range of features and resources, including tutorials. Kumu is a great platform to start your system map and collaborate with others.
Canva: Canva is a popular tool known for its intuitive interface and design capabilities. While it is not specifically designed for system mapping, its versatility and wide array of design elements make it suitable for creating system maps. Canva is free to use and offers endless possibilities for creating visually appealing maps.
Lucid: Lucid is another powerful system mapping tool that can be utilized for visual storytelling purposes. Lucid provides a range of diagramming and visualization capabilities, making it suitable for creating system maps with its drag-and-drop interface and collaborative features. It has great benefits for students so make sure to use your student accounts when signing up.
Adobe Illustrator: If you or someone on your team is familiar with Illustrator, it can be a powerful tool for system mapping. However, it has a steep learning curve compared to other options. Illustrator offers extensive design capabilities and allows for more precise and complex system mapping. If you have access to Illustrator, it can be a great option.
2. Infographic tools
Tools like Piktochart, Venngage, and Infogram enable the creation of visually engaging infographics to complement maps and diagrams.
Piktochart: Piktochart is a user-friendly infographic tool that allows users to create visually appealing graphics and presentations with customizable templates and easy-to-use design features.
Venngage: Venngage is a versatile design platform specializing in infographics, reports, and visual content creation, offering a wide range of templates, charts, and icons to convey complex information effectively.
Infogram: Infogram is a powerful data visualization tool that enables users to create interactive charts, maps, and infographics to visualize data and engage audiences with compelling storytelling. It has a free plan that allows you to get started and create up to 10 reports.
3. Design Principles
Familiarity with design principles such as color theory, typography, hierarchy, and iconography can elevate the visual appeal and effectiveness of maps and diagrams.
Colour Utilization: Employ a consistent colour palette throughout your visual storytelling project to create visual coherence and convey meaning. Use platforms like Coolers https://coolors.co/ for colour selection and ensure colour choices enhance clarity and visual hierarchy.
Typography Tip: Prioritize legibility by selecting appropriate font sizes, and avoiding text that is too small or overwhelming. Establish text hierarchy through varying font sizes to guide viewers' focus and emphasize essential information.
Image source: Typographic Hierarchy in Graphic Design, Yaroslav Iakovlev - Zekagraphic
Iconography: Icons are a great way to enhance the visual appeal and effectiveness of maps and diagrams. Icons serve as visual cues to represent specific elements, actions, or concepts within a map, making it easier for viewers to interpret and understand the information presented. It helps break up text-heavy content and make maps more visually engaging and comprehensible. Use online resources like The Noun Project https://thenounproject.com/ for accessing a wide range of icons suitable for different contexts. thenounproject.ca
Creativity and Consistency: Infuse creativity into your visual storytelling while maintaining consistency in design elements, such as colour schemes, typography, and visual cues. Strive for a balance between innovation and coherence to create impactful visual narratives.
Conclusion
Different types of maps and tools serve as indispensable tools for visual storytelling, enabling researchers, educators, and practitioners to communicate complex concepts, analyze systems, and engage audiences effectively. By understanding the definitions, considerations, and resources associated with each type of map, storytellers can craft compelling narratives that resonate with their audience and drive meaningful change.
By incorporating these strategies into your projects, you can elevate the impact of your visual narratives and engage your audience on a deeper level. If you have any questions or need further guidance on visual storytelling techniques, feel free to reach out.
Happy storytelling!
