Mischief is bringing artistry into the boardroom

A few months ago I wrote a blog post about Mischief.  I shared with you how the infinite canvas was something really unique to the application and created a whole new way of working creatively.  I recently reconnected with the team at the Foundry in London to touch base and learn what is new.  There is a really interesting intersection between creating & thinking – bringing sketching, mindmapping, and storyboarding into the business meeting to foster creative problem solving and brainstorming.  If I think about the opportunities that an infinite canvas presents I land at this intersection of art & brainstorming.  Really, art and design methodology are starting to demonstrate an increasing importance outside of the usual creative industries.

Ideation techniques and storyboarding have been embraced by the business world.

It seems the creative tools and techniques will emerge to meet this demand as digital note-taking and sketching make a boardroom meeting more effective.  At the same time collaboration is possible in an age where team members are less and less likely to be co-located.

Businesses are recognizing the value of creative talent in the boardroom.

Across industries we are seeing that artists are valuable resources within organizations large and small.  They serve as visual facilitators & graphic recorders.  They are using their skills to sketch and capture ideas, communicate scenarios, and literally help stakeholders ‘see’ in a different way.

Tools such as Mischief provide ‘pins’ that allow a canvas to become an interactive ideas map, making it easy to index a brainstorm session or call-out important highlights from a flowchart and export them as thumbnail images to be shared.

Mike Miles, founder of Visually Speaking uses Mischief for visual facilitation. “It is the simplicity and the fact that you can pan around a piece of paper in the discovery process for ideation and illustration.” Says Mike. “The idea that people in our profession can have an infinite canvas and still go into the milky way of detail is of great benefit compositionally. The Pins give a really good way of navigating thoughts and gives me the option to journey sequentially so I can start drawing and then refer back to my original ideas whenever I need to.”

This culmination of tools, people and techniques really shows that creativity and visual thinking bridge all industries. Problem solving and thinking are universal, just like drawing is, so it isn’t a surprise that we see these intertwine as technology advances and becomes easier for everyone to access. There really are no borders on creativity. It’s Creativity Untethered in a way only great hardware and software can bring to life.

If you can’t tell I am really jazzed up by this, I want you to try this for yourself.  Our friends at Mischief are giving Surface Fans a 20% discount off of Mischief from now until July 21^st.  Use the coupon code: SURFACE here.

Markus

Surface Manager

#SurfaceArt