Ten atoms. Any idea.

An idea that cannot be drawn with these ten pieces is not yet understood. Draw it until it can be. The drawing is for remembering; the sentence under it is for being right.

The atoms

i.Thing

A blob. One crayon, ink outline, colour past the line. Three shapes exist (a, b, c); rotate or flip them, never draw a fourth.

ii.Relation

A dotted line. Round dots, a gap of about twice the stroke, never quite straight. It means these two have to do with each other, nothing more.

iii.Direction

A relation with an open arrowhead: two strokes, never a filled triangle. It means this, then that or this causes that. The claim says which.

iv.Name

Handwriting inside the thing. One to three words, lowercase. Ink on light crayons, paper on dark ones. A thing without a name is not in the drawing.

A promise is either delivered or it is not.

v.Claim

One sentence in type, under the drawing. The only place a fact lives. If the drawing and the claim disagree, the claim is right and the drawing is redrawn.

vi.Note

Handwriting in the margin, bear-brown, tilted one to three degrees. An aside, never a fact. At most one per thing.

vii.Count

Roman numerals in type, under or beside things, only when order matters. Counting is a grown-up act; the numerals are never handwritten.

viii.Struck

A thing that was, with one red crayon line through it. Never erased: a struck thing is part of the story. The only use of red inside a drawing.

ix.Group

A dotted ring around several things. It is a relation, so it is dotted, never solid. A group can have a name; it cannot have a colour.

x.Done

The sun, top right. It means the drawing describes something that shipped, not a plan. A drawing without a sun is a promise.

The grammar

I.Five things at most. Six is two drawings. The reader should hold the whole thing in one look.
II.One claim per drawing. If you need two sentences, you have two ideas. Draw the second.
III.Colour means kind, not importance. Same crayon, same kind of thing. Nothing is highlighted; the claim tells you where to look.
IV.Solid is a thing, dotted is a relation. Never a solid line between two things; never a dotted outline on a thing.
V.Left to right, top to bottom, or round. Those are the only three ways things are laid out. Sequence, hierarchy, cycle. Anything else is a map, and we do not draw maps.
VI.Handwriting inside, type outside. Names and notes are the child’s. Claims, counts, and the mark are the grown-up’s.
VII.Every drawing is marked. The appliance goes bottom right, under the claim. A drawing without a mark was drawn by a human alone, and we will ask who.

The three layouts

Sequence · left to right

We do not start building until the client has read the list.

Hierarchy · top to bottom

Every tool on the roof belongs to exactly one offering.

Cycle · round

The invoice is sent after the check passes, never before.

How to draw an idea

I.Write the claim first, in type. One sentence. If you cannot, stop; you do not have an idea yet.
II.Underline the nouns in the claim. Those are the things. More than five, split the claim.
III.Ask which of the three layouts the verb is. Then, after, causes, belongs to: sequence or hierarchy. Repeats: cycle.
IV.Draw, name, connect. Add a note only if a grown-up would say it under their breath.
V.Sun if it shipped. Mark who held the crayon. Show it to someone who was not in the room; if they say the claim back to you, it is done.

End of the brand document

I. Charter · II. Iconography · III. Voice · IV. Components · V. Infographics. Changes need all three of us, in writing. VI. People are crayon. Pipes are pen. →