It turns out that most real-life law enforcement rarely use this method. There just isn't enough time or floor space for detectives to invest in a large crime board full of suspects and red twine.
But just because law enforcement doesn't use it, does not make it useless. There are two underlying principles of a "crime board" that I believe are beneficial to your brand strategy.
The first principle is a concept called network analysis that is used in various applications to analyze network connections and identify important factors. A crime board is an example of a social network analysis, analyzing the network of potential suspects with the important factor being the one who committed the crime.
Visual reasoning is the ability to recognize abstract patterns from a limited number of instances and to methodically apply those patterns to new inputs. This is the "Aha" moment that detectives have after staring at the pictures and red string seen in most media. While this is something portrayed by Hollywood, there is evidence that suggests that visual representation of data can help with brain process the information.
A great example of the creative industry's version of a "crime board" is the Stylescape from Chris Do's educational company: The Futur™. A Stylescape is a curated mood board designed to articulate a brand's look and feel.And while I believe Stylescapes are a good start, I believe we can go further with our "crime board" to get the full benefits of network analysis and visual reasoning.
1. Stylescapes - This one is a given. We use the Stylescape to see the connections in your client's look and feel. (If you are interested in stylescape, you can get the course on The Futur's website)
2. User Profiles - We use these to see the connections between the different users and the overall brand strategy.
3. Competitor Analysis - We use this to compare and contrast the competitor to the brand strategy we are developing.
4. Website Wireframes - Depending on where we are in the project, we will add wireframes to the board to see the connections between the website and all other elements.
5. Verbal Identity - As we develop taglines and other verbal identity elements, we add them to the board to see how they tie into everything else.
Hopefully, this has encouraged you to bring out the pinboards and red twine for your next client engagement. Let's not stop there, tell me what you do to help visualize data.
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