Richard Craig-McFeely joined Scriberia's Visual Thinking Diploma hoping to become better at explaining complex ideas. What he discovered was something much bigger: a new way of thinking.
As a Business Development Lead for a global media and entertainment technology company, Richard spends much of his working life discussing concepts that can be difficult to visualise.
Whether talking about cloud infrastructure, technology platforms or business transformation, he is often faced with the same challenge: how do you make something complex feel simple, tangible and easy to understand?
Visual thinking, it turned out, provided the answer.
Discovering a new approach
Richard's introduction to Scriberia happened almost by accident.
While attending a meeting at Deloitte, he noticed a group of people in Scriberia t-shirts capturing the discussion visually in real time.
"I was fascinated," he says. "They were taking abstract conversations and turning them into something visual."
Until that point, Richard hadn't realised graphic facilitation was something people did professionally.
The experience led him to Scriberia's website and an introductory course, Using Ink to Think. The course sparked something immediately.
"It really inspired me. Not long afterwards, I signed up for the Diploma."
Drawing creates better conversations
For Richard, one of the biggest attractions of visual thinking was its ability to improve communication.
"As an individual and as a business, you can differentiate yourself by showing that you really understand a problem by drawing it."
Even a simple sketch can reveal understanding in a way that words alone often cannot.
More importantly, it invites participation.
"The customer can look at it and say: actually, that's not quite right. Give me the pen. That arrow should go here. This part should be doing something different."
Rather than becoming a finished artefact, the drawing becomes a shared workspace — a way for people to build understanding together.
"Drawing doesn't just demonstrate understanding. It creates a conversation."
Richard Craig-McFeely, Business Development Lead
A new way of thinking
Although Richard expected to learn drawing techniques, the biggest lesson from the Diploma was something less obvious.
"The Diploma has definitely taught me a new way of thinking."
While he became more confident drawing, it was the thinking behind the drawing that had the greatest impact.
"Even when I'm not drawing, I think differently now."
Visual thinking encourages people to focus on what really matters. What are the essential ideas? What can be removed? How can information be organised so that others understand it more easily?
"When I'm working on a document now, I ask myself: what do you need in this document? And perhaps more importantly, what don't you need?"
For Richard, that mindset extends far beyond drawing itself.
"I've come to realise that the way you think when you draw is a really effective way of thinking when you do anything."
Putting visual thinking into practice
The impact became apparent almost immediately.
Shortly after completing the Diploma, Richard was asked to present at a major internal conference.
The presentation itself contained no drawings. Yet the way he developed it was entirely shaped by the principles of visual thinking.
"I planned it visually and came up with a really neat way of explaining how a particular industry works."
Using techniques from the Diploma, particularly storyboarding, Richard was able to strip away unnecessary detail and build a clear, balanced narrative.
"The storyboarding exercises helped me distil my ideas and come up with a very clear way of delivering them."
Throughout the process, he found himself returning to a familiar question:
"How much can I strip away and still deliver the message I need to deliver?"
That discipline of simplification has become one of the most valuable tools he took away from the programme.
"Without doubt, the Diploma made a huge difference — and it will continue to do so."
