Exercises: Tools for organising ideas: visual thinking

Explain what visual thinking is and state two advantages of communicating a business idea with a diagram rather than a lengthy text.

Distinguish between a mind map (ideas radiating freely from a central point) and a concept map (concepts linked by connecting words), and justify which you would use for an initial brainstorming session and which for studying a textbook topic.

The figure shows a mind map for a business idea: an eco-friendly food truck. Propose the missing branch, marked with "?", and add two specific ideas that would branch off it.

The basic visual language is built with few elements: containers (rectangles, ovals), connectors (arrows, lines), simple icons and colour. Explain what each element usually communicates and give an example of its use in a diagram about a company.

Draw with words a mind map about the business idea "a churro shop with gluten-free options": state the centre, four main branches (product, customers, premises, prices) and two ideas hanging from each branch.

You can do it on paper and send a photo with your answer.

Distinguish three diagram structures — mind map, bracket outline (brace diagram) and timeline — and reason which you would use in each case: summarising the history of a company, organising the parts of a business plan and brainstorming about a new product.

Condense this paragraph into a maximum of five keywords: "SWOT analysis allows a company to know its internal situation, with its strengths and weaknesses, and the external one, with the opportunities and threats of the environment, in order to define strategies". Explain what criterion you followed to choose them.

Explain what sketchnoting (visual notes) is and give two advantages of taking notes this way in class compared to copying whole paragraphs.

You have a two-page text explaining how the franchising system works. Describe the steps to convert it into a useful visual diagram (reading, identifying key ideas, prioritising, choosing a structure, and drawing) and what type of diagram you would choose for this content.

A team documents its meetings with multi-page minutes that no one reads. Explain how visual thinking (visual notes, whiteboard diagrams, icons) can solve this problem, and what is gained and lost when summarising in this way.

A storyboard is a sequence of panels depicting how a user uses a service. Explain its purpose before launching a product and sketch, describing in words, the first three panels for an app that books electric taxis.

You can do it on paper and send a photo with your answer.

This text describes a business: "A dry cleaner's collects clothes at home, cleans them at its central facility and returns them within 48 hours; it charges per garment and offers a monthly subscription to families". Choose the diagram structure that best represents it (flowchart, mind map, matrix), justify it and describe how the diagram would look.

Sketch with words a four-panel storyboard of a customer using an online tool rental service for the first time (discovering the website, choosing and booking, collecting the tool, returning it and rating). Point out in which panel the main friction can arise and why.

You can do it on paper and send a photo with your answer.

Build, describing it, a concept map with six concepts about the market (supply, demand, price, competition, customers, product): state which linking word joins each pair of concepts and why those links turn the map into something more than a list.

A team spread across several cities uses a shared digital whiteboard in its meetings and no longer writes minutes. Analyse what is gained (everyone sees the same thing, summarising live) and what is lost (detail, written commitments), and propose two rules so that the whiteboard does not turn into chaos.

Design a "visual traffic light" for the status of a project (for example, the launch of an online shop): choose four indicators, the icon or colour of each status (green, amber, red) and explain how it helps anyone understand the progress at a glance.

A neighborhood association wants to launch a "library of things" (community rental of tools and DIY machinery) under a self-sustaining circular economy model. For the project not to depend on continuous subsidies, it must fund the maintenance and replacement of equipment through membership fees and usage charges.

1. a) Design the architecture of a systems flowchart (visual business model diagram) without long narrative text. Define the spatial layout of five critical nodes (members/users, tool inventory, maintenance and replacement fund, revenue streams from rentals/fees, and depreciation costs due to wear and tear).
2. b) Justify, using the convention of flow arrows with polarity (+ or -) and distinct line thickness, how the visual diagram demonstrates the following economic dilemma: an increase in usage intensity (turnover) boosts short-term revenue, but can accelerate technical insolvency if the feedback loop to the preventive maintenance fund is insufficient.

An electric micromobility startup presents an impeccable visual scheme at an investor round: a circular diagram illustrating a "virtuous circle" according to which a larger fleet on the streets automatically generates brand visibility, massive user attraction, and exponential profits, concluding that "the model explains itself and a good graphic replaces any cumbersome analysis."

1. a) Refute the company's claim by identifying three essential economic-financial dimensions (at least one referring to the fixed vs. variable cost structure, another to working capital, and another to the regulatory framework/municipal concessions) that are completely concealed within that visual scheme.
2. b) Design the structure of a hybrid decision-making report: justify which two key quantitative metrics must mandatorily accompany the diagram to verify the break-even point and the risk of insolvency, arguing how the visual and analytical elements should be articulated to avoid decisions based on graphical biases.

A digital platform connecting students with verified private tutors is seeking funding to scale. The main risk highlighted by investors is disintermediation: students and tutors meeting in the first class and continuing sessions off the app to avoid the 15,0 % commission fee.

1. a) Design the technical script for a four-panel storyboard (described with operational and economic precision) aimed at investors, showing how the user flow resolves this risk at each stage:

1. Panel 1: Attraction and initial value proposition (algorithmic search and verification guarantee).

2. Panel 2: Booking and secure payment gateway (escrow deposit).

3. Panel 3: Service delivery with exclusive value-added features within the app (class recording, collaborative whiteboard, and cancellation insurance).

4. Panel 4: Cycle closure, retention, and recurring monetization (reputation system, loyalty incentives, and automated settlement).

1. b) Justify why this visual sequence demonstrates that customer lifetime value (LTV) will far exceed customer acquisition cost (CAC).

The founding team of an artisanal kombucha company has developed a launch mind map with six branches: 1) Biological fermentation process and R&D; 2) Sustainable packaging and environmental values; 3) Target segment (athletes and young adults aged 18 to 30); 4) Cost structure (unit production cost: 0,90 €; recommended retail price: 2,50 €); 5) Cold chain distribution logistics; and 6) Social media content plan.

1. a) To negotiate distribution with a regional supermarket chain, you must convert this exploratory mind map into a single-page executive visual diagram. Justify which two branches should be removed because they do not provide decision-making value to the distributor and which two should be prioritized, translating them into arguments of profitability per linear meter of shelf space (retail margin) and product replenishment rate.
2. b) Evaluate, from the perspective of opportunity cost and strategic decision-making, what analytical capacity is sacrificed and what commercial alignment advantages are gained by transforming a divergent mind map into a synthesis diagram geared toward B2B sales.

The CFO of an office furniture industrial company presents a 60-slide report crammed with accounting tables and dense paragraphs to the shareholders' meeting to request a capital increase of 600.000 €. The shareholders reject the proposal due to a lack of clarity. You are commissioned to redesign the three decisive slides using visual thinking:

1. The problem: Show the trend over the last three fiscal years, where revenues dropped by 28,0 % while fixed overhead costs remained rigid. Describe how to synthesize this visually without complex numerical tables.

2. The potential market: Visually represent the pivot toward ergonomic teleworking furniture, segmenting a potential market of 4,5 M€ where two low-end operators compete against your high-durability offering.

3. The key figures: Project the break-even point (set at 15.000 units per year) and an expected margin of safety of 22,0 % starting from the second year.

Justify for each slide what superfluous data you eliminate, what specific visual resource you use (waterfall chart, positioning matrix, break-even chart), and why this redesign prevents interpretation biases in the meeting.

The conversion funnel analytics dashboard of an urban parking app provides the following monthly data:

• Step 1 (Search and geolocation of available space): 12.000 users (100,0 %).

• Step 2 (Selection of parking facility and hourly rate): 10.200 users (85,0 %).

• Step 3 (Entry of license plate and vehicle details): 9.384 users (92,0 % of the previous step).

• Step 4 (Payment gateway and booking confirmation): 2.064 completed users (a 78,0 % drop-off rate in the final step!).

1. a) Design a four-panel analytical storyboard (described textually with precision) contrasting the intended user experience with the actual friction point at checkout. Formulate two well-grounded economic/operational hypotheses (e.g., hidden fees added at the last second or friction caused by an unintegrated banking gateway) that explain customer churn.
2. b) Formulate three quantitative and user-behavior questions that the management team should ask based on the storyboard, and propose a redesign of the visual purchase flow that reduces the transaction costs perceived by the user to increase the final conversion rate.

A traditional gourmet food company plans to launch a monthly subscription box service featuring artisanal products. The management team decides to use solely the Business Model Canvas to plan the entire project, intending to evaluate both financial viability, customer unboxing experience, and the impact of potential delivery delays with it.

1. a) Refute management's decision by justifying the structural limitations of the Business Model Canvas in capturing temporal variables, customer emotions, and service touchpoints.
2. b) Design a methodological matrix where you allocate the Business Model Canvas, the Customer Journey Map, and the Storyboard with economic justification across three key phases:

1. Viability and strategic fit phase (alliances, cost structure, and recurring revenue).

2. Operational diagnosis and improvement phase (journey from order placement to unboxing and after-sales service).

3. Fundraising and investor pitch phase (agile communication of the value proposition in one minute).

Demonstrate how the insights gained in one tool inevitably feed back into the other two.

In the operations department of a logistics company, a technician refuses to apply visual tools, arguing: "I have no artistic skills and I don't know how to draw; visual thinking is superficial marketing, and only spreadsheets are useful for inventory management."

1. a) Refute this argument from the perspective of managerial efficiency and economic decision-making. Justify the difference between figurative art and business visual grammar, demonstrating how three basic abstract resources (visual hierarchy by size, causality arrows with weighted flows, and color coding or container groupings) reduce cognitive load and reaction times to contingencies compared to a 500-row data table.
2. b) Conceptually design a basic logical-visual scheme (using only standard geometric shapes and connectors) that depicts the following operational alert situation: a transport strike increases supplier lead times from 2 to 8 days, depleting the central warehouse's safety stock, triggering stockout costs, and threatening the profitability of committed orders subject to late-delivery penalties.

Unit challenge. Transform reality into entrepreneurial value. Design an innovative solution tailored to current consumption patterns.

1. Exploration with real data: Go to the INE website (ine.es) and check the Survey on ICT Equipment and Usage in Households. Extract a key data point on young people aged $16$ to $24$ (for example, the percentage who use the internet daily or who have shopped online in the last $3$ months, stating the survey year).

2. Divergent phase: Run a quick ideation session generating at least $8$ open, disruptive business ideas that seize that data point as a market opportunity. No judging or filtering yet!

3. Convergent phase: Design a $2 \times 2$ decision matrix (impact vs. technical feasibility) to evaluate your proposals and make a reasoned choice of the winning idea.

4. Prototyping with visual thinking: On a blank sheet of paper, create a visual map (sketchnote) of the chosen business model. It must clearly structure: target customer, value proposition, channels, and revenue stream, combining visual metaphors, color codes, and connectors.

Assessment criteria:

• Rigor in obtaining and citing the INE statistic.

• Clear and distinct application of the double diamond: divergence (quantity and variety) and convergence (filtering criteria).

• Mastery of visual thinking tools to synthesize and prioritize the business model.