You may be asking what is a Reflective Visual Journal?
The answer is in the title, its a journey of your visual ideas. Every artist, no matter what your profession is has to have an RVJ. This is where your thought process starts, your general ideas, your inspiration. Without this, you will not succeed.
An RVJ is never write or wrong, it is your perception and it is personal to you and your project, so you put in what you feel is necessary.
I personally feel that the best way to work in an RVJ is to sketch/draw. This enables you to generate ideas quickly, sketch scenarios, brainstorm, see the idea visually and see it develop just by using a pencil! As you are drawing. Even if you are doing doodles as you are on the phone, you are creatively thinking, always generating thoughts. You can visualise and understand your ideas a lot more if you see them through an image rather than a block of text, its more pleasing on the eye, you can see it in front of you developing. As i said earlier, your RVJ is personal and you decide what content goes in it, you are free to explore what you wish. If you are shy or self conscience about your drawings, you can have pure confidence in your RVJ, it is your diary, your own little world that no one can say, I don't think that is appropriate. No one has the right. Drawing isn't always about using a pencil, you can use collage, work into different media types. Be open minded as explore different ways of solving situations. This is the place to do it.
People will understand what your ideas are just by looking at some sketches, obviously you will need to annotate but your sketches will be the priority.
So the moral of the story, go wild, be expressive and take risks. It will turn into its own little masterpiece.
Visual Language
The list for visual language is endless. The opportunity to explore is out there, you just have to choose to take it or not. This can be through text, different font faces, quick exciting sketches, brainstorms, basically anything you can record and put pen to paper and start generating your initial ideas. This is key.
When you are thinking visually, you use the right part of your brain, you see things visually as this enables you to communicate in a different way, in a different language!
However, it isn't just images that come into the scenario. Type is in there as well. It isn't Times New Roman type though, its a visual typeface. You can tell a lot from the choose of type face someone uses, you know what mood they are in, how they are feeling. This is the beauty of this subject, you can portray yourself in whatever way you wish. Be mischievous, break the rules. It is exciting for others to look at your work, they can interact with it, they can touch it, see it. It all becomes a lot more personal and independent.
For me, the main criteria for visual language is using a mind map. I don't just mean the topic in the middle and then words around the outside. I like to be involved in the mind map, see what they see, see where the ideas are growing, its a journey. Use of colour, type, get excited about your project. See different solutions, at the end of the day, when you are doing a mind map, you are solving a problem. It is an equation, work it out. But do it visually, you will feel better bout your work, you will be excited about your work. Have fun!!
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