School rewarded us for finding the expected answer.

Creativity rewards us for finding the unexpected connection.

Think about a math exam.

Everyone is trying to arrive at the same answer.

Now think about creating an illustration.

Or writing a story.

Or designing a workshop.

Or explaining a complex idea.

Suddenly, the most interesting solution is often the one nobody else thought about.

It's about connecting things that don't usually belong together.

The more unexpected the connection...

The more memorable the idea.

School didn't teach me this:

Sometimes the best answer is the one nobody expected.

What's the most unexpected connection you've ever made?
Thank you

Dario Paniagua
Visual Thinkers Coach

One of the biggest creativity killers is not fear.

It's predictability.

Most people don't struggle because they have no ideas.

They struggle because they keep generating the same kind of ideas.

The safe ideas.

The familiar ideas.

The ideas that make sense immediately.

The problem?

Everyone else is doing exactly the same thing.

When I create visual metaphors, I often ask myself:

"What would be the most predictable solution?"

Then I deliberately move away from it.

Not because predictable ideas are wrong.

But because they are usually crowded.

School taught me to stay close to the expected answer.

Creativity rewards people who are willing to leave it behind.

School didn't teach me this:

Predictability feels comfortable.

Originality rarely does.

What's the most overused visual metaphor in your industry?

Thank you

Dario Paniagua
Visual Thinkers Coach

One thing school accidentally teaches us is that absurd ideas are bad ideas.

When you're a child, that's not how you think.

A fish can fly.

A tree can grow upside down.

A cloud can have a door.

Nobody cares if it makes sense.

Then we grow up.

And little by little, we start filtering our ideas before they even have a chance to develop.

The funny thing is that many creative ideas begin exactly this way.

They begin as something absurd.

Something that doesn't make sense yet.

Something that feels slightly ridiculous.

The problem isn't that we don't have creative ideas.

The problem is that we often reject them too early.

So here's a small challenge for yourself:

The next time you have an absurd idea...

Don't kill it immediately.

Stay with it for a few minutes.

See where it takes you.

You might be surprised.

Thank you!
Dario Paniagua
Visual Thinkers Coach

School taught me to look for the right answer.

Creativity starts when you stop looking for it.

Think about most school exams.

The goal is simple:

Find the correct answer as quickly as possible.

Now think about creating something original.

A visual metaphor.

A story.

An illustration.

A new workshop.

A business idea.

Suddenly, searching for the "correct" answer becomes a problem.

Because originality rarely arrives looking correct.

In fact, the first interesting idea is often the one that feels strange, uncomfortable, or slightly ridiculous.

Many people tell me:
"I can't come up with original ideas."

What I usually see is something different.

They come up with unusual ideas.

Then reject them too quickly.

Not because they are bad.

Because they don't look right.

School didn't teach me this:
The fastest way to find an original idea is often to stop searching for the correct one.


Thank you 

Dario Paniagua
Visual Thinkers Coach

When children draw a fish flying through the sky, nobody asks:

"Does that make sense?"

They simply keep drawing.

Then school arrives.

Suddenly there are correct answers.

Correct methods.

Correct interpretations.

Correct conclusions.

Little by little, absurd ideas become mistakes.

The problem is that many creative breakthroughs begin with something that makes no sense.

A fish flying.

A humanized bear.

A door in the middle of a cloud.

A mountain inside a coffee cup.

At first, they look ridiculous.

Then they become interesting.

Then they become original.

One of the biggest obstacles I see when teaching visual metaphors isn't drawing skill.

It's permission.
Permission to create something absurd before knowing where it will lead.

School didn't teach me this:
Absurdity is not the enemy of creativity.
It is the starting point.

Dario Paniagua
Visual Thinkers Coach

In visual thinking, a metaphor is more than decoration. It’s a bridge between abstract ideas and concrete images, a way to help people see meaning instead of just reading or hearing it. When done well, a visual metaphor transforms a complex concept into an image that feels both intuitive and surprising.

But what exactly makes a metaphor visual, and how can you create one that actually works?

Icon vs. Metaphor: What’s the Real Difference?

An icon shows what something is. A metaphor shows what something means.

If you draw a light bulb to represent an idea, that’s an icon. It refers directly to a known symbol. But if you draw an elephant whose trunk forms the shape of a lightbulb, you're not just talking about "ideas" anymore. You are adding layers of meaning and weaving a story around it.

This doesn’t mean icons don’t work. It’s just better to use icons for explanations and metaphors for stories.

And remember: it’s better to have a story to look through life than an explanatio...

Remember, a quick way to apply the out-of-context technique is through substitution.

You remove one element and replace it with another that seems unrelated, but a connection is established.

In this case, the iceberg resembles the shape of a heart.When you place things out of context through substitution, the replaced element gains new meaning.

Here, the heart is no longer just an organ, it becomes a trait of the person’s personality.

Using the ‘out of context’ technique by placing objects on people’s heads is one of the richest ways to explore metaphors.

Anything we draw in this area of the body opens up endless possibilities for visualizing the human mind, thoughts, emotions, inner conflicts, or personality traits.

What goes through a person’s head? What do they think about, imagine, or visualize? 

Whatever the answer, the key is to turn the abstract into something tangible that tells a small story.

Remember, the top of the head, or even the inside is a powerful space to place unexpected elements and grab attention.

What keyword or phrase would you associate with this image?
Thanks,

Dario Paniagua
Visual Thinkers Coach

Another way to make it easier to create metaphors using the out of context technique is by combining it with another approach: blending.

Imagine placing a roller coaster in an unexpected setting, on someone’s head. 

Instead of simply placing it on top, we blend it into the head so that the integration feels more seamless and natural.

Now, let’s take a moment to appreciate how powerful the out of context technique really is. In this case, it helps us visually express a person’s thoughts or emotional state. 

We are transferring the qualities of the out-of-context element to the object or person it’s applied to.
Speaking of which…
What keyword or short phrase would you associate with this image?

Thank you,
Dario Paniagua
Visual Thinkers Coach

Enlarging elements allows us to do two things:

1) Explore details more deeply.

2) Discover new shapes that can be transformed into unexpected settings.

Every time you enlarge something, you create new spaces, new opportunities to place elements inside.

And what better way to apply the 'out of context' technique? As we’ve discussed before, this technique is all about changing the predictable setting in which we usually see certain things.

Now, think about this image:

- Why is a car looping in and out of a nose?
- Where is it going?
- What’s the connection between the car and the person?

When people ask these kinds of questions, three things happen:

1) They create their own mental storytelling to make sense of the image.

2) They spend more time looking at it.

3) They read your message.

What keyword or short phrase would you associate with this metaphor?

Thank you,
Dario Paniagua
Visual Thinkers Coach