New entry by Stefan Sagmeister on the New York Times Blog, The Moment.

Courtesy of my friend, Lauren: http://makemylogobiggercream.com

We all know the jokes… but some of these video spots are pretty funny. Goes on for awhile but gave me a good hardy laugh…

I’ve always been fascinated by Pictionary, and everything it says about symbolism in society. It is possibly the best study I have found to simplify in the quickest, most raw fashion, a message… Sometimes I wish that a round of Pictionary would start out every design brief… Say you have a Valentine’s project and you get 5 teams of 4, give them under 10 seconds to all draw “love” without using a heart or stick figures, and see what they come up with. Whether it becomes what you avoid, or challenge, the results could at least be one way to see what abstractions people easily and quickly understand.

When you are artistic, everyone wants you on their team. But most know that what more importantly allows you to be successful at Pictionary is to have a paralleling interpretation of those symbols in society as the other members of your team do. This of course works with other similar games, too, like Guesstures. I remember a game I played with my sister (us together), and our two boyfriends who had just met that night (as our opposers). I think the score was 156 to 12, because we grew up together with such a richly vocal analysis of the world that all she had to do was cup one hand and I somehow get “Chicken Noodle Soup!”, or twirl one finger and it’s “Revolving Door!”. Meanwhile, the two guys spent over three unsuccessful minutes on “Grass”. It’s such an obvious basis of graphic design- needing the ability to analyze your work from a perspective outside your own, or the realm of other almost-equally-tainted designers- And what better way to get outside of it than to have 12 seconds and 4 non-designer teammates yelling and flailing and needing to know “tanning bed” nownowNOW!! After afew rounds, you’re nicely raw again.

Of course the drawing ability does help… Any game like that involves a combination of related understanding and the hand-spatial coordination to get it down simply and directly. But being artistic in Pictionary can just as easily be a hinderance if you can’t balance your ability to draw simplified accuracy instead of detail. Once you do, then you can harness the Pictionary beast. Then again, sometimes the way designers approach any visual situation is so bizarre- full of saturated art school cliches, endlessly mocked symbolism, and trend- that it can be even harder to think outside it all.

Above is my version of “jealousy” after 5 rounds. Below are my teammates’ drawings (Roll over for answer; click for larger view) boat:crutch:paper sack:russia:sunburn:crowbar:pegleg:begging:jealousy; my favorites are the very-similar last two, done by an 8 year old. Play Pictionary!