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Design : Chunk #3, The Business Model Canvas

Feedback is welcome!!! use the "..._print.pdf" to print it at full size, or use the other file to view onscreen, but note that you'll have to zoom in. The type sizes are optimized for print now, and will be a little too small for comfortable screen reading.

Pagination is one thing that we're leaving out for now until a few of the other chunks are partially resolved for consistency, so the fact that there are no page numbers is intentional for now ;p

Also note, Some gray's will be too light to read on screen...in final print, this shouldn't be an issue, but some of your screens may not even show the light gray backgrounds, let alone any white text reversed out of it!!!

Enjoy the 5 minute video rationale, and looking forward to hearing your thoughts!!
-Alan

Tags: chunk, design, illustration

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Attachments:

chunk3_thecanvas_v1_0_1.pdf, 1.6 MB
chunk3_thecanvas_print_v1_0_1.pdf, 1.6 MB

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Permalink Reply by David Edwards on May 26, 2009 at 1:58am

I know it is not finished yet but watching the whole process and looking at the product as it currently stands I have to say that I have received far more than my money's worth of information - not so much in the way of new information (as most of us are very familiar with the model) but in the way this and other concepts can be brought to life, explained and communicated to others. A job very well thought out and executed - congratulations and I am looking forward to the finished product.

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Permalink Reply by Bill Welter on May 26, 2009 at 2:13am

FASCINATING! Thanks for the look into the insiders perspective.
Keep at it!
Bill

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Permalink Reply by Gordon Gray on May 26, 2009 at 4:55am

Love the way this is shaping up design-wise. Well done all round. What about keeping the drawings as very light 'watermark' images on the fill-in page?

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Permalink Reply by Alan Smith on May 26, 2009 at 11:43am

Hmmm, kind of like a very light "blueprint" type feel? Interesting. Do you mean on the right side of the spread? or the pages where we have an extra spread for notes?

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Permalink Reply by Alan Smith on May 26, 2009 at 11:53am

Here'es a side by side comparison for you of this idea as I understood it... What do you think?

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Permalink Reply by Jason Theodor on May 30, 2009 at 5:20am

I prefer the cleaner look of the original (top) image, but having some of the sketches in the background (especially magnified and bleeding off the edges) could look very good. As long as they're not directly behind the text (or are screened back a lot more).

I think the overall design is fantastic. Clean, lots of whitespace to breathe and think about the ideas, and a clear, systematic flow. The iconography makes sense, and the use of 'highlighter' yellow is a nice touch.

I'm not as excited by the last few pages when you get into the iPod/iTunes example. The sticky notes need to be illustrations (or very well lit photography) for that page to look good.

I can't wait to see and read more. Fantastic job.

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Permalink Reply by Valentin Crettaz on May 26, 2009 at 5:22am

Wow guys, this really rocks.

I remember the first time I saw the business model canvas, I thought, "gosh, how am I going to memorize all this?" Well, not only is the BM canvas **so** intuitive because "everything flows in it" (if you think logically about the building blocks, you can't miss the point), but also it is so nicely presented and designed that there is no way to actually miss the point. The idea of the puzzle being completed page after page makes it so obvious... great call!!

One thing, though, about the main questions on the top of the right-hand side pages: Most of the time there are many questions and I thought there was one per line, which is not the case... probably for the sake of the real estate available on the page, fair enough. However, those question blocks feel a little bulky to me. How about delimiting each question more clearly... I don't know, maybe by using some cute discrete delimiting icons or something to that extent...

Also, in the video you mention that those questions would be like the ingredients in a cookbook. If memory serves me well, in a cookbook, next to ingredients, the pieces of text that usually clearly stand out are the quantities for each ingredients. Similarly, I would maybe like to see some important words emphasized in those questions, maybe using a bold face, a darker color, a bigger font size, or whatever you would deem appropriate. Those questions are too important to go unnoticed and not be read until the end. Usually, when I see a monotonic piece of text like that, I usually read the first line and then I read the rest in diagonal.

One last thing is about the use of the yellow color to emphasize the little figure on each canvas block. When printing, the yellow doesn't really stand out against the predominant white background. It would be nice to use another color that gets rendered better for all the readers who have B/W printers ;)

Thanks for your hard work, Alan, this is going to be a masterpiece!

Val

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Permalink Reply by Alan Smith on May 26, 2009 at 11:41am

Val,

Thanks for the notes! Especially about the question blocks. I was feeling the same thing, a delimiter would probably help. I'll try something with that!! I've already tried breaking them on each line, and we end up running out of space (you were right in your assumtion there). Important word emphasis is also a good idea. I'll talk with Alex and see if he could figure out some words that matter in there to see if that would work!!!

The yellow thing works so nice though because it's like a highlighter scribble! Since we'll be printing and monitoring the colour saturation at the printers, I know we can make sure the balance is right (it stands out enough, but doesn't overwhelm), and any versions meant to be printed at home will be designed without the need for colour at all to accomodate black& white printers!!

Thanks again for the constructive ideas Val!

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Permalink Reply by Valentin Crettaz on May 26, 2009 at 1:18pm

Thanks for your answer, Alan.

Actually, I really like the yellow color, too, I just wanted to mention it because anyone should be able to distinguish the contrast difference on B/W printers, but somehow I knew you'd take care of this already ;)

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Permalink Reply by Guilhem Bertholet on May 26, 2009 at 7:22am

Hello Alex & Team,
You guys rock! That's really a wonderful piece of work !!!

Thanks for leting us follow the whole process of thinking, writing and designing the book...