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12 powerful business applications of

SmartDraw’s flow chart tool set

SmartDraw is a powerful tool for creating many types of visual diagrams. But I have discovered

that its basic flow chart tool set has an incredible amount of utility for creating many of the types

of diagrams I need for my work. Over the last several years, I have pushed this program to its

limits to figure out what I can do with its flow chart tool set and other shape libraries. In this new

report, I will share with you 12 innovative uses I’ve discovered for SmartDraw. I’ll also reveal

how I created each diagram, so you can learn from the process that I’ve developed and refined.

SmartDraw Flow Chart Uses

1. Create a highly stylized mind map

SmartDraw includes a set of tools that you can use to create mind maps. But last year, I got

inspired by a simple, stylized mind map that I saw in the blog of one of an A-list blogger. The

topics resembled conversation balloons, but where plain black and white. Kind of blah! So I set

out to replicate the spirit of what he created, using SmartDraw. What I created, via trial and

error, is the diagram you see below.

The flow chart view gives me access to the circle shape. From there, I conducted a search in

SmartDraw’s extensive shapes library to find the callout shapes. It contains a library called

“word balloons.” Once I dragged the appropriate shapes into the workspace, I discovered that

when I “flipped” them into an upside down position to form the topic shapes at the bottom of the

mind map, their integral text was also flipped upside down. So I had to create separate text

objects, drag them into position and then group them with the topic shapes to which they


belonged. I explain the entire process, step by step, in a separate Mind Mapping Insider video

report (click here to view it).

I think the result is visually stunning, don’t you?

2. Visually depicting a process

This is the obvious use of SmartDraw, to depict a step-by-step process from start to finish, with

all of its branching and conditions. That’s one of the primary applications for which the program

was designed. In the example above, I have used it to depict a life planning process, in which

you envision an ideal future state in rich detail, and then work backwards mentally to figure out

what steps you need to take today in order to put your life on path toward reaching that goal.

Note how I have added colored circles with numbers embedded into them (created in a

separate graphics program called Fireworks and imported as images into SmartDraw) to help

anyone viewing this diagram to understand what it means and how to use this planning

process.

3. Create a simple bar chart

Bar charts are frequently used in business reports to depict trends in numerical data, such as

sales or survey results. To create one in SmartDraw or Microsoft Excel usually requires a table

of data to create the chart. But what if you want to create something very simple – not data

driven – just to make a point? SmartDraw’s flow chart toolset can do this quite easily for you,

using the line and rectangle tools. As you can see from the examples on the next page, it’s also

http://mindmappingsoftwareblog.com/mmsb/wp-content/9ms9/stylized-map.html


quite easy to use the line and text tools to create explanatory callouts to help your readers

better understand the key messages you’re trying to communicate with your charts.

If you create these types of charts, be sure to use SmartDraw’s shape alignment and space

equally tools for a neat appearance, and its shape grouping capability to fine-tune the

positioning of elements in your drawings (for example, to group the 4 bars in the “change”

diagram together).


4. Create simple tables that visually stand out

If you use productivity tools like Microsoft Word or PowerPoint in your work, you are already

able to create tables to organize information and data into neat rows and columns. But what if

you want to create something that has even greater visual impact? SmartDraw is up to the task.

The main elements of your tables in SmartDraw are rectangle shapes, dragged to different sizes

and formatted to meet your needs. Most of the time, you’ll want to eliminate the drop shadows

from your shapes, since you’re going to be positioning them adjacent to each other to create

rows and columns. Also, in the design tab, I recommend that you manually change the

horizontal or vertical dimensions of each rectangle to make them exactly the right size.

Otherwise, you’ll never get them to line up properly. Finally, because you can’t “snap” shapes

together in SmartDraw, you’ll want to increase the magnification of your view in the workspace

as needed to verify that your shapes are just touching or barely overlapping. Otherwise, when

you output your diagram to an image file or print it out, you may discover gaps or overlaps in

those shapes.

Finally, play around with different text treatments to see what works for you. In SmartDraw, you

have 2 options:


1. Type within a shape to embed text within it. You can then align it right, left, top, bottom,

centered and other positions. Here’s the problem: When I right or left align embedded

text in a SmartDraw shape, it places the text right up against the shape’s border. So I

usually prefer to use the alternate technique below.

2. Create a shape. Create a block of text separately, and then drag and drop it in place in

front of the shape. This will take some tweaking to figure out what font size works best,

and you’ll need to adjust the shape and size of the text object to ensure that it fits within

the shape of the rectangle. But this approach will ultimately give you greater freedom to

align the text the way you want. One thing to keep in mind, however: Be sure to select

any other text blocks in adjacent cells in the same row and column and align them to

each other, so your finished table has a neat appearance.

In the table above, each of the blue horizontal rows is a rectangle shape, dragged out to create

longer shapes. Text titles are placed manually. Then standard SmartDraw rectangle shapes

with embedded text and drop shadows have been dropped into each row to depict which

resources fit into each level of user experience in the Mind Mapping Insider program. As you

can see, you can do a lot with a simple shape in SmartDraw. But it takes little bit of advance

planning, because the program doesn’t let you move objects up and down, one layer at a time.

You can either move them to the front or the back layer – that’s it.


One more example, below, showcases how you can create an engaging explanation of a topic

in a semi-tabular form.

In this example, I created a plain rectangle shape, sent to the back layer and then dragged and

dropped it to create a border for the rest of my elements. Next, I imported two images, and

positioned them at the top right and left corners of the rectangle. They become the “anchors” of

two columns of content. There aren’t really any columns here, however – I’m just aligning the

images and text you see into a columnar format. Use SmartDraw’s text styling tools to create

any captions, headings and lists you need. As you can see, each of the columns in this diagram

contains a list of bullet points. Finally, I dropped in a right-facing arrow (search SmartDraw’s

library for “arrow” and you’ll find many different styles of arrows!) to show a progression from the

past to the present.

5. Create a screen shot with callouts

This strategy could be particularly useful if you’re trying to share with your team what one of

your competitors is doing. Simply create a screen shot of the web page you want to highlight (I

use a free program called Screenhunter), and import it as an image into SmartDraw. Then use

the program’s text and line tools to create callouts (captions with lines) that explain what’s

notable about it. If you’d like, you can use an oval or rectangle shape to contain your call-out


comments, and then use a connector line in SmartDraw to “join” your comment to the screen

shot.

6. Create a Venn diagram

Venn diagrams consist of two or more intersecting circles, and visually depict the overlap

between two different topics.


In the case of the example on the previous page, this diagram is meant to show the strong level

of integration between three elements of a training curriculum my employer offers to the mining

industry.

It can be created very simply using the circle object in SmartDraw’s flow chart symbols. At first, I

had to create circles with no fill color, so the overlapped region wouldn’t be dominated by one

color or another. But I discovered via some experimentation that by applying a circular gradient

to each circle, I could make the intersection of them appear to be translucent, as you see above.

7. Create a simple web page or e-newsletter block layout

I have discovered that the basic shapes in SmartDraw’s flow chart symbol collection are ideal

for producing a rough layout for a web page or e-newsletter. If you want to give a designer


something quick, rough and visual so they understand the direction in which you’re thinking, like

the example on the previous page. If you want something that looks more polished that you can

present in a business meeting to a client or your boss, then you will probably want to use

SmartDraw’s web page design elements.

Note the “before and after” look of this diagram, which represents a proposed redesign of my

blog. On the right side, I took a single screen shot of each major design element on the home

page. I then combined them with a selection of red and black rectangles, which I drew in

SmartDraw, which represent new content elements. Finally, I added several call-outs to explain

the meanings of them.

In my opinion, this would be much more meaningful that just giving a web page block diagram

(with a bunch of labeled rectangles) to my WordPress designer. With this kind of visual

treatment, he can see what exists now, where each existing element moves to and where new

design elements would be placed.

8. Captions and infographics

The rise of social media channels like Google+ and Pinterest are driving a need for presenting

content in distinctive visual formats – such as large, graphical pull quotes and infographics,

which utilize images, artwork and stylized text to communicate a wealth of data in a very

compact, visually compelling form.

Below is a quote box to promote my new book, which I created especially for this report:


The book cover is an imported image. The “conversation balloon” can be found by searching the

SmartDraw image library for the term “balloon.” That will lead you to a library called “word

balloons.” Finally, the gray rounded

rectangle is one of the shapes from the

flow chart library.

SmartDraw.com says the program can

be used to produce infographics, and

has displayed one example in a recent

e-newsletter (see below). But it hasn’t

published a tutorial on how to create it

using the program. One thing is very

obvious to me when it comes to

infographics: You need to have all of

your information roughed out in pencil

before you start noodling with

SmartDraw.

Perhaps an even bigger factor is this

one: You need to have a strong sense

of design. I can do simple stuff and

make it look pretty polished, but I’ll be

the first person to admit that an

infographic on the next page is way

beyond my skill level! On the other

hand, if SmartDraw deconstructs the

process in a tutorial, or if a future

version actually contains a library of

infographic objects (are you listening,

SmartDraw?), then I could probably

figure it out.

Click here to view a full version of the

infographic at right, produced in

SmartDraw.

http://www.smartdraw.com/blog/archive/2011/07/11/infographic-visual-solutions-at-work.aspx

http://www.smartdraw.com/blog/archive/2011/07/11/infographic-visual-solutions-at-work.aspx


9. Create a “swim lane” diagram

Swim lane diagrams are used in

project management. They are

something like a Gantt chart,

except they depict handoffs from

one person, department or team

to another. They are an

excellent way to visualize where

potential gaps in communication

should be anticipated and

addressed, because it’s often

when a project gets handed off

from one group to another than

misunderstandings and delays

can occur.

In this case, I used a swim lane

diagram to show how I dictated

and edited my new book, Up

Your Impact: 52 Innovative

Strategies to Add Value to Your

Work. The 3 vertical columns

are simply rectangle shapes

from SmartDraw’s flow chart

palette, moved to the back layer so everything else sits on top of them. The rounded rectangles

are also standard shapes, and are joined together with lines (minus arrowheads). I used a

number of horizontal and vertical lines to complete this diagram, showing what tools were used

to complete each phase of the book writing process.

10. An enhanced product diagram

Most industrial products are also services. In other words, the basic physical product that gets

shipped to the customer is surrounded by support services after the sale. In the case of a piece

of machinery, that may include parts, service visits, financing, reconditioning and end-of-life

disposal.


Complex products may also consist of a number of components or elements that are integrated

together to form a complete offering to the customer. That’s the case for the diagram below,

which was an early attempt to visually depict the elements that make up TruckLogic, a learning

curriculum for operators of large haul trucks for the mining industry. TruckLogic was notoriously

hard to explain to my employer’s customers, so I was asked to develop a visual that explained it

more clearly, and showed how all of its “pieces” fit together.

This diagram consists of an assortment of rectangle shapes (squared off plus one rounded

rectangle that encircles some of the elements), plus several arrows with captions to show the

flow of information.

From a design standpoint, it was fairly simple to create. But it took a number of iterations to get

it to this point, as I created visual models and got feedback from my coworkers. That’s often the

case with visual diagrams like this one. Don’t expect to create a perfect diagram the first time.

You’re going to need the feedback of others, and they’re undoubtedly going to want to see

changes and improvements to it. That’s OK, because you’re moving toward a shared vision of

what the product, service or idea should look like.


11. Adjacencies: Diagram the “bigger picture”

Every company that produces and sells a product has a core customer group that is its main

focus. But usually, there are other customer groups or markets that surround that main focal

point that may also be excellent sources of growth for the firm.

In the diagram below, I have taken the same concept and applied it to my Mind Mapping

Software Blog. I was trying to visually depict the “bigger frame” of visual thinking, of which mind

mapping is only one part.

In the world of marketing, this kind of thinking is called exploring “adjacencies” – emerging or

secondary markets that contain concentrations of potential customers with attributes similar to

our existing core customers. With little or no modification to the product and some concentrated

marketing and sales efforts, the firm’s products could be sold into these adjacent markets.


For example, a hydraulic excavator, used to dig ditches and move dirt, could easily be used for

building demolition, if it was fitted with some protective gear and specialized tools designed to

“munch” on buildings and tear them apart. That’s exactly the kind of thinking that equipment

manufacturer Komatsu followed in the last big recession in the early 1990s. They partnered with

a number of small manufacturers of hydraulic demolition tools to sell specialized rigs for

demolishing buildings and recycling their materials. This method was faster, quieter and more

environmentally acceptable than imploding buildings and then carrying big piles of debris to a

landfill.

Naturally, considering our current economic conditions, many companies in affected industries

have been taking a hard look at adjacent markets into which they can expand, in order to bolster

their sales. This type of diagram can help with that exploration process.

From a design standpoint, this diagram is simply a series of circle flow chart shapes, centered

horizontally and vertically upon one another to create a set of concentric circles. Note how the

gray circle has a light border and no drop shadow, while the smaller circles do have shadows.

This makes the gray circles look like attractive background elements that don’t call too much

attention to themselves, while the brightly-colored circles used to depict the adjacent visual

thinking concepts appear to be floating above the background, thanks to their drop shadows.

The ensemble is completed with a pair of call-outs, added to help people understand what is

being depicted here.

12. A “balloon” diagram

One of the great aspects of diagramming information is that it can often communicate a

tremendous amount of information in a very compact space. Earlier this year, I was trying to

figure out a way to share with readers of my blog a visual summary of the burgeoning iPad mind

mapping app market. These programs vary widely in the number of features they provide.

Pricing is also all over the map. How communicate all of this in a concise yet meaningful visual

form? The answer was to create what’s known as a “balloon chart” like the one below.

Think of a balloon chart as a standard two-axis chart, with data points plotted in appropriate

positions on the X-Y plane formed by these two axes. Only the data points aren’t dots. They are

circles. The size of the circle also communicates information – in this case, my perception of the

value that each app provides to users (which is based on its functionality/price relationship, plus


intangibles like ease of use, quality of design and the developer’s level of commitment to

continuing to improve the app.

When you look at a balloon chart like this, the circles that are positioned toward the upper right

corner of the chart represent the best value.

By now, I think you can tell which SmartDraw flow chart symbols I used to create this

informative diagram: A rectangle for the title, different sizes of circles for the data points and

multiple horizontal and vertical lines for the axes of the chart. This last set of objects was the

hardest to create, because I had to scale the map adequately on the horizontal plane to provide

enough room for all of the apps and their data points. In other words, I had to lengthen it several

times.

Getting the tick marks to line up with the axes was also somewhat challenging, and required me

to zoom in to make sure they were actually touching the axis but not overlapping it. They also

needed to be spaced evenly, which involved some trial and error.


Likewise, when I got down to the lower left corner of the chart, I found that my data points were

almost on top of each other. That meant that any circles I placed “behind” the others wouldn’t

have enough room for its name. I solved that problem by creating callouts for SimpleMind and

Total Recall.

In spite of these design challenges, I was very happy with the outcome, and readers seemed to

like it, too. It provided a fresh perspective on the market for iPad mind mapping apps, and

hopefully helped some readers to make better-informed decisions about which apps to

purchase.

How can you use a chart like this? Consider creating one to depict the positioning of your

company’s products relative to those of your competition. The axes can be anything you want –

price, functionality, level of customer support, brand reputation, etc. In fact, you may want to

diagram a number of different relationships to help you see where your company has a distinct

advantage, or areas in which it may need to improve.

Just be sure that the criteria you select for the axes of the diagram are product attributes that

matter to your customer. Otherwise, your chart will end up being an exercise in “navel gazing,”

as they say. In other words, it doesn’t matter what product attributes YOU think are important

(naturally, you’ll want to promote your strengths, no matter what they are). What matters most is

the criteria that your core customers use to make purchase decisions.

Questions?

Please contact Chuck Frey at [email protected].

Please visit the Mind Mapping Software Blog for all of the latest news, trends and resources

related to visual mapping.

You can also follow Chuck Frey on Twitter for even more insights and ideas.

Published 6/26/12

mailto:[email protected]

http://mindmappingsoftwareblog.com/

http://twitter.com/chuckfrey

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