Studio Tour
About Us
Under the direction of Peter Durand, Alphachimp Studio is a consortium of creative problem solvers, representing a broad spectrum of thought leadership, from writers, artists and designers to futurists, technologists and scientists. >>Alphachimp captures the essence of the ideas so they are more visual, more understandable, easier to communicate, and most important, more relevant to the needs of the future.
Alphachimp is not an advertising firm, nor are we focused on marketing: Our focus is learning.
We produce images—both traditional and interactive—that we call knowledge objects.
A knowledge object could be an information graphic, a system diagram, a full website, an animated short film, a video, a detailed map, a series of icons, a graphic novel, a story. The form doesn't matter as much as the ideas themselves.
By making your ideas visual, we make the strategic decision-making process easier, faster, more engaging, and vibrant.
When it comes to you asking those big hairy questions—who are we? what do we do? why? what do we do next?—we can help.
Our people are masters of visual learning.
NEXT: Event Design >>
Event Design
To help in this process of identifying issues and understanding complexity, we do most of our work in the context of facilitated sessions. >>
Even with the marvels of the IT revolution, we see that people still have an essential, human need to gather together, tell stories and work things out. Some groups ask us to help them design their events from top to bottom; we design everything from the first email invitation to the roster of speakers, the layout of the room and the agenda of activities.
Facilitation
We pride ourselves on the ability to understand the end goals of a project, as well as the overall mission of an organization, and to ensure that any individual session stays true to those objectives and values.
We work with a variety of facilitators who have extensive corporate and non-profit experience. Facilitators help conversations flow, to stay on course and have purpose. They excel in their ability to help groups solve problems before crises emerge. They help everyone to reach goals and realistic solutions in the context of the mission.
Our facilitators help improve communications inside and outside organizations and augment the quality of teamwork, participation and management of diverse groups of stakeholders.
While we don’t adhere to one particular system or dogma, we do work with facilitators who have extensive training in accepted methodologies, including: professional coaching, Creating Customer Evangelism, Meyers-Briggs assessment, The Artist Way at Work, Open Space Technology, systems thinking, collaborative design, scenario planning and Game Theory.
Most important, our facilitators believe—and understand—the value of engaging multiple learning styles, in creating dynamic learning environments that are as lively as they are effective.
Graphic Facilitation
This method maximizes team learning and helps groups reach consensus, resolve disputes and create effective strategies through visual learning. >>
The resulting images give a life to the ideas generated that resonate long after the participants have gone their separate ways. Ben McConnell, author of Creating Customer Evangelists, describes the experience as such:
“Having Alphachimp create a visual document of your meeting or conference is like being handed a photograph that explains the meaning of love. Alphachimp Studio’s visual guides explain in moments what took days or weeks to understand.”
As a community of practice, we only work with graphic facilitators who can do two things extremely well: (1) listen to conversations on a strategic level, and (2) translate those conversations into words and images that are useful.
Whether a monthly meeting, board retreat, industry conference or facilitated workshop, this is a great way to make your gathering more effective and much more memorable.
See gallery of images from Pop!Tech 2004
Web Documentation
Our creative associates produce a real-time record of your session. As experts in new media, these graphic bloggers build the on-line chronicle of your event. >>
Often times, we build the initial website that our clients use as a PR and marketing tool to promote their event, generate buzz, receive registration information, transact payments, and provide logistic information.
After the event, this “web journal “ includes photos, illustrations and text, delivered on a CD-ROM or uploaded directly to your server. It can be made either public or password protected for security.
In conjunction with the HTML version of the session notes, we can also incorporate streaming video of group exercises, speakers , electronic versions of presentations, headshots, bios and any other details.
The entire event can be condensed into an easy-to-use PowerPoint presentation or printable PDF document. These can be distributed via email or downloaded from your website.
Information Graphics
Bright, colorful, easy to read, these large-scale images have been used by industry leaders for internal communication, external marketing and business development. >>
We take the portfolio of illustrated concepts created in real-time during facilitated sessions and treat them as field note sketches. Then, we synthesize and refine those initial drawings into more sophisticated diagrams, system maps and posters. System maps help explain your services to co-workers and clients to streamline both sales and execution.
These can be expanded into multi-page graphic novels or storyboards.
Information graphics are very powerful when combined with interactive web interfaces and animation, and can easily be built into the web journal.
With the recent evolution of on-demand printing, the production and distribution of the final products can be done both cost-effectively and painlessly.
Client Comments
We are proud to have had long-term clients who continue to wrap us into their projects and services. We look to them as collaborators in creating quality experiences in which people expand their understanding. >>
“Alphachimp Studio Inc. and their team mates are brilliant, fun, inspiring additions to many of our projects! His visual skills integrate critical thinking, extraordinary listening and a keen sense of OUR goals and process. The value of his presence in a room, the immediacy of his deliverables and the high quality of his all of his work are marvelous.” ~ Conifer Research
“Having Alphachimp create a visual document of your meeting or conference is like being handed a photograph that explains the meaning of love. Alphachimp Studio’s visual guides explain in moments what took days or weeks to understand. Alphachimp's value is remarkable.” ~Ben McConnell, author, "Creating Customer Evangelists"
“Alphachimp Studio Inc. visually facilitated an executive-level meeting. Mostly with their back to the audience (!) they captured the essence/critical thinking in the room. Groupthink and genius can come in a flash, but it's more often a process, and by mapping and capturing the discussion clearly and with humor he brought a fresh perspective to the whole day. I can’t recommend Alphachimp enough!” ~ Invensys
"One of the nicest things about their work is that they bring a number of added capabilities to the session. For starters, they are superior facilitators. Second, they digitally capture the session, and provide a CDROM with the output, both drawings and detailed text narrative. If you want the next level of service, they will also produce a website based on the event. Third, they come with an additional arsenal of creative exercises and process ideas that are certain to enrich the experience." ~ Cap Gemini Center for Business Innovation
"I've received several very positive comments on the concept of having a graphic facilitator as part of the process. My assessment of the session is that it was an unqualified success. Participants from both our company and from our client's organization have been very complimentary of both the process and the work output." ~ Bayer Chemical
“[At the conclusion of the war game] we had the final plenary session, where the team captains of the four teams reviewed all five moves, standing in front of a wall of Alphachimp drawing boards behind each. Alphachimp must have done almost at least a dozen boards of my two talks, plus a solid 6-8 for each team, which was way cool… Alphachimp [was] routinely superb.” ~Thomas P.M. Barnett, author, "The Pentagon’s New Map"
"In my opinion, visual thinking is the most under-leveraged and potentially powerful tool available for creating and enhancing innovation. Alphachimp Studio is among the very best in the industry, and their ability to capture, enhance and represent big ideas in second-to-none. Do yourself a favor and hire this company, or worry that your competitors will." ~Andrew Zolli, futurist, Z Plus Partners
<< Information Graphics