Visualization: It's Art.

There's an image, a message in it. People stare at it and debate it. Framers are employed for another day because of it. Quality can be subjective, and aesthetics are always debatable—but the intrinsic artistry is evident. Like pornography, art is something you know when you see it, and no sooner (Figure 20-3). And visualization is widely perceived to be an art.

Visualization practitioners often have an air of creativity about them: they draw or paint or wear glasses with thick, black frames. Of course, as soon as something is branded as an artistic endeavor, the barriers to entry rise up around it. Those who believe they can't draw and those who would never assign themselves the label of "creative" shy away from visualization for this reason. And that's too bad—because you don't have to be a Rembrandt to have an idea that can be understood by scrawling a stick figure or two.