Speaking images

What makes people happy?

That’s a pretty difficult question. Sure, you can have people fill in questionnaires, or interview them. But will you get a meaningful answer? Probably not. Because these methods focus on letting people talk about what they can remember on the top of their head. But figuring out what people dream about, or what their wishes or fears are, is much more difficult. Information like this is much more tactile and right beneath the surface. So how do you help people to find their own themes to talk about, without influencing the conversation towards a specific direction too much? By placing pictures on the table and starting the conversation. Speaking Images is an innovative conversational tool that uses imagery to facilitate profound conversations. It achieves this by translating abstract wishes and feelings into concrete conversation topics.

How it works

Tracking down what it is that really makes people happy (or what they want) is not easy because this information is often stored by people in a subconscious way. Images allow people to make associations and retrieve stories and memories. These stories tell what makes people truly happy. From these stories, it can be assessed how to help these people to be as happy as possible in the future.

In Speaking Images, pictures of activities are the basis to start this conversation. The images are shown in a random order and are linked to questions such as ‘What would you still like to do’. The images trigger memories, associations and conversation topics that enable the person to concretely name their underlying feelings and emotions. The interlocutor can decide which images (and therefore topics) should receive attention, and which should be saved for later or removed entirely.

This amount of independency leads to a profound and refreshing conversation about what people find important in their lives, what makes them happy, what they like to do or what they would still like to try out. Speaking Images transfers the subconscious thoughts and feelings towards the consciousness. It makes the unknown known and breaks down taboos.

After the conversation, all the images that were chosen are presented in a collage. The people who joined the conversation can decide whether they want to save or print it. That way, it’s easier to pick up the conversation at a later time, and possibly to dive even deeper into the question of what makes you happy.

Thinking and talking about what makes you happy, will create more happiness. This is what Speaking Images aims to achieve.