When I use the phrase “visual communication” with social media users, they often immediately think of single-panel illustrations that explain topics like productivity.

These images are engaging and often humorous. They also can be difficult to execute well.

In this week’s mini masterclass, I introduce three individuals who have mastered this important segment of visual communication.

I call them “visual philosophers.”

Like cartoons, but not

Visual philosophers create illustrated snapshots of ideas. They are usually single or two-panel images, telling the story of an idea. Like this:
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The goal is to teach, inspire, or persuade viewers to reconsider an established idea. The moment of realization arrives when the viewer’s internal voice says, “Oh, I never thought of it that way,” or “Now I understand!”

Writers like Tim Urban (Wait But Why) and designers like Jack Butcher (Visualize Value) popularized this streamlined approach.

Today, meet three creators who have added their own personal style to the method.

⭐️ Janis Ozolins

​Janis Ozolins sees himself as a “one-man army," simplifying ideas on creativity and personal development. He was an IT manager who transitioned to solopreneurship. Unsure where to focus his energies, he spent nearly four years exploring entrepreneurial possibilities.

After reading James Clear’s book, Atomic Habits, and its illustrations, Janis realized that simple visuals could be a powerful way to share his ideas. It launched a new outlet for his creativity.

His work captures the reality of solopreneurs. In his images, we see struggles with motivation, time management, and self-doubt. A simple color palette and lettering style set Janis’ work apart in a visually noisy online environment.

Janis created an online course and community to teach his method. Explain Ideas Visually features video lessons, feedback sessions, templates, cheat sheets, and other bonus content.

You can find Janis on Twitter/X, Instagram, and LinkedIn. He’s been a guest on several interviews and podcasts as well. He publishes The Ideas Newsletter to share his latest thinking and visual explorations.

⭐️ Liz Fosslien

​Liz Fosslien considers herself a “word-focused stortyteller.” She’s an author and keynote speaker on leadership and high-performing teams. Her images consistently feature a pale blue background, a square format (perfect for her large Instagram following), and a delicate drawing style.

Liz also partners with Mollie West Duffy, a workplace culture writer, as Liz and Mollie. They co-authored the best-selling book No Hard Feelings, a visual exploration of how to embrace emotion at work, and Big Feelings, an illustrated guide to handling difficult emotions.

While much of their work focuses on navigating professional life, the images often resonate with the lifestyle and challenges of solopreneurs — especially topics of burnout and belonging.

Liz and Mollie publish a newsletter every few weeks on how to create happier, more productive workplaces. You can find Liz on Twitter/X and LinkedIn. The Liz and Mollie feed on Instagram is a fan favorite.

⭐️ PJ Milani

​Pejman (PJ) Milani has been a high school film and animation teacher for over 20 years. At night, he creates and publishes visual metaphors online.

PJ’s illustrations feature life and creativity lessons in a single- or double-panel format. His topics often cover productivity, philosophy, and psychology.

Milani says he started sharing online, in part, because students challenged him to follow his own advice about a daily creative practice.

PJ's images consistently have a pale blue background and showcase his distinctive drawing style. His years of teaching film come through in his storytelling.

PJ often revisits ideas “to find a different articulation of that message,” he says. “Each articulation forces diving into deeper understanding. It improves pattern recognition of how things are connected. And different metaphors will impact people differently.”

PJ’s work can be found on Twitter/X, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube. He publishes his Visual I.D.E.A.s Newsletter every two weeks, and teaches an online course, Thinking in Visual Metaphors.

Tune up your visual awareness

Think you might want to tackle this method and become a visual philosopher?

Janis Ozolins observes that two techniques help mature a personal visual style. First, increase your visual awareness. Learn to see, rather than merely look.
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The other element is quickly capturing ideas, no matter how unformed, for later review. When it’s time to create a visual, Janis refers to his ever-growing list of ideas, where inspiration awaits.

Whether you choose to adopt this approach to visual communication or not, developing a heightened visual awareness and mastering the quick capture of ideas are two skills that will serve any visual thinker well.

❤️ My favorite visual delights

Here are this week’s gems from around the Web to help you build visibility, credibility, and authority:

​Grayscale: A handmade san-serif font​
Charli Prangley (aka Charli Marie) fell in love with album art as a teenager. This handcrafted digital font results from that early passion for design and typography. It’s a perfect match for visuals that need a small-scale, clean, and legible typeface with a hand-drawn style. The typeface package features standard letterforms, symbols, punctuation, and a collection of vector graphics. Full commercial and web use for a $26 license.

​Jim Henson Idea Man​
This new documentary by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Ron Howard features a look at the life and work of this iconic creative visionary, from his early days as a puppeteer to the global success of Sesame Street and The Muppet Show. I may need to resubscribe to Disney+, where it is now exclusively streaming. (The link above is to the film’s trailer on YouTube.)

​A 5-step playbook for successful guest pitches on podcasts, blogs, and speaking engagements​
Building one’s authority through speaking requires outreach and pitching to individuals who are hosts, showrunners, and event organizers. Amanda Natividad’s pitching guide can fast-track your learning curve and increase your chances for success.

Other SOLO articles

Did you miss some of these recent popular issues of SOLO?
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✅ Where Geometry Meets Genius​​

✅ My 7 Heroes of Visual Communication​

✅ 3 Ways to Sketch the 80/20 Framework​

Want to check out other past issues? Visit the SOLO newsletter archive.

Thanks again for being a SOLO reader and coming along on this journey of visual exploration.
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If you enjoyed this newsletter, please share it with another solopreneur! And if you received this issue from a friend, I invite you to subscribe.

See you next week,