Graphic language includes the organizing patterns (sometimes called frameworks or formats) that help facilitators in the act of visualizing. Underneath all the variations are predictable, dynamic characteristics that are illustrated in The Grove’s Group Graphics Keyboard. During 30 years of exploration, The Grove has found that all variations end up being reflections of seven, archetypal patterns described in a model developed by David Sibbet in 1976 and tested worldwide over the following years. Learning the properties and challenges of each of these patterns is a key to improvising actively with graphic language—much as learning chord structures is a key to music.

The seven patterns and their powers, arranged from simplest to most complex are:

Posters—which focus on a point Lists—which capture a flow of points Clusters—which activate spatial comparisons of points Grids—which formally compare categories of information Diagrams—which grow understanding through branching relationships between points Drawings—which animate meaning through the addition of visual metaphors to previous patterns Mandala—which show unity by centering all information

Each pattern is an artifact of the active process of creating it and has a built-in power that makes it more useful for some purposes than for others. For instance, single images focus attention and are great for title posters. Lists flow in a linear fashion, and are therefore excellent for brainstorms and action lists. Clusters create space where items are juxtaposed near each other without connections. This invites the viewer to explore potential links and compare items.

Graphic facilitators use the Group Graphics Keyboard to think through a meeting or process design much like a composer might think about music, matching the formats to the different objectives of each stage. Because the simpler formats can nest into the more complex ones, there are many combinations and variations, which is why graphic facilitation is such a rich, improvisational form. Specific instances of these archetypal formats are the Graphic Guides, The Grove's planning templates.

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