Sometimes, you need to talk to an Artist to understand the law...

This week, a project that Colin Marks and I have been working on for about a year and a half was realized in its published form: a coloring book to help students understand Secured Transactions.  (By the way, Color Me Secured is available now at Amazon for $19.99 -- Prime eligible).  There are lots of reasons this makes sense, things I will share in future posts, such as how we talk about realism with students who don't have the first clue what the terms we are using mean?  At core, Color Me Secured is a translation tool, that helps bridge the gap between the language of security in personal property, and their experiences.   

But what I want to talk about today is the process of how this came about.  Around March of last year, I called up Colin and said "I've got a crazy idea.   What do you think about a coloring book for Secured Transactions."   I was a bit tepid on whether this was just a goofy idea I had in the middle of class one day or whether there was merit to the idea.   Colin without a moments hesitation exclaimed "Oh My god, that is great."  Over the next eight months or so, we sketched out on a word document various ideas about what it would look like, had research assistants read over it to see what their take on it was, and then started talking about how to make the art work.     

At the end of the day we hired an outstanding artist (as you'll see) Dave Spear  to take our rough sketch ramblings about what we thought should be on a page and create the beautiful work that is in Color Me Secured.  (Dave got it on the first take, almost without exception).    He expanded our story line to include more human elements of the interactions between the characters.   And this is where I would like to focus this post today.   Sometimes, we need to talk to an artist to understand the law. 

One of the things that makes Color Me Secured special, is it takes a dry, difficult subject like Secured Transactions, and humanizes it.   Our two characters Billie and Chadwick are friends in law school trying to sort out what Secured Transactions mean.   One gets it and the other doesn't and they explain the substance and nuance of secured transactions by tapping into experience, mnemonics, analogies, and other ways of translating the material.  
The humanness of seeing characters engaging in the activities of secured transactions was what we sought to explain.  How an account is more like a steak, rather than a pitcher, or how holding a place in line at a concert is similar to filing a financing statement.  The every day activities of students provide a wealth of information about how we communicate information.   Color Me Secured gives professors and students a handy way to tap into those things to explain some challenging content.  Color Me Secured also works by asking students to do something while they are working through secured transactions.  I tell my students each year that Secured Transactions is like algebra - its not hard but it does require you to do a bit each day.   Color Me Secured delivers small dose content with big ideas by drawing on images that students already understand.   And then slowly the images, language, and experiences begin to meld together to create an immersive experience.  What Color me Secured does is give students a different outlet to hear the same words and apply them to a different context.   

Lastly, Dave pointed out something to us that we had not realized.  The story needs an ending.   Too often, when we teach Secured Transactions, we assume the students know the ending.   In my class I repeat to students something Wilson Freyermuth told me many moons ago -- that Secured Transactions is like a circle and it doesn't matter where you start as long as you make it all the way around.   I think that is true, but what we often forget is that making it around the circle doesn't necessarily mean there has been an ending.  Dave, when he read the work and thought about it asked quite pointedly "So what grade did they get? How does it end?"  That's a pretty simple ask -- that stories need endings.   I think we are often so tied up in the complexities of how law plays out, we forget this basic human need for closure.  So Color Me Secured has that as well.   

I hope you consider purchasing a copy of Color Me Secured.  I think this is the type of project that is a nice supplement to traditional course work.   I'll be back later this week to discuss other things, like self publishing, realism, and future projects.  

Comments

[Al Brophy]

Marc, congratulations on publishing Color Me Secured. This is a really exciting idea -- I'm looking forward to see what you all do with trusts and estates!