GETTING STARTED WITH

SKETCHNOTING Michele Ide-Smith

User Experience Designer, Red Gate

@micheleidesmith

Workshop plan

• Introduction (3m)

• Getting started (7m)

• Let’s sketch! (15 m)

WHAT IS

SKETCHNOTING?

What is sketchnoting?

Visual note taking

Illustration by Mike Rohde from The Sketchnote Handbook (Peachpit)

Lots of different styles…

Carolyn Sewell http://www.flickr.com/photos/pedestriantype/

Gerren Lamson http://www.flickr.com/photos/25552033@N06/

Lots of different styles…

agent.fin http://www.flickr.com/photos/agentfin/

Eva-Lotta Lam http://www.flickr.com/photos/evalottchen/

Lots of different styles…

Francis Rowland http://www.flickr.com/photos/francisrowland/

Mike Rohde http://www.flickr.com/photos/rohdesign/

Discover your own style!

Michele Ide-Smith http://www.flickr.com/photos/micheleidesmith/

WHY DO

SKETCHNOTING?

Learning & Memory

Paivio’s ‘Dual Coding Theory’

Skills & Confidence

Explore design problems Communicate and collaborate

with your team

GETTING STARTED

Tools of the trade

At the event

• Get a good seat with a clear view

• Have your pens handy (it’s distracting for

others if you scrabble around in your bag!)

Listening and live sketching

• Listen for key points you’ll want to re-visit*

• Great quotes? What would you tweet?

• What images pop into your head? Don’t be

afraid to try sketching them.

• Don’t stress if you don’t catch everything!

*a good speaker lays out the structure of their talk at the start

Structure

Path Molecule Grid Vertical Clouds

People

Lo-fidelity Hi(gher)-fidelity Expressive

Different body sizes Active Seated Characterful Hands

Objects

Containers

Dividers & Connectors

Horizontal Curves

Shading adds emphasis

Connectors

Typography

LET’S SKETCH!

Try creating a sketchnote!

• Now it’s your turn!

• Let’s watch a short TED talk (6 m 51 s)

• Listen for key quotes & important ideas

Tom Wujec – Build a Tower, Build a Team www.ted.com/talks/tom_wujec_build_a_tower.html

Finishing Touches

Add colour & shading (I love Promarkers!)

Share Your Sketchnotes

Take a picture or

scan your notes

Then share with people at the

event, or those tracking remotely!

Top 10 Tips

1. Practise often! TED & UX talks, Meet Ups

2. Always carry a sketchbook & pens to events

3. Add title & speaker name before the talk, or

leave space to complete them later

4. Think like a designer: structure & flow,

proximity & grouping, size, colour & contrast

5. Don’t panic if you miss something! Transcribe

2-3 words, leave space & refer to slides later

Top 10 Tips

6. Watch the time & space you have left

7. Use shading to turn mistakes into something

else (or scan & edit in Photoshop!)

8. Add event name & Twitter handle

9. Don’t use reverse of pages & add a blank

sheet between pages (prevent bleed through)

10. Relax, be creative & above all, enjoy yourself!

Useful Stuff!

rohdesign.com/book/

sketchnotearmy.com

flickr.com/groups/thesketchnotehandbook/

sunnibrown.com/doodlerevolution/

Get in touch!

@micheleidesmith

www.ide-smith.co.uk

michele.ide-smith [at] red-gate [dot] com

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