What is a sketchnote? Why they may look like a collection of doodles or drawings, they are actually not artwork but functional, creative, ways to think or illustrate ideas. It’s about the way you organize information on a page. The visual elements just help you process the information and make it way easier to review notes later. It’s a way to “think on paper.” "Sketchnotes are a visual way of capturing ideas on a page. They use words, boxes/clouds, arrows, and simple doodles to organize information." source: How to Sketchnote With no Artistic Ability At All
History of Sketchnote Day: the holiday was created by two artists, Mike Rohde and Mauro Toselli, in 2016. These two artists, alongside a small group of designers and producers, created the company Sketchnote Army to help showcase sketchnotes and their artists from across the globe. This special day promotes creative artists and their skills through social media competitions, where people who love to sketch and combine that with notes or reminders can get featured on their website. Additionally, interviews, podcasts, and blog posts are also created to broadcast these artists, learn about their histories, and understand the mind behind these creative ways of presenting the information.
Sketchnotes are one of the visual means of communication that allows creative minds to bring innovative ideas onto the page with the help of words, boxes/clouds, arrows and simple doodles. While some people take these notes on a whiteboard during a presentation for a whole room full of people (graphic facilitation), the majority of sketchnotes are done for personal use. The primary advantage of sketchnotes is that our brains are wired to take in a scene and process it–which means we can look at a sketchnote page and process it faster than we can with line-by-line notes. Note: Doodling has also proven to improve our focus, so sketchnotes are a perfect solution for any situation where your mind tends to wander like a class, meeting, workshop, etc. Info and image below via World Sketchnote Day: History, Significance, And All You Need To Know
What are Sketchnotes? "Sketchnotes don't require special drawing skills, but do require you to listen and visually synthesize and summarize ideas by using writing and drawing." The three images below are from What Are Sketchnotes?, an article I highly recommend checking out.
"Sketchnoting is powerful because it allows students to document their connection to ideas in a manner that is meaningful to them." source: Drawing in College: Using Sketchnoting to Support Student Engagement
Summary:
• Sketchnotes are a fun and playful way of harnessing ideas and translating them into art
• You're encouraged to incorporate all kinds of elements into your artwork, such as text boxes, fancy lettering, basic doodles and arrows (lots of arrows)
• They can be used just for your personal design fun, or on a giant scroll of blank paper with a group to encourage collaboration
• Can help get us past writer's block or a project which we might be feeling stuck on or having difficulty explaining
• Feel free to use sketchnotes for work to help chart or map out new plans or goals, or just enjoy them as a personal form of stress relief
I'd promised to post my version of a digital sketchnote last week, and here it is above! I would have loved to have more detailed in breaking out different categories of how #sketchnotes could be used to illustrate different marketing concepts - but I ran out of room. Honestly, I think this type of "visual thinking" or brainstorming works best with just a sketchpad and colored pencils or pens, than as a digital image. I'm going to do one this week also and I'll post that in a few days. Have you tried this style of creative illustration, aka "doodling"?
I hope this post wakes up your brain and offers a few suggestions to get your wheels turning! Thoughts or questions? Hop over to my Facebook page and leave a comment about your sketchnote process. Thanks for visiting my blog and have a great week ahead. 😊
Sincerely,
Andrea Baumann
Growth strategies for small business & nonprofits; community-centered
resource serving the Delmarva Peninsula (DE/MD/VA). Connect with us!
