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Here are the five simple tips we cover both at Credera and at the start of each Dallas VizThink meeting. Hopefully you'll find them useful next time you're the one holding the marker.
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Discussion document – Strictly Confidential & Proprietary
Sketching 101: Whiteboard Pro-tips Dallas, TX January 6, 2010
January 6, 2012 Sketching 101: Whiteboard Pro-tips
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Why Sketching Matters …
“When I started out as a consultant, it took me a long time
to figure out what a consultant really does. After many
years, I finally realized that a consultant’s role is to be an
on-demand problem solver: you’re called into a business
meeting, presented some data and questions, and
expected to start solving the problem right then, whatever it
may be…”
“Any problem can be made clearer with a picture, and any
picture can be made using the same simple set of tools.”
Dan Roam
Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures
Whoever is best able to describe the problem is the person most likely to solve it
Top 5 Tips for Effective Sketches
January 6, 2012 Sketching 101: Whiteboard Pro-tips
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Top 5 Tips …
1. Title your sketch 2. Combine simple shapes 3. Express emotion or state 4. Label each noun 5. Arrows demonstrate relationships
Let’s take a closer look at each of these rules to see how easy effective sketching can be.
Effective sketching is easier than you think – following a few simple rules will make your drawings both easy to follow and memorable
sketch by @PaulGoode
Tip #1: Title The Page / Whiteboard And Write The Date
January 6, 2012 Sketching 101: Whiteboard Pro-tips
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Top 5 Tips … Title Your Sketch
Write the sketches title before making any other marks on the board – this establishes a frame and purpose for your effort
Don’t worry about getting the title right. You can always change it later. But getting a title down on the board gets you and everyone else in the room thinking about the problem, ready to break it down, describe, and solve it!
Tip #2: Combine Simple Shapes
January 6, 2012 Sketching 101: Whiteboard Pro-tips
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Top 5 Tips … Combine Simple Shapes
Even the most complex illustrations and diagrams are just collections and combinations of the most basic shapes that we all know how to draw
The most elementary shapes can be combined into very recognizable symbols. Every noun depicted here is composed of simple boxes, lines, and circles or curves. This is more than enough detail to communicate meaning (and understanding).
Remember Ed Emberley? He’s awesome.
Tip #2: Use Simple Lines To Show Activity & Emotion
January 6, 2012 Sketching 101: Whiteboard Pro-tips
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Top 5 Tips … Express Emotion Or State
Demonstrating action and emotion amplify the effectiveness of sketches
Simple changes in the lines used for eyebrows and mouths can dramatically effect the emotion of a simple “smiley” face – very useful for contrasting the “current state” from the “future vision”. Using a triangle, circle, and a few lines we can illustrate a wide range of physical activity – very useful for describing a process.
Remember Ed Emberley? He’s awesome.
Tip #4: Use Both Words And Shapes In Your Sketches
January 6, 2012 Sketching 101: Whiteboard Pro-tips
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Top 5 Tips … Label Each Noun
Easiest way to make your symbols easier to recognize is to label them
Some people learn visually. Some people learn audibly. When we label our pictures we cater to both, and remove ambiguity. These images are easier to identify because they are all labeled.
S<ll awesome.
Tip #5: Use Arrows To Show Chronology, Causality, or Any Other Relationship
January 6, 2012 Sketching 101: Whiteboard Pro-tips
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Top 5 Tips … Arrows Demonstrate Relationships
Connect your nouns with verbs – arrows help demonstrate how each of your symbols are related
Connecting your nouns creates visual sentences. A connection might show steps in a process, cause and effect, or even just a simple sentence like the concept map illustrated here. Before this was cleaned up in Visio, it was just a collection of nouns on a whiteboard, each entity connected with a verb.
Required Content for Legal Quals Database
Top 5 Tips for Effective Sketches
January 6, 2012 Sketching 101: Whiteboard Pro-tips
9
Top 5 Tips … Summary
1. Title your sketch 2. Combine simple shapes 3. Express emotion or state 4. Label each noun 5. Arrows demonstrate relationships
“Any problem can be made clearer with a picture, and any picture can be made using the same simple set of tools.” (Dan Roam, again)
Take another look at this sketch and you’ll see how these simple, repeatable concepts make an effective means for communication
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sketch by @PaulGoode