Getting Started With Sketchnoting

Michele Ide-Smith @micheleidesmith

GETTING STARTED WITH SKETCHNOTING

Michele Ide-Smith

User Experience Designer, Red Gate

@micheleidesmith


About me

• User Experience Designer

based in Cambridge

• Sketchnoting since

November 2011

• Co-organiser of Cambridge

Usability Group talks

2


Workshop plan • What is sketchnoting? (5 m)

• Why do sketchnotes? (5 m)

• How to create a sketchnote (30 m)

• Break (10 m)

• Let’s sketch! (8 m)

• Sketch review (15 m)

• Top tips (5 m)

• Resources (5 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 flickr.com/photos/pedestriantype

Mike Rohde flickr.com/photos/rohdesign



agent.fin flickr.com/photos/agentfin

Eva-Lotta Lam flickr.com/photos/evalottchen



Francis Rowland flickr.com/photos/francisrowland

Gerren Lamson flickr.com/photos/25552033@N06


Discover your own style!

Michele Ide-Smith flickr.com/photos/micheleidesmith


It’s not just for talks…

10

Christian Frey http://christianfrey.ca

Matthew Magain uxmastery.com


WHY DO SKETCHNOTING?


Learning & Memory

Paivio’s ‘Dual Coding Theory’


Skills & Confidence

Explore design problems Communicate and

collaborate with your team


Enjoyment!

14


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 metaphors and images pop into your head? Don’t be afraid to try sketching them.

• Don’t stress if you don’t catch everything! The speaker will probably upload their slides.

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


Slides are visual

• Speaker slides provide rich visual imagery


Structure

Path Molecule Grid Vertical Clouds


Visual Design Principles

• Contrast

• Repetition

• Alignment

• Proximity

21

Michele Ide-Smith @micheleidesmith 22


Visual Design Principles

• Contrast

• Repetition

• Alignment

• Proximity

23


Make the Talk title pop out

• Do the title up front, or leave space to

complete it after the talk

24



Drawing People

Lo-fidelity Hi(gher)-fidelity


Shape, size, expression

26

Different body sizes Expressive


Activities and Motion

27


Detail and character

28


Speaker portraits

29



Speaker portraits

• Find an image of the speaker in Google

images, Twitter or on the event website

30

You’re kidding right?


Activity!

• Draw a stick person using these basic

shapes in 1 minute:

31


Facial expressions

32

Happy Miserable Delighted

Angry Surprised Worried


Activity!

• Create these expressions in 2 minutes:

33

Angry Surprised Happy


Objects


Activity!

• Draw 3 objects in 5 minutes

35

3. Whiteboard 2. Toaster 1. Smart Phone


Containers


Activity!

• Draw a ribbon banner

37


Dividers & Connectors

Horizontal Curves

Shading adds emphasis

Connectors


Typography


Use size And weight to denote hierarchy

40

Mike Rohde flickr.com/photos/rohdesign

Gerren Lamson flickr.com/photos/25552033@N06


Practise drawing type faces

41


Activity!

• Draw the UX Scotland logo in 5 minutes:

42


Shading and Colour

43


Mistakes happen…

44

• Use shading or

turn the mistake

into something

else, e.g. a badly

drawn neck

became a scarf!


Mistakes happen…

45

• If it’s not easy to

recover, scan your

notes and fix the

problem in

Photoshop e.g. if

you get the

speaker’s points in

the wrong order.


Coffee Time!

46


WELCOME BACK! NOW LET’S SKETCH!


Activity!

• It’s your turn to create a sketchnote!

• 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

http://www.ted.com/talks/tom_wujec_build_a_tower.html

http://www.ted.com/talks/tom_wujec_build_a_tower.html


Add some Finishing Touches!

Add colour & shading (I love Promarkers!)


Sketch Review

• Post your sketches up on the wall

• Present your sketch to the group

– What do you like?

– What don’t you like?

– What did you learn?

50


Share Your Sketchnotes!

Take a picture, or

scan your notes

Then share with people at the

event, or those tracking

remotely!


Sketchnote Communities

• sketchnotearmy.com

• flickr.com/groups/sketchnotes/

• flickr.com/groups/thesketchnotehandbook

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http://www.sketchnotearmy.com/

http://www.flickr.com/groups/sketchnotes/



http://www.flickr.com/groups/thesketchnotehandbook

http://www.flickr.com/groups/thesketchnotehandbook


Top 10 Tips 1. Practise often! TED & UX talks, Vimeo,

YouTube and Meet Ups

2. Always take 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 – CRAP! (Contrast, Repetition, Alignment and Proximity)

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

uxmastery.com/sketchnoting-101-how-to-create-

awesome-visual-notes

slideshare.net/jalderman/practical-sketchnoting

sunnibrown.com/doodlerevolution

http://www.uxmastery.com/sketchnoting-101-how-to-create-awesome-visual-notes















http://www.slideshare.net/jalderman/practical-sketchnoting





http://sunnibrown.com/doodlerevolution

http://sunnibrown.com/doodlerevolution


Sketchnote HandBook Giveaway! • 3 copies of the Sketchnote

Handbook by Mike Rohde to giveaway (thanks Peachpit!)

• Tweet a picture of your sketchnotes with the hashtags #uxscot and #sketchnote

• Together with Software Acumen we’ll select our favourite 3 sketchnotes by the end of UX Scotland


Get in touch!

@micheleidesmith

www.ide-smith.co.uk

michele [dot] ide-

smith@red-gate [dot] com

e

http://www.ide-smith.co.uk/



Technology

Getting Started With Sketchnoting