A 25 minute workshop on sketchnoting (visual note taking) which I ran at the UK UXPA Creativity event on 21 March 2013, in London. I ran the workshop 3 times back-to-back and by the end of the evening we had around 50 sketchnotes created by the workshop attendees! Mike Rohde and Peachpit very kindly gave me 3 copies of The Sketchnote Handbook to give away and I picked out 3 budding sketchnoters to receive the books. Thanks to the UK UPA for organising the Creativity event and Sapient Nitro for hosting! And a hat tip to Eva-Lotta Lamm who inspired me to start sketchnoting back in 2011.

1. GETTING STARTED WITH
SKETCHNOTING
Michele Ide-Smith
User Experience Designer, Red Gate
@micheleidesmith

2. Workshop plan
• Introduction (3m)
• Getting started (7m)
• Let’s sketch! (15 m)

3. WHAT IS
SKETCHNOTING?

4. What is sketchnoting?
Illustration by Mike Rohde from The Sketchnote Handbook (Peachpit)
Visual note taking

5. Lots of different styles…
Carolyn Sewell Gerren Lamson
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pedestriantype/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/25552033@N06/

6. Lots of different styles…
agent.fin Eva-Lotta Lam
http://www.flickr.com/photos/agentfin/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/evalottchen/

7. Lots of different styles…
Francis Rowland Mike Rohde
http://www.flickr.com/photos/francisrowland/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/rohdesign/

8. Discover your own style!
Michele Ide-Smith
http://www.flickr.com/photos/micheleidesmith/

9. WHY DO
SKETCHNOTING?

10. Learning & Memory
Paivio’s ‘Dual Coding Theory’

11. Skills & Confidence
Explore design problems Communicate and collaborate
with your team

12. GETTING STARTED

13. Tools of the trade

14. 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!)

15. 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

16. Structure
Path Molecule Grid Vertical Clouds

17. People
Lo-fidelity Hi(gher)-fidelity Expressive
Different body sizes Seated Active Hands Characterful

18. Objects

19. Containers

20. Dividers & Connectors
Horizontal Curves Connectors
Shading adds emphasis

21. Typography

22. LET’S SKETCH!

23. 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

24. Finishing Touches
Add colour & shading (I love Promarkers!)

25. Share Your Sketchnotes
Take a picture or Then share with people at the
scan your notes event, or those tracking remotely!

26. 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

27. 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!

28. Useful Stuff!
rohdesign.com/book/
sketchnotearmy.com
flickr.com/groups/thesketchnotehandbook/
sunnibrown.com/doodlerevolution/

29. Get in touch!
@micheleidesmith
www.ide-smith.co.uk
e michele.ide-smith [at] red-gate [dot] com