'Doing' Sketchnoting

Rachel Burnham writes: I have been reading (or perhaps it should be looking at) ‘The xLontrax Theory of Sketchnote’ by Mauro Toselli, which is a book about Sketchnotes in the form of Sketchnotes.  xLontrax is Mauro Toselli’s sketchnoting name and you can find him on Twitter @xLontrax.

His book explores what makes an effective Sketchnote and is based upon many years of experience of sketchnoting, plus some research he did into what people are looking for when they look at a Sketchnote. This makes it very interesting reading for anyone wanting to produce Sketchnotes.  His Sketchnotes are lovely to look at and his typography is so graceful – I keep practising some of the fonts he uses.

His emphasis is on producing Sketchnotes to share and what makes an effective Sketchnote to share.  He looks at the various elements of a sketchnote and pulls out what works for people – what attracts initially and what makes them easy to understand.   It is well worth looking at and will help you think about the way you layout and present a Sketchnote. 

The value is in the ‘doing’ of Sketchnoting

Reading this has made me realise that my thinking about Sketchnotes has changed and now differs from Mauro Toselli’s focus. Over the last couple of years of offering workshops in Sketchnoting, I have begun to appreciate the value of Sketchnoting as a process, rather than the production of an end product.   For me Sketchnoting is now mostly about the ‘doing’ of it, rather than the production of a finished Sketchnote.

I now think of Sketchnoting as a ‘gateway’ activity that can serve to introduce people to drawing and also to using visuals to aid their thinking, learning and work.  Sketchnotes can be used not only for note taking, but for planning, reflecting, as a recap tool to aid spaced practice, for thinking things through and communicating informally. My friend and colleague, Liz Longden, has commented that learning to Sketchnote opened up the creative side of her brain. 

I have identified a number of benefits to ‘doing’ Sketchnoting:

1.  Sketchnoting is a great way to get started with drawing for work

As sketchnoting combines the use of simple drawings and graphics with words, it can be a great way of getting started with drawing.   As adults, so many of us feel that we can’t draw and feel embarrassed about sharing our efforts with other people.   Yet as children, the vast majority of us did draw confidently and with enjoyment.   Sketchnoting can be a way to dip your toe in the water and have a go at drawing, without any pretensions to art or illustration, that so often get in the way of people picking up a pencil.   You can begin to Sketchnote effectively with very simplified hand drawn graphics that you can get started with straight away.   And the more you do, the better you get and the more confident you get - applying that ‘growth mindset’.

2.  Sketchnoting slows you down

The use of drawing in Sketchnoting forces you to slow down.  Traditional note-taking using just words is definitely faster, but that doesn’t mean you take it in – sometimes you can make notes and when you look back at them, you are hardly conscious of what you have written, because it has been so automatic.  When you add in drawing, it slows you down.   It forces you take things at a slower pace, whether this is note taking in a presentation, meeting or learning session or when thinking things through for yourself or putting information together to share with colleagues. 

That slowing down in itself can be beneficial – many of the participants in my workshops have commented on how relaxing and de-stressing they find this.  But it also gives you time to think, focus and identify what is important.  

When you are Sketchnoting live in a presentation, meeting or learning session that slowing down is linked to listening deeply and focusing on what is important, so that you only attempt to capture in a Sketchnote key points – the key points for you.   In a similar way, when using Sketchnoting to aid thinking or if planning a project, presentation or piece of writing, slowing down can enable you to think more deeply about that piece of work.  Outlining an image or colouring in a section can give you time to engage at a deeper level with the material.

3.  Sketchnoting promotes observation and listening

This slowing down that drawing and Sketchnoting require are also closely connected to being able to observe and listen carefully.  

Great drawing often begins with observation and similiarly Sketchnoting live begins with listening.  These activities promote attentiveness.  

You need to be able to still yourself and your own voice to see what is before you, to consider the evidence and listen to what is being said, or not said.  Observation and listening are very powerful skills to have and are helpful in a great many circumstances in the workplace, such as when working with customers and colleagues, when problem-solving, or when improving services and processes.

4.  Sketchnoting encourages playfulness

Sketchnoting often involves the use of metaphor and humour.  Colour is often made use of – though some Sketchnoters work very effectively just using black ink. 

This all encourages a playful approach which can enable you to look at things differently and from different perspectives.   It can help you to communicate  a concept, a process or information in a more imaginative way, that connects more effectively and memorably with the intended recipients.   It can help you to see things in a fresh light as well, perhaps enabling you to come up with a different approach or additional ideas that would not have occurred otherwise.  

5.  Sketchnoting develops pattern seeking and creation

Sketchnoting and the use of visuals can help with seeing patterns amongst information and data.  The use of different layouts, colour and tools, such as arrows, to group information and to explore the relationship between items can be very helpful in thinking things through.  Perhaps in outlining a current process, or imagining a new framework or communicating an idea. 

This is an area where you definitely don’t need to be able to draw, other than simple arrows and shapes such as circles, rectangles or triangles to link and group items together.   The use of colour can also help you to see patterns and present material more clearly.

 

6.  Sketchnoting encourages seeing the whole story

Presenting ideas visually can help you to see things differently.  A recent participant in one of my Sketchnoting workshops was mapping out a process he was very familiar with in a Sketchnote and commented how much easier it was to do it in this format.  He noted how quickly he had spotted things out of place or missed, compared to when he had tried to describe the process in a text only document.

Others have commented on how useful a Sketchnote can be to support describing a process or presenting information to a colleague, because they can see the information as a whole.

So, whilst a finished Sketchnote is a lovely thing, great for capturing notes of a session or summarising some reading or a podcast, being able to produce a finished Sketchnote is only one benefit of Sketchnoting.  I think that the real value of Sketchnoting is in the doing of Sketchnoting and the many ways Sketchnoting contributes to thinking, learning and working.       

Rachel Burnham

9 September 2019

I help individuals and organisations to work and learn more effectively, particularly though using the tools of Sketchnoting and the curation of resources.  I make use of Sketchnoting to introduce people to using visuals to aid thinking, working and learning.  I help people to manage for themselves the information they need to stay up-to-date in their professional work.