The sketchnote handbook mike rohde

THE SIKETCHNOTE HANDt 00K VIDEO EDITION:The illustrated guide to visual note taking Mike Rohde Peachpit Press Peachpit Press is a division o f Pearson Education.. NATHAN, LINNEA, AND LAN

THE SIKETCHNOTE HANDt 00K VIDEO EDITION:

The illustrated guide to visual note taking

Mike Rohde

Peachpit Press

Peachpit Press is a division o f Pearson Education

Copyright © 2013 by Michael D Rohde

Acquisitions Editor: Nikki Echier McDonald

Development Editor: Anne Marie Walker

Proofreader: Liz Welch

Production Editor: katerino, Malone

Indexer: James Minkin

Cover Design and Illustrations: Mike Rohde

Interior Design and Illustrations: Mike Rohde

Video Producer: Brian A r t k a

Media Producer: Eric G e o ff roy

NOTICE OF RIGHTS

Alt rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form

by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without

the prior written permission o f the publisher For information on getting permission f o rreprints and excerpts, contact permissions@peachpit.com

NOTICE OF LIABILITY

The information in this book is distributed on an "As Is" basis without warranty While

every precaution has been taken in the preparation o f the book, neither the authornor Peachpit shall have any liability to any person or entity with respect to any loss ordamage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the instructions contained

in this book or by the computer software and hardware products described in it

TRADEMARKS

Many o f the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their

products are claimed as trademarks Where those designations appear in this book, andPeachpit was aware of a trademark claim, the designations appear as requested by theowner of the trademark All other product names and services identified throughoutthis book are used in editorial fashion only and f o r the benefit of such companies with nointention o f infringement of the trademark No such use, o r the use o f any trade name, isintended to convey endorsement or other affiliation with this book

THAT'

S MY

A-TEAM

!

- - - - - ,

To Gail, Nathan, Linnea, and Landon,thotnk you for your support on thislong and challenging journey.

You are the reason I work so hard

to create things and share tvly ideas

i love you.

1 7

D r

r ' ' - N

TAKING ON A PROJECT OF THIS MAGNITUDE is a great reminder of just how

valuable my family, friends, colleagues, and community are Without them, I'mcertain The Sketchnote Handbook would not have happened

SAIL, you are the first and most important person on the list Even though you were expecting a baby, you encouraged and supported me on many late nights and weekends Thanks for sharing the vision with me I love you!

NATHAN, LINNEA, AND LANDON, thanks for supporting me during the creation

of the book and video As your dad, I hope my work makes you proud.

VON GLITSCHKA, you get credit for sparking this book over Thai food in Portland.Thanks for believing in me and pitching my book idea just minutes a f t e r dinner

NIKKI MCDONALD, you've been behind me on this book from the beginning to the end Thanks for considering my book idea, selling it to your team, and keeping

me on track and encouraged through the long, hard creation process Most important, thanks for helping me create something truly unique and different ANNE MARIE WALKER, you've been a fabulous editor, challenging me to make the book better Thanks for keeping me on my toes and making my prose look so good AMY VAN VECHTEN, thanks for providing excellent direction and feedback on the video project Thanks for trusting me and Seal Team Sketchnote as we worked.

PEACHPIT, your team has been ajoy to work with Everyone was professional cknd

so easy to work with Thank you Nancy, Glenn, Katerina, Mimi, Lupe, Charlene,

Eric, Liz, and James for making my f i r s t book experience a great one

DAVID FUGATE, thanks for your expert guidance through the book contract process I couldn't have asked for a better agent.

BRIAN ARTKA, you're a great friend and an amazing videographer Thanks f o r

capturing my vision and helping me "Be Mike" for the camera.

DELVE WITHRINGTON, thanks for creating fonts of my hand lettering

Your typefaces have saved me many long hours of drawing every letter by hand

GABE WOLLENBUR6, you have a great knack for timing Thanks f o r making the

video script happen when I hact no idea how to even begin the process

FEATURED SKETCHNOTERS: Binaebi Akah, Creighton Berman, Boon Chew,

Veronica Erb, Jessica Esch, Alexis Finch, Michelle George, Eva-Lotta Lamm,

Gerren Lamson, Matthew Magain, Timothy Reynolds, Francis Rowland, Chris

Shipton, Paul Soupiset, and kyle Steed, thanks for your contributions

STEPHEN MORK, thanks for creating an uplifting and cool soundtrack

Your music adds an important richness and positive vibe to the video

MARK FAIRBANKS AND CYNTHIA THOMAS, thanks for sharing your Translator

space f o r the video shoot and f o r your encouragement throughout the project

JON MUELLER, thanks for speaking on the video and allowing my sketchnotes of

your talk to become such a key p a r t of the book and video I've been honored to call

you a friend and appreciate your guidance in the creation of my f i r s t book

FRIENDS AND COLLEAGUES , thanks for your reviews and feedback about the

book and video in production This is (A better book because of your help

TO THE SKETCHNOTING COMMUNITY, thanks for your support through the years.

I'm excited to see where our community will go and how it will grow once this book

reaches new readers and viewers.

vil

ABOUT THIJ LITHOR

MIKE ROHDE has a passion f o r simple and usable

design solutions That passion, along with his lifelong

habit of recording concepts and observations

through sketching and doodling, inspired him to

develop sketchnotes—a practical art that translates

simple and complex ideas into easily recalled bits

o f information

Professionally, Mike focuses on user interface,

user experience, visual design, and icon design f o r mobile and web applications

at Govnoll Research + Design in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

As a sketchnoter, Mike provides live, real-time sketchnotes of events,

meetings, and experiences in venues across the United States

In his illustration practice, Mike uses his unique drawing style to amplify and

clarify ideas His work has been featured in REWORK, the best-selling book by

Jason Fried and David Heinenleier Hansson; The $100 Startup, a best-selling

book by Chris Guillebeau; 11 CI The Little Book o f Talent b9 Daniel Coyle

Community and sharing are important cornerstones of Mike's philosophy, as

evidenced by the creation of The Sketchnote Army, w e b s i t e dedicated to

finding and showcasing sketchnotes and sketchnoters from around the world

Mike has also shared his thinking, design process, and samples of his design and

illustration work at his personal website, rohdesign.com, since 2003

Mike lives with his wife, Gail, and children, Nathckn, Linnea, and Landon, just

outside of Milwaukee He's an avid Green Bay Packers fan

Learn more about Mike at rohdesign.com

ix

WHAT E

SKETCHNOTES?

• Sketchnotes Were Born of Frustration%

• How Are Sketchnotes Created?

• Can I Create Sketchnotes?

• %decks, Not Art%

• One Step at a Time

Is Dynamic and Fun!

LISTEN UPI 'of

• The Ke9s to Listening

• Scan, Tune er Post

• Anatomy °fa Sketchnote

• A Sketchnote from Start to Pinish

SKETCH4OT 1

• Style Plus Thinking

• Structure, Then Style!

• The Art & Structure Scale

E I C I H N O T E S 8 • Two-stage Sketchnoting • Two-stage Penc t I n k A proach

• Two-stage Rough to Refined Approach

t h

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• Drawing Visuat elements

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• Drawing Metaphor loots for SI(etchnoting

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e t c h n o t e s

with drawings, diagrams, cknd typography in my notebooks.

Somewhere in the process of growing up and getting ajob, I lost my way The relaxed, visual note-taking approach from my college days had morphed into

a fanatically detailed, text-only death march Ironically, I became a great notetaker who couldn't stand taking notes

The solution to my note-taking problem was a blank pocket Moleskine, stackedneatly on my bookshelf I'd bought it on Ck whim (A few months before and I realized

t h a t its small size, paired with an unerasabte pen, could be a perfect way tochallenge my overly detailed, note-taking mind-set

In January 2007, I brought my Moleskine and a gel pen to Chicago f o r a

conference to try sketchnoting Could I take fewer but better notes? If I focused

on quality, could I live with seeing my mistakes in pen? Would adding drawings to

my notes bring back my joy of note taking? Could taking notes become fun again?

The answer to these questions wcks a resounding yes! As I captured my f i r s tsketchnotes, I was able to stow down and listen f o r big ideas I loved the

no-turning-back attitude of using a pen Best of all, I had ck great time takingnotes again

Ever since that mind-altering experience, I've been working hard through myWog, The Sketchnote Army, and at live presentations and workshops to share mypassion for sketchnoting I take great pleasure in talking (About why sketchnotingenables you to take better notes, explaining how to create sketchnotes, andpersuading people to give sketchnoting a try This passion f o r sketchnoting is

what drove me to spend hundreds of hours writing, illustrating, and designing this book I want you to enjoy taking notes as much as I do, and I hope that by the end

of this book you will.

WHO IS THIS BOOK FOR?

Whether you believe you can or can't draw, I'm here to tell you that anyone who can make marks on paper can benefit from this book Sketchnotes Ckre about hearing and capturing meaningful ideas, not how well you draw_

Take it from me, you can create sketchnotes• In this book, I will show you how to draw simple objects, create custom lettering, and use other hand-drawn elements

to help you express your thoughts visually Even if you can't draw a straight line, you can learn to sketchnote with a little practice.

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A compfoted title r o o d g to go.

ONCE I'VE SETTLED IN, 1 checkthe topic aandthe

speal,er's name, verif g spellings and sometimes

find a photo on o f phone to create avisuallg

interesting title page f or the speak.er or the topic.

complete my title before thespeaker begins, so I can focus

on the talk rather than rushing

to create a title at the start

of the presentation,

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WHAT IS THE SKETCHNOTE HANDBOOK?

The Sketchnote Handbook is a simple, ViStAat Manua( designed to teach you basicsketchnoting concepts, ckpproaches, and techniques quickty, so you can s t a r tcreating sketchnotes ilinkYlediCkte19•

Each page of this book has been lovingly hand-sketched to show you how muchfun it is to learn from notes that incorporate pictures and words equally Ratherthool write a lot of words ckbout sketchnoting, I decided that if I was going to talkthe talk, I'd better walk the walk (or, nlaybe, sketch the sketch?) So, I created theentire book as one, long, fun—hopefully inspiring—itlustration

The Sketchnote Handbook • Chapter 4

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THE SKETCHNOTE COMMUNITY

Of course, I'm not the only person in the world who sketchnotes I'm amazed and

energized by the wide variety of people all over the world who create and actively

share their sketchnotes I love the sense of community that has sprung up around

this process, and I've made a great many friends through sharing and discussing

sketchnotes online and at conferences

I invited IS of these friends—leading sketchnoters from around the world—to

each create a two-page spread for this book that shares a bit about who they are,

how they came to sketchnoting, and a tip or two to help you take better notes

What I hope you'll notice from looking at their work at the end of each cho,pter

is that everyone sees the world differently; everyone processes information

d i ff e r e n t l y ; everyone has their own, unique style, and that's part of what makes

sketchnoting so much fun! There's no right way Or wrong wcty to do it

I will teckch you the basic principles of sketchnoting, but the reo,ljoy will come

when you start creating sketchnotes and discover how taking notes can unleash

your creativity and make paying attention, even at the most boring meetings,

something you look forward to doing

REACH OUT

As you learn from this book, I encourage you to share your own sketchnotes

At The Sketchnote Handbook Flickr group (www-flickr-comigroupst

thesketchnotehandbook)- I plan on hanging out there a lot, and I'd love to see

how you've taken this process and made it your own

You can view more of my work and contact me through my personal website at

rohdesign-com or on Twitter at twitter.comirohdesign I look forward to hearing

what you think of the book and learning about your sketchnoting experiences

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W A S M U S T , T E D by the highly detaited, text-only

notes I was taking at conferences and in meetings.

I ARG!

The stress escalated as I worked hard to capture

T H I S !

notebooks Worse, I never looked

at my notes after their completion.

A PENCIL

/was so worried about - - - - 1

making mistakes, I took

hly notes in pencil, so

I could erase any errors

A LARGE, LINED

NOTEBOOK

Because I tried to

capture every

detail, I needed large

pages t o store all

o f t h a t i n f o r m a t i o n

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SKETCHNOTES AREN'T DRY AND

DETAILED BUT ARE Simple and Clear.

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THIS VISUAL and HOLISTIC APPROACH

to note taking engages your mind so you can understand the ideas you're hearing wilile activating your hand

to turn those ideas into concrete, VISUAL NOTES.

BECAUSE YOUR MIND AND BODY ACT TOGETHER, YOU CAN RECALL MORE Of WHAT YOU HEAR AND DRAW.

11

SKETCH

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From drawing and handwriting style

to the ideas included and how those ideas are expressed on the page.

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EACH SKETCHNOTE IS UNIQUE 1

EVEN THOUGH THE UNDERLYING PRINCIPLES

Of SKETCHNOTING REMAIN THE SAME.

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AT A TIME.

WHEN YOU'RE STARTING ANYTHING NEW, IT MAKES SENSE

TO TAKE IT SLOW & BUILD ON SUCCESS.

Take the first step: Reserve a small area in your regular notes to try some sketchnote techniques — even

if it's a drawing of the speaker.

As you experiment and try out the simple techniques in this book, you can add more toots to your visuat-thinking tootbox, and as a result, add more richness

to your notes, one step at a time.

• •

R E C A P

got+ Regular notes were frustrating, so used drawings to help express the big ideas.

—3 Setting limitations helped me become

more deliberate with what captured.

Sketchnotes are rkh, visual notes that act as a map of the ideas you see and hear.

0 4 Keeping an active mind and body helps you engage and recall more detail later on.

-410 Sketchnotes let you add your own

personality, creating richer notes.

You can draw nearly anyhing using just

a square, circle, triangle, line, and dot Sketchnotes are about ideas, not art! One step at a time Build on success.

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The title creation was done before the event, using Ck photo of

t h e speaker, Jon Mueller, on m9 iPhone.

For the f i r s t idea, I captured "A THING THAT YOU DO."

Jon talked about a snare drum, so m9 f i r s t drawing was of a drum.

Here I've f i t t e d "DRUMS WERE MY THING" into this snug space

on the right side of the snare drum drawing.

An arrow points to another idea lower on the page.

I added a "DO MY OWN THING" concept in the lower-right area.

Here I emphasized the idea of snare drums being verboten.

radial pattern to organize the talk information.

I'll talk about sketchnote patterns in Chapter 5.

73

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Here Iadded a drawing of Jon's drum setup as I pictured it

in M y mind's eye I added the titte after drawing the image.

This description of Jon's approach to sending sounds through snare drums was key to the presentation, so I gave it focus with large, ALL CAPS typography.

I used a separator to create a break between the top and bottom Jon mentioned driving to Boston, creating a record, and

touring the country, so I added it just below the separator.

Here's another sepctrator using dashed lines.

To wrap up my sketchnotes, I used bold type to

to emphasize the speaker's final thought.

On the second page of my sketchnotes, I used

a linear pattern for the information with heavier emphasis on drawings and typography.

75

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