Slides from my workshop 'Getting Started With Sketchnoting' at UX Scotland (#uxscot) in June 2013.

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

2. Michele Ide-Smith @micheleidesmith
About me
• User Experience Designer
based in Cambridge
• Sketchnoting since
November 2011
• Co-organiser of Cambridge
Usability Group talks
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3. Michele Ide-Smith @micheleidesmith
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)

4. Michele Ide-Smith @micheleidesmith
WHAT IS SKETCHNOTING?

5. Michele Ide-Smith @micheleidesmith
What is sketchnoting?
Visual note taking
Illustration by Mike Rohde from The Sketchnote Handbook (Peachpit)

6. Michele Ide-Smith @micheleidesmith
Lots of different styles…
Carolyn Sewell
flickr.com/photos/pedestriantype
Mike Rohde
flickr.com/photos/rohdesign

7. Michele Ide-Smith @micheleidesmith
Lots of different styles…
agent.fin
flickr.com/photos/agentfin
Eva-Lotta Lam
flickr.com/photos/evalottchen

8. Michele Ide-Smith @micheleidesmith
Lots of different styles…
Francis Rowland
flickr.com/photos/francisrowland
Gerren Lamson
flickr.com/photos/25552033@N06

9. Michele Ide-Smith @micheleidesmith
Discover your own style!
Michele Ide-Smith
flickr.com/photos/micheleidesmith

10. Michele Ide-Smith @micheleidesmith
It’s not just for talks…
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Christian Frey
http://christianfrey.ca
Matthew Magain
uxmastery.com

11. Michele Ide-Smith @micheleidesmith
WHY DO SKETCHNOTING?

12. Michele Ide-Smith @micheleidesmith
Learning & Memory
Paivio’s ‘Dual Coding Theory’

13. Michele Ide-Smith @micheleidesmith
Skills & Confidence
Explore design problems Communicate and
collaborate with your team

14. Michele Ide-Smith @micheleidesmith
Enjoyment!
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15. Michele Ide-Smith @micheleidesmith
GETTING STARTED

16. Michele Ide-Smith @micheleidesmith
Tools of the trade

17. Michele Ide-Smith @micheleidesmith
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!)

18. Michele Ide-Smith @micheleidesmith
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

19. Michele Ide-Smith @micheleidesmith
Slides are visual
• Speaker slides provide rich visual imagery

20. Michele Ide-Smith @micheleidesmith
Structure
Path Molecule Grid Vertical Clouds

21. Michele Ide-Smith @micheleidesmith
Visual Design Principles
• Contrast
• Repetition
• Alignment
• Proximity
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22. Michele Ide-Smith @micheleidesmith22

23. Michele Ide-Smith @micheleidesmith
Visual Design Principles
• Contrast
• Repetition
• Alignment
• Proximity
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




24. Michele Ide-Smith @micheleidesmith
Make the Talk title pop out
• Do the title up front, or leave space to
complete it after the talk
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Francis Rowland
flickr.com/photos/francisrowland

25. Michele Ide-Smith @micheleidesmith
Drawing People
Lo-fidelity Hi(gher)-fidelity

26. Michele Ide-Smith @micheleidesmith
Shape, size, expression
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Different body sizes Expressive

27. Michele Ide-Smith @micheleidesmith
Activities and Motion
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28. Michele Ide-Smith @micheleidesmith
Detail and character
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29. Michele Ide-Smith @micheleidesmith
Speaker portraits
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Francis Rowland
flickr.com/photos/francisrowland

30. Michele Ide-Smith @micheleidesmith
Speaker portraits
• Find an image of the speaker in Google
images, Twitter or on the event website
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You’re kidding
right?

31. Michele Ide-Smith @micheleidesmith
Activity!
• Draw a stick person using these basic
shapes in 1 minute:
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32. Michele Ide-Smith @micheleidesmith
Facial expressions
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Happy Miserable Delighted
Angry Surprised Worried

33. Michele Ide-Smith @micheleidesmith
Activity!
• Create these expressions in 2 minutes:
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AngrySurprisedHappy

34. Michele Ide-Smith @micheleidesmith
Objects

35. Michele Ide-Smith @micheleidesmith
Activity!
• Draw 3 objects in 5 minutes
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3. Whiteboard2. Toaster1. Smart Phone

36. Michele Ide-Smith @micheleidesmith
Containers

37. Michele Ide-Smith @micheleidesmith
Activity!
• Draw a ribbon banner
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38. Michele Ide-Smith @micheleidesmith
Dividers & Connectors
Horizontal Curves
Shading adds emphasis
Connectors

39. Michele Ide-Smith @micheleidesmith
Typography

40. Michele Ide-Smith @micheleidesmith
Use size And weight to denote hierarchy
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Mike Rohde
flickr.com/photos/rohdesign
Gerren Lamson
flickr.com/photos/25552033@N06

41. Michele Ide-Smith @micheleidesmith
Practise drawing type faces
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42. Michele Ide-Smith @micheleidesmith
Activity!
• Draw the UX Scotland logo in 5 minutes:
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43. Michele Ide-Smith @micheleidesmith
Shading and Colour
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44. Michele Ide-Smith @micheleidesmith
Mistakes happen…
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• Use shading or
turn the mistake
into something
else, e.g. a badly
drawn neck
became a scarf!

45. Michele Ide-Smith @micheleidesmith
Mistakes happen…
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• 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.

46. Michele Ide-Smith @micheleidesmith
Coffee Time!
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47. Michele Ide-Smith @micheleidesmith
WELCOME BACK! NOW LET’S SKETCH!

48. Michele Ide-Smith @micheleidesmith
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

49. Michele Ide-Smith @micheleidesmith
Add some Finishing Touches!
Add colour & shading (I love Promarkers!)

50. Michele Ide-Smith @micheleidesmith
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?
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51. Michele Ide-Smith @micheleidesmith
Share Your Sketchnotes!
Take a picture, or
scan your notes
Then share with people at the
event, or those tracking
remotely!

52. Michele Ide-Smith @micheleidesmith
Sketchnote Communities
• sketchnotearmy.com
• flickr.com/groups/sketchnotes/
• flickr.com/groups/thesketchnotehandbook
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53. Michele Ide-Smith @micheleidesmith
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

54. Michele Ide-Smith @micheleidesmith
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!

55. Michele Ide-Smith @micheleidesmith
Useful Stuff!
rohdesign.com/book
uxmastery.com/sketchnoting-101-how-to-create-
awesome-visual-notes
slideshare.net/jalderman/practical-sketchnoting
sunnibrown.com/doodlerevolution

56. Michele Ide-Smith @micheleidesmith
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

57. Michele Ide-Smith @micheleidesmith
Get in touch!
@micheleidesmith
www.ide-smith.co.uk
michele [dot] ide-
smith@red-gate [dot] com
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