Sketchnotes / Visual Notetaking

Visual notes (or sketchnotes as they are sometimes called) are a way of capturing ideas (from talks, books, videos or your own head) in an engaging and visual way by combining the power of sketching and writing.

Sketchnotes are not new – artists and designers have captured their thoughts in a visual way for centuries – but recently, there has been quite a bit of interest and activity around sketchnotes and visual thinking in general in the web and UX community. And with tablet tools like the iPad taking off, sketching is now becoming an activity that can easily be done directly in the digital medium, without the need for a separate graphic tablet.

This talk gives an introduction to visual note taking by presenting the main characteristics that make it a great tool for designers (and anybody else) to capture their thoughts. It explains why this form of note taking is a wonderful opportunity for designers to practice and refine all sorts of important skills for our profession.

By showing and analyzing lost of examples from different sketchnoters and through tips from personal experience, this talk provides attendants with the main principles and building blocks of sketchnotes as well as lots of inspiration to jump straight into taking their own visual notes.