What's sketchnoting?

Have you ever written a report without much conviction, drowned in hundreds of lines and sentences, each one more formal than the previous one. Tried to make an idea or a concept understood without much success through incomprehensible notes?

Sketchnoting is a restitution method belonging to a group of techniques called "Graphic Facilitation". Very close to the mind mapping method, sketchnoting offers a wider choice of results by mixing sentences, words, and illustrations. Its particularity is that it uses several senses such as hearing, sight, and touch, which makes it very interesting to practice and accessible to a large number of people. The iconographic vocabulary is very personal and you can develop and enrich it as you practice sketching.

“Sketchnoting, also commonly referred to as visual notetaking, is the creative and graphic process through which an individual can record their thoughts with the use of illustrations, symbols, structures, and texts.” Wikipedia

Originally used in "live": during meetings, interviews, conferences, this method can be used after taking notes leaving the sketch artist the possibility to pose his plan.

Why is it so great to use this method in companies?
First of all, anyone can do it. You won't be asked to be a Picasso! The idea of the Sketchnote is to allow everyone to convey ideas effectively through drawings and text.

The basics are a few geometric shapes, which you'll see a little further on in this article... and that's it!

This also allows you to :

• Make reports much more digestible and visual to all the teams.
• Make concepts or ideas more easily understood, by imaging the thought process.
• Deliver a very personal interpretation during the restitution.

And now, to your pencils!

For 1 person, you'll need the following items:

📑 Blank sheets of paper, ✍️Pens, 🖍️ Multi-coloured felt-tip pens

You will also be able to do your sketch on procreate available at the moment only on Ipad.
You will also need to draw graphic elements such as squares, triangles, circles, lines and points. Remember, you are not asked to be an artist, it is the understanding of the idea that counts.

1 - Start by prioritizing your text, sorting out what seems important to you or not. If you are taking notes live, try to divide up the speech you are listening so that you have a plan in mind.

2 - Write your title to structure your summary, using a banner for example.

3 - Link ideas together using linking elements. You can also separate them thanks to separation elements.

4 - Add illustrations to make the drawing easier to understand! Don't panic, you don't have to be Picasso to make a sketch.

5 - Finally, don't forget to play with different colours to highlight important elements.

So you will have understood that this method makes it possible to :

• Text synthesize
• Prioritize information
• Sort information
• Develop your creativity
• Memorize items up to +6.5 times the normal value.

Now you have all the keys in your hands! Now all you have to do is get started on your first sketchnoting...and now, to your pencils! ❤️