sketch notes

sketch notes

sketch notes

"A little painting" or "How sketchnotes change our working life" 

Who doesn't know them, the funny bikablo men that can be found on every flipchart and in every workshop. But those who have already tried their hand at designing a flipchart, possibly spontaneously during a workshop, may have found that it is not always that easy.

Sketchnotes, i.e. the visualization by combining images and words, are an art in themselves. Nevertheless, it is worth looking into in more detail. Appealingly designed posters and slides give every workshop a certain added value.

Sketchnote's goals

Every beginning is difficult

The Sketchnote course, which at first seemed like a creative excursion, developed into the conclusion right from the first meeting: There is still a lot to learn! But back to the beginning. During an open camp on OneTeamDay, the topic of sketch notes was brought up. A group was quickly found across all departments that wanted to deal with the topic of sketchnotes in the long term.
From the very first Sketchnote meeting, we all realized that we could have benefited from a course on the subject. This is how our educational path of 12 sprints towards “Sketchnote” began. We were able to support each other in the teaching process with the help of weekly tasks and a Miro Board for joint reflection.
Basic requirements: none. You don't have to be particularly good at drawing or have previous experience. Anyone can learn and use Sketchnotes if there is motivation and patience.

Step by step to Sketchnotes professionals

Each self-controlled learning phase included the formulation of goals, which we started with in the first week. For each additional week, there was both a focus topic and a homework assignment that everyone had to prepare for the weekly.
We have recently been able to learn many new aspects of the font, color design and the importance of a well thought-out layout.
In order to elegantly upgrade training courses and workshops, we still lacked a sufficient visual vocabulary and an individual recognition value. We were able to expand this step by step through the spontaneous and intuitive sketches in the weekly. You'd be amazed at how much can be drawn and rendered without having to search through thousands of icon libraries first!

Sketchnotes library
Sketchnote videos

Continuous learning process

Thanks to mutual and continuous feedback on our images and our different interpretations of what was drawn, we have all been able to improve. The constant review of the interaction between image and text was also a main topic in our meetings. How much text does a sketchnote need? Where does it fit and where does it not? Of course, there was also a discussion about the best tool. Classically on paper or digitally on the tablet?

Not only our drawing skills have benefited from the weeks of practice. The video sketches helped us later in meetings to focus on the real essence of what was said and to remember it better. We will be able to design and support ongoing workshops, training courses and even presentations more individually with what we have learned.

And finally

Sketchnote's conclusion

So it can be said that creating sketchnotes is much more than just "painting a little". Sketchnotes serve as a visualization technique, form of expression and support tool and are flexible, changeable and, above all, individually applicable in every respect. Ultimately, we can use sketch notes to make our everyday work more colorful and better complement it, whether as a Scrum Master or trainer.

And you? Have you already dealt with the topic "Sketchnotes"?

Lena Schittler

author

Lena Schittler
Human Resources Intern