World Sketchnote Day
If you’ve never taken pencil, pen, crayon, marker to paper to doodle or sketch, (and maybe you haven’t since you were a kid), Monday January 11, 2016 you are invited and encouraged to take some visual notes: it’s WORLD SKETCHNOTE DAY.
You don’t need much; you can go digital with your finger or a stylus on an iPad, Samsung Note3, Microsoft Surface or play in Notebook on your Windows laptop. You can use the back of an envelope or the blank side of something you printed that you were planning on throwing out, and find a pencil or ballpoint pen.
You don’t need to be an artist, or take an art course between now and Monday; just plan on listening to a conversation, or a talk, or a video on YouTube, and “take some notes” without catching every word, but throwing in some other visual cues to remind you later what you heard.
Mike Rohde, creator of the term “sketchnote”, author of “The Sketchnote Handbook” and “Sketchnote Workbook”, and leader of THE SKETCHNOTE ARMY has the following suggestions on how to join in:
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- Share the Love! Let your Friends know about World Sketchnote Day
- The simplest way: jump in the challenge and create one or more sketchnotes working on these themes:
- “Sketchnotes are…”
- “Sketchnotes changed my life because… “
- “I wish I could create a sketchnote for… “
Don’t forget to share your work with the #SNDay2016 hashtag!
- Organize a sketchnoting meetup in your city
- Grab some post-its, a marker and decorate your office, the bus, the train, the subway while commuting, the gym — everywhere with mini-sketchnotes, then share photos with the world
- Hang a large piece of paper somewhere and start a visual conversation with work colleagues or even strangers
- Gift yourself or a friend a new pen/pencil/marker
- Gift yourself or a friend a new notebook
- Build a hand bound notebook and draw a gorgeous cover on it
- Create a small sketchnoted coloring book for your own kids, nephews or little friends
- Whatever you choose, don’t forget to share with #SNDay2016 hashtag and let us know!
Reference link to the Sketchnote Army:http://sketchnotearmy.com/world-sketchnote-day/
Hashtag: #SNDay2016
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Sketchnoting can go beyond high-level doodling; it can add greater understanding and continuity for others, when shared, but it’s a great tool for UX research work, design thinking activities where just capturing words isn’t enough, and nearly every instance where doing more than just capturing talk will make it easier to remember and, hopefully, understand what transacted at a meeting or even just brainstorming by oneself.
And if you don’t know how simple sketchnotes can look like, here’s one I did about 5 years ago:
Or a little fancier, with color:
Sketchnotes don’t have to be done on anything larger than a 3×5 sticky, don’t have to be done with great artistic ability, and don’t have to be done to be shown to anyone else. It’s a great tool and practice for expanding your abilities as a visual thinker, and you can do it just about anywhere.
Join the Sketchnote Army or just poke through Twitter on January 11,following the hashtag #SNDay2016, and watch the world go by in sketchnotes from around the world.
