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Getting it just right!

Tuesday’s session, Sketchnoting Makes Your Notes Come Alive!, was the epitome of an engaging session for everyone involved. It held all the elements of a stellar experience. I LOVE working with teens!

The Scene

The room was sitting room only—in a room set for 90 students, there were 100, so some were sitting and working on the floor in their business attire/nice clothing. (This was the annual FBLA/ Future Business Leaders of America conference for Pennsylvania—5000 students, and their advisers were attending.)

The students were:

  • early 
  • present and attentive
  • curious
  • vulnerable 
  • excited to learn
  • willing to experiment and step outside their comfort zone 
  • totally engaged 
  • responsive to my questions 
  • hungry for resources 
  • full of ideas
  • receptive to key ideas that might run counter to what they were hearing in their other sessions, such as: 
  • learn the methods, then create your own style—lean into it!
  • when you make a mistake—and you will because you’re human—learn from it and try again. (This was made real by my difficulty drawing a star in the way I planned—one of my signature icons, and I didn’t like what I drew… I called it an “epic fail” {perhaps a bit of hyperbole}, and yet they saw me make a mistake, in my area of expertise, in front of 100 people, call it out and move on to do it again better.

How often do adults show their vulnerability in front of teenagers? Or presenters in front of their audiences? 

After learning and practicing icons, graphic elements, figures, lettering styles, and layout (in this 45-minute session), the room erupted in conversations when given the opportunity to chat with a neighbor. They reveled in talking about their newfound skills.

Perhaps most exciting were their responses to my query about how they would use their new skills—every day in their classes because…

And their feedback, shared on sticky notes as they left the session, revealed their enthusiasm for the content learned and the experience. One young woman came over to speak with me after the session. She said, “This is what I love to do!” She showed me an origami crane and moved it. I loved it! I was so impressed that she had made it with a 3-inch square sticky note that I had given out for sharing their thoughts. She then gave it to me as a gift.

Just like the students in my session. This is one experience I won’t forget. 

When was the last time you completed a session, feeling energized, confident, and committed to using your new skills? I hope it was not too long ago!

How are you growing?

As we wind down from summer and gear up for fall there’s a lot to be thinking about!

What are you reading? 

That was the question from my buddy in Tasmania as we chatted over the weekend. I’d like to take that question and run with it.

What are the resources that you are currently working with and expanding on? What’s new and exciting in your world?

For me, the past few weeks have been chock full of new experiences, new resources, and using existing resources in new ways. 

The bikablo + IPEVO Meet Up two weeks ago was brilliant! I say that because we—the bikablo team and the participants—were using existing tools (document cameras, markers, and paper), and collaborating in new and different ways. 

 

 

The Graphic Medicine UnConvention was fantastic! I wrote about it on LinkedIn in August and just this past week here.

As a result of presenting and participating in the GM UnConvention, I have read Rosalie Lightning, by Tom Hart. It is an incredible graphic memoir. Truth be told, I have also signed up for the Graphic Memoir course offered by Sequential Artists Workshop and the Graphic Memoir Working Group. I believe that aspects of the internship I started last week will become a graphic memoir.

And, I have this stack of books to dive into—just some of the books suggested in the second lesson of SAW’s Graphic Memoir course—I’ll be working my way through them starting this weekend. 

Finally, my schedule and the Visual Thinkers Society monthly meeting are in sync—I can’t wait to join the meeting on Saturday morning!

Next week, I will start the bikablo Sketchnoting train-the-trainer course… it’s going to be great to learn from Amelie Vesper once again and join my colleagues in this training. I’ll be offering this course soon too!

Lastly, I am expanding my digital drawing capabilities by learning Concepts, a vector-based app… More to tell about the project that will support soon!

Upon reflection, the themes I am noticing now are, self-education through books, videos, podcasts, and direct instruction from colleagues, focused practice, and the beauty of collaborations with colleagues.

What are you noticing about your world?

What’s new in your world? Please ping me and let me know!

What are your criteria for assessing your work?

As I review my notes in anticipation of hosting my follow-up coaching session with Visual Binge attendees tomorrow, I am struck by the two quotes I found this morning as I was reading.

Bashõ (Japanese poet, 17th century)

“Do not seek after the sages of the past. Seek what they sought.”

Neal Allen (Vipassana practitioner)

“I admire the capacity of any human being to come into wisdom on their own by questioning the assumptions that are around them.”

The preparatory work for our session is to bring and share any sketchnoting or graphic recording completed since the UnConference last month. My second, and perhaps more important request was that participants bring a short list of criteria for assessing their own work and the work of others.

I am all about leaving one’s inner critic ”at the door” AND I see the value in appreciating what is working in a piece and what can be made even better next time. 

What would be your criteria?

What matters to you?

What is important to your audience? (Perhaps there are varying answers based on the different audiences…)

My top 10 criteria are straightforward though not separate—they exist in combination. This task of assessing one’s (or others’) work is both art and science. I believe that the visual I have quickly created is a better representation of these criteria, as the list below seems more mechanical, like a checklist. This (assessing our work) is not that (a checklist to determine quality—from spectacular to inept, or some other continuum). To me, these elements work in concert, and perhaps not enough of something (maybe white space?) is compensated for by something else (the vitality of the colors used or movement through the piece).

What do you think?

1. Layout

    Conceptual fit with the content 

   Title—what percentage of the visual?

   Placement of title on the page

2. Use of white space

3. Use of color

   Literal, strategic, figurative/metaphorical

   Color palette chosen

 Number of colors used and for what purpose (i.e., all the colors of the rainbow are important if there is a rainbow… if not, then I would suggest, two or three colors beyond the foundational black and the color chosen for shading {which might grey, periwinkle blue, yellow, orange… the list goes on!})

4. Logic flow

Can I understand how information moves across or around the chart or “page”?

5. Lettering

Is a hierarchy use and used well/in an easily comprehensible way?

How legible is the handwriting?

6. Interplay/balance of words and drawings

Some subjects require a lot of text—precise terminology, quoting people, etc., in other instances, icons, figures, and containers can be supported more minimally with text

7. Containers

Which ones are used and how?

8. Iconography and graphic elements

Are they a fit for the subject matter?

9. Execution

Neatness,  recognizable/well-drawn icons (Is it a lightbulb or an ice cream cone?)

10. Clear communication through style used (perhaps a more personal taste criteria)

What do you notice when you look at your sketchnotes orographic recordings (yours or other people’s)?

I hope that you will consider these criteria and be in touch with me with your thoughts. I am always (okay, almost always/often…) ready to expand my thinking.