Table of Contents

Chapter 1: What Are Sketchnotes?
Chapter 2: Why Sketchnote?
Chapter 3: Listen Up
Chapter 4: The Sketchnoting Process  
Chapter 5: Types of Sketchnotes
Chapter 6: Sketchnote Strategies
Chapter 7: Sketchnoting Techniques

About the Author

Mike Rohde is an experience and interface designer who has created usable and compelling applications for mobile, web, and dedicated devices. Rohde turned to experience design after 10 years as a successful print graphic designer where he first developed his sketchnote approach and technique. Because of his sketchnote work, Rohde has been hired to illustrate REWORK, the 37signals business book, collaborate on the illustration of a TEDMED notebook, and he has been hired to create live sketchnotes for a variety of conferences and events, including Chick-fil-A Leadercast, SXSW Interactive, An Event Apart, and SEED.

Reviews

“Entertaining and memorable (just like sketchnotes), this fast-reading, fact-packed book by the godfather of sketchnoting provides everything you and your team need to know about the creative, mnemonic, and business benefits of this brilliant new method of note taking.” —Jeffrey Zeldman, author of Designing with Web Standards

“The perfect introduction to visual note taking and the most useful how-to guide I’ve ever read, no contest.” —Josh Kaufman, author of The Personal MBA: Master the Art of Business

“Mike Rohde has taken his original, fun, and smart approach to note taking and broken it down into simple, clear steps. Now anyone can use sketchnotes to capture ideas—even you and me.” —Chris Guillebeau, author of The $100 Startup

“I hear a lot of people talk about sketchnoting, visual thinking, and how best to harness your ideas. Mike Rohde is the real deal. When Mike Rohde puts pencil and ink to paper, you should damn well be paying attention.” —Shawn O'Keefe, SXSW Interactive Festival Producer

“Anyone who utilizes the practical methodology Mike demonstrates in this book will not only improve their retention regarding the collating of notes, they'll fundamentally increase their overall creative potential as well. As Saul Bass so eloquently stated, ‘Design is thinking made visual,’ and sketchnotes are an ideal way to archive intellectual assets and flesh them out via simple drawing methods. This is a profoundly simple book, yet the results will be simply profound because it equips anyone to be able to do this.” -Von Glitschka, Glitschka Studios

“Sketchnotes are a great way to capture the highlights of an idea in a way that'll naturally work for your brain. Nobody will teach you how to do it better than Mike. —David Heinemeier Hansson, 37signals and co-author of REWORK

“I use sketchnoting as a way to calm my brain—and help me focus on the task at hand—while it is trying to run off without me. With The Sketchnote Handbook, Mike gives you the backstory and the method to creating truly beautiful notes. It’s a marvel to behold.” —Myke Hurley, founder of the 70Decibels network

“Mike Rohde practices what he preaches. This beautiful, simple book has everything you need to sketchnote like a pro! The Sketchnote Handbook is destined to be the definitive guide to a new, practical, and innovative discipline.” —Dave Gray, X-PLANE, author of The Connected Company and co-author of Gamestorming
 
“Something magical happens when you take notes with pictures and words together. In this friendly, encouraging book, sketchnote wizard Mike Rohde shares his secrets so that anybody can steal his tricks for capturing ideas with pen and paper.” —Austin Kleon, author of Steal Like an Artist

“The Sketchnote Handbook is an informative, hands-on book designed to quickly share the principles of sketchnoting, so you can get right to creating sketchnotes for yourself. Mike’s fun, illustrative style energizes you to pick up a pen and sketchnote!” —Nancy Duarte, CEO Duarte Inc, best-selling author of Resonate and Slide:ology

“This book is not really a book. It’s a tool kit for learning a new and better way of capturing and understanding information, and it’s perfectly aligned with the way our brains actually work. If you’re a student, or a teacher, or a businessperson, this book has the potential to change the way you learn, and the way you think.” —Daniel Coyle, The New York Times best-selling author of The Talent Code and The Little Book of Talent

“Never fear note taking again. Rohde demystifies the practice and makes it accessible to everyone. Your brain will thank him later.” —Sunni Brown, co-author of Gamestorming

“The Sketchnote Handbook is a call to fully engage and enhance the big concepts and key ideas we are exposed to at conferences, in meetings, and daily life. Doodles are no longer a dirty word! Mike Rohde’s easy examples and straightforward explanations make it accessible for anyone. This is a revolution that takes simple note taking to another plateau, turning it into actionable art.” —Patrick Rhone, author of Keeping It Straight and enough

“For The Sketchnoting Handbook, Mike uses his famous talent of distilling and illustrating other people’s ideas, and he shares some ideas of his own—how to create your own awesome sketchnotes. Not only is Mike a clever illustrator, he’s also an approachable and clear communicator. His book is equal parts fun and instruction.” —Shawn Blanc, shawnblanc.net

“There are great storytellers, and there are great artists. And then there is Mike Rohde: a magnificent blend of the two. What Mike has made into a professional art form we once did as children—rely on a blend of visuals and words to communicate. We’ve since been pulled too far in the direction of words, and Mike’s book is here to help us reawaken the full range of our abilities.” —Leslie Bradshaw, co-founder, president, and COO of JESS3

“The Sketchnote Handbook is neither about sketching nor is it about note taking. It’s about receiving and processing the world in a more complete and insightful way. It’s a software upgrade for your brain.

For those who’ve been shamed into thinking that drawing is either beyond them or beneath them, this book offers a whole new way of mastering the daily onslaught of information and turning it into raw material for discovery. (For those of us who’ve done this all our lives, the book provides a beautifully conceived and lovingly illustrated treat, and a great gift for our left-brained friends.)” —Stefan G. Bucher, creator of dailymonster.com, author of 344 Questions: The Creative Person’s Do-It-Yourself Guide to Insight, Survival, and Artistic Fulfillment