Sketching 101: Whiteboard Pro-tips

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Sketching 101: Whiteboard Pro-tips Dallas, TX January 6, 2010

January 6, 2012 Sketching 101: Whiteboard Pro-tips

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Why Sketching Matters …

“When I started out as a consultant, it took me a long time

to figure out what a consultant really does. After many

years, I finally realized that a consultant’s role is to be an

on-demand problem solver: you’re called into a business

meeting, presented some data and questions, and

expected to start solving the problem right then, whatever it

may be…”

“Any problem can be made clearer with a picture, and any

picture can be made using the same simple set of tools.”

Dan Roam

Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures

Whoever is best able to describe the problem is the person most likely to solve it

Top 5 Tips for Effective Sketches


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Top 5 Tips …

1.  Title your sketch 2.  Combine simple shapes 3.  Express emotion or state 4.  Label each noun 5.  Arrows demonstrate relationships

Let’s take a closer look at each of these rules to see how easy effective sketching can be.

Effective sketching is easier than you think – following a few simple rules will make your drawings both easy to follow and memorable

sketch by @PaulGoode

Tip #1: Title The Page / Whiteboard And Write The Date


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Top 5 Tips … Title Your Sketch

Write the sketches title before making any other marks on the board – this establishes a frame and purpose for your effort

Don’t worry about getting the title right. You can always change it later. But getting a title down on the board gets you and everyone else in the room thinking about the problem, ready to break it down, describe, and solve it!

Tip #2: Combine Simple Shapes


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Top 5 Tips … Combine Simple Shapes

Even the most complex illustrations and diagrams are just collections and combinations of the most basic shapes that we all know how to draw

The most elementary shapes can be combined into very recognizable symbols. Every noun depicted here is composed of simple boxes, lines, and circles or curves. This is more than enough detail to communicate meaning (and understanding).

Remember Ed Emberley? He’s awesome.

Tip #2: Use Simple Lines To Show Activity & Emotion


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Top 5 Tips … Express Emotion Or State

Demonstrating action and emotion amplify the effectiveness of sketches

Simple changes in the lines used for eyebrows and mouths can dramatically effect the emotion of a simple “smiley” face – very useful for contrasting the “current state” from the “future vision”. Using a triangle, circle, and a few lines we can illustrate a wide range of physical activity – very useful for describing a process.

Remember Ed Emberley? He’s awesome.

Tip #4: Use Both Words And Shapes In Your Sketches


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Top 5 Tips … Label Each Noun

Easiest way to make your symbols easier to recognize is to label them

Some people learn visually. Some people learn audibly. When we label our pictures we cater to both, and remove ambiguity. These images are easier to identify because they are all labeled.

S<ll awesome.

Tip #5: Use Arrows To Show Chronology, Causality, or Any Other Relationship


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Top 5 Tips … Arrows Demonstrate Relationships

Connect your nouns with verbs – arrows help demonstrate how each of your symbols are related

Connecting your nouns creates visual sentences. A connection might show steps in a process, cause and effect, or even just a simple sentence like the concept map illustrated here. Before this was cleaned up in Visio, it was just a collection of nouns on a whiteboard, each entity connected with a verb.

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Top 5 Tips for Effective Sketches


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Top 5 Tips … Summary

1.  Title your sketch 2.  Combine simple shapes 3.  Express emotion or state 4.  Label each noun 5.  Arrows demonstrate relationships

“Any problem can be made clearer with a picture, and any picture can be made using the same simple set of tools.” (Dan Roam, again)

Take another look at this sketch and you’ll see how these simple, repeatable concepts make an effective means for communication

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sketch by @PaulGoode

Sketching 101: Whiteboard Pro-tips

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