Resources for Visual Thinkers

Deborah DeLue • February 11, 2022

The Art of Applied Visual Thinking

The official newsletter of Applied Visual Thinking SUPERHEROES. Vol. 3 No. 3 February 11, 2022

A few days ago I had a great conversation with a new friend and discovered she recently started sketchnoting at church, something I've done for years.

No matter where you are, drawing has been proven to increase focus, helps learners and listeners engage with the information, and improve retention.

The best part is the quality of the pictures is not important! Drawing simple shapes, using your regular handwriting and quick stick figures is a great place to start.

My new friend's work is beautiful and she's interested in learning more but was unsure where to begin. Sharing knowledge and resources about visual thinking is our happy place, so Emily, this is for you and any other new visual thinkers out there. Welcome to the tribe!

Resources for Visual Thinkers

For new visual thinkers or the visual thinking curious, we recommend

starting here:

AVT's Foundations Course
Past AVT newsletters and free templates can be found on our blog page.

You also might be interested in:

The Sketchnote Handbook by Mike Rhode
Sketchnote Army website and podcast
Neuland for books, markers, and supplies

If you are interested in improving your handwriting or learning fancy lettering techniques we recommend:

Heather Martinez's courses and resources

For advanced visual thinkers, we recommend:

AVT's courses for Customer Journey Mapping, Innovation and Project Management
Dan Roam's books
Brandy Agerbeck's books

And for those seeking to use their visual thinking skills professionally, we recommend investigating:

Christina Merkley's Graphic Facilitation Training
The Grove Consultant International for courses, templates, and supplies
Nova Scribes Meetup's for webinars
The International Forum of Visual Practitioners for training, conferences, and events

One great way to get started with visual thinking is to...

Build your visual vocabulary!

If you were with us for the first newsletter for 2022, you might remember we had an exercise about visual archetypes. Visual archetypes are simple shapes that can be learned very quickly to help build your visual vocabulary.

Enough words.

Let's Draw!

First, grab a copy of the free handout , something to draw on, and something to draw with, then Practice, Practice, Practice! Fill a page with each icon, soon you'll be on your way to building a tremendous visual vocabulary.

Experiencing fear of the blank page (FOTBP)?

Try one of these tips.

Grab some old newspapers, magazines, or used printer paper and a chisel tip marker like a Neuland No. One or a Sharpie and draw over the text. You'll be reusing existing paper and avoiding the blank page problem.

Use a light-colored marker or highlighter to fill a page with straight-ish lines. Try to keep the lines parallel, the same length, and the spacing even. Then use a black or darker colored marker to draw over the lines. You'll be warming up your drawing hand and building confidence in drawing straight lines while eliminating FOTBP.

Happy Drawing!

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