Sketchnoting is often introduced as a way of making notes look visual.
That description has never quite worked for me.
- The drawing is not really the point.
- The thinking is.
In my research, sketchnotes became a way of working with information I did not yet completely understand. Words, arrows, diagrams, containers, symbols, lettering and spatial relationships allowed me to pull ideas apart and reconnect them in ways that made sense to me.
That is why I think of sketchnoting primarily as a sense-making process.
When we listen to a talk or encounter a difficult idea, we cannot capture everything.
We have to make choices.
- What is important?
- What connects?
- What is an example?
- What is the tension?
- What belongs together?
- What is the story?
A sketchnote is therefore not simply a record of information.
It is evidence that somebody has processed the information.
That distinction has become increasingly important to me in teaching.
Students will sometimes say, “I can't draw,” as though drawing ability is the entry requirement.
But useful visual thinking can be incredibly simple.
- A circle can group an idea.
- An arrow can indicate cause and effect.
- Size can create hierarchy.
- A line can separate two perspectives.
- A few words can capture a concept more effectively than a detailed illustration.
The process might look something like:
listen → notice → select → connect → organise → visualise → reflect
The drawing exists in service of those decisions.
My original research described sketchnotes as a way of visually mapping, comprehending and synthesising complex information.
What interests me now is how relevant this becomes in an environment where information itself is abundant.
- We do not necessarily need more information.
- We need ways to interrogate it, structure it and decide what it means.
- AI can summarise a lecture.
- It can generate key points.
- It can even make diagrams.
But there is still value in asking a learner to create the connections themselves.
The messy first sketch may be far less polished than the generated version.
But its value may be precisely that it contains evidence of somebody working something out.