
The Art of Visual Notetaking
đ§ Visual Notes Enhance Memory â Information is only valuable if itâs remembered. Visual notes organize and clarify ideas for better understanding and retention.
âď¸ Words & Pictures Work Together â Effective visual notes always include text. Itâs not art for artâs sakeâwords and visuals complement each other for deeper learning.
đ§Š Learn by Seeing, Hearing, and Doing â Visual notetaking taps into all learning styles, making it a powerful, active way to absorb information.
đ Start Small, Practice Often â Use a sketchbook or journal to begin. Build skills and confidence before attempting more complex visuals.
đď¸ Pen Over Pencil â Ink forces commitment and fast failure, which accelerates learning. It also improves clarity and builds creative confidence.
đ§ Imagination Drives Illustration â Everything starts in your head. Use associations and basic shapes to bring ideas to lifeâcreativity trumps realism.
đ¨ Add with Intention â Enhancements should aid recognition and clarity, not clutter. Always ask: does this addition help the message?
đ Faces Amplify Emotion â Facial expressions (even on objects!) are the quickest way to convey mood and reaction. Humanize when it improves communication.
đ Build Your Visual Library â Repeated drawings form a mental bank of quick, versatile icons you can reuse across different notes and topics.
â Clarity > Originality â Your first idea is often best. In visual communication, the goal isnât uniquenessâitâs shared understanding.
đ Metaphors Make It Click â Visual metaphors simplify the complex. Theyâre a shortcut to comprehension and connection.
đ Color = Optional, Not Required â Keep color minimal. Start with black and gray, and add color purposefully as your confidence grows.
đ Function Over Flash â Looking good isnât the goalâbeing useful is. Clarity beats aesthetics in visual notes.
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Information has zero value if it canât be remembered or shared.
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Visual notes exist to visualize, clarify, and organize information.
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Effective visual notes will always include written words. Together, illustrations and information work with each other to create a more powerful learning experience.
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Everyone learns differently. Some learn best by listening, some by seeing, and some by doing. When you take visual notes, you get to do all three.
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Start small with a sketchbook or a journal. As you practice improving your skills and building confidence, work your way into larger, more complicated formats.
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Itâs not about the tools you use; itâs about the visuals you create. Some of the most effective visual notes Iâve seen were done with a ballpoint pen on a legal pad! Thereâs nothing wrong with using fancy, expensive toolsâyou should always create to the best of your abilityâbut the priority of visual notes is the information, not the aesthetics.
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I believe the best way to become an effective visual notetaker is through deliberate practice using pen. Ink canât be edited and causes forced failure. Failure doesnât sound fun, but itâs helpful long-term. You learn faster and in greater amounts from failure than you do from constant small improvements that donât involve risk. Using pen is also an easy way to improve your confidence, and it has the added benefit of being easier to read than pencil.
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Hearing is what happens when you receive sounds. Listening is what happens when you intentionally focus on the sounds.
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Illustration starts with imagination. If you can dream it in your head, you can draw it. Our brains are also really good at association, or finding something familiar in something unrelated, like seeing a dog shape in a passing cloud. Let your creative mind loose to see new possibilities in the most basic shapes, and you can grow your imagination and improve your drawing skills.
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Each time you finish a drawing, ask yourself, âIs there anything I can add to improve this?â If there is, add it! If not, thatâs okay too. Each time you add something, consider leveling up. Donât add on for the sake of adding on, though. Each addition should be intentional and make the drawing more recognizable.
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Faces are the best way to portray an emotion or reaction. Drawing the whole body isnât necessary when you can focus on a personâs head and face to get the point across. Faces donât always have to be human. Humanizing your drawings with faces can help convey emotion. Putting a smile on a dog or a sad face on a rain cloud might not be realistic, but rememberâwe arenât going for realistic! As long as a face adds clarity and improves the recognition and understanding of whatâs happening, go for it!
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When you regularly take visual notes, you may notice some of your drawings repeat themselves because they apply to a lot of different situations. This is called your visual libraryâitâs a mental bank of all the images you know how to draw and use on a regular basis.
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In art school, youâre taught that your first idea is never your best idea, because the whole point of creating art is to create something unique. With visual communication, itâs the opposite. You arenât trying to create something unique, youâre trying to communicate clearly. Your first idea is usually your best idea, because visual communication is about finding common ground.
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Humans love metaphors because they simplify complex information. Every time you use a metaphorâspoken, written, or visualâyouâre doing your audience a big favor in the comprehension department.
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Your first idea is usually your best idea.
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The most important thing to remember about color is to keep it simple. Itâs easy to overdo and it can visually overwhelm viewers. If youâre using all the colors of the rainbow, youâre probably creating distraction, not clarity. When you start out, try using only black and gray; then add color in small amounts as your confidence increases.
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Thereâs a big difference between looking good and being good.