Diagrams, Doodling, and Docentry: Taking Notes the Visual Way

Are you a doodler? When on the phone, or even in a learning environment, do you suddenly find interminable boxes and palm trees and Slinky coils festooning the margins of your paper? Well, don’t go erasing them out of embarrassment just yet. Harnessing the tendency to doodle just might give you an edge when it comes to retaining and applying information.

Visual aids improve learning by up to 400 percent and visual elements are processed 60,000 times faster than text, according to research gathered by 3M. A study on doodling from the University of Plymouth in the U.K. found that doodlers recalled 29 percent more information on a surprise memory test and concluded that “… doodling while working can be beneficial.” In our previous post (link) on note taking we touched on some of the visual methods of recording information for memory and application. We’ll explore those in more detail here – because cat faces and swirling clouds can be the ticket to better learning while training.

Mind Mapping

A mind map organizes information in a visual way. It uses a hierarchical structure and shows relationships between concepts starting from a central image, with related ideas branching out from it. Lines, images, words, colors, and symbols are used to convert information into a memorable and organized structure.

Guidelines for creating mind maps include the following:

• Start in the center with an image that represents the topic.
  Think of subthemes from the main topic and draw connections to them from the center.

• Select key words; each word should sit on its own line.

• Lines become thinner as they radiate from the center; topics of lesser importance extend as “twigs” from the main “branches.”

• Use short phrases or single words and add images to convey ideas quickly.
  Use multiple colors and show associations throughout your map.
  Sketchnoting

Sketchnoting

Sketchnoting, created by designer and illustrator Mike Rohde, is a method of note taking that incorporates drawings with text. Artistic ability is not required. “Sketchnotes are about hearing and capturing meaningful ideas, not how well you draw,” Rohde points out in his book The Sketchnote Handbook. According to Rohde, sketchnoting engages verbal and visual channels for processing information. It involves the whole mind and improves concentration.

Here are the elements of sketchnotes:

• Titles: Can include an event name, speaker names, date, location, and topic. Create these before a presentation begins.

• Typography: Useful for emphasizing ideas, creating hierarchy and structure, and establishing mood.

• Diagrams and Drawings: Even a few pen strokes can illustrate complex ideas.

• Handwriting: Add detailed descriptions to visual elements.

• Dividers: Create order and structure with various line styles.

• Arrows: Use arrows to connect multiple ideas and focus attention on specifics.

• Bullets: Illustrate a series of ideas and further define ideas by using different styles of bullet.

• Icons: Use icons to identify repeating elements visually.

• Containers: Boxes, bubbles, and other shapes group elements together to represent a single idea.

With visual note taking, one must listen carefully in order to synthesize information, visualize it, and then process it to convey one’s own ideas about the topic, educator Amy Mount wrote on the website for the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. “I try to visualize the page in quadrants or columns and organize my thoughts accordingly,” Mount said. “I listen for big ideas and important quotes and capture those in words. I sketch visual representations of my ideas as I’m listening and synthesizing information. I tend to draw frames (boxes, circles, etc.) around similar ideas to group them and arrows or lines to show connections and relationships.”

No matter if you are a sometime doodler or a master of frescoes, incorporating visual notes in your training sessions is bound to aid you when applying that learning on the job.

Mind map graphic via Wikipedia (Creative Commons)
Sketchnotes graphics by Mike Rohde (Creative Commons)