How to take visual notes

Sketchnoting – is an effective tool for working with information. Learning how to create visual notes is not difficult, the main thing – do not to get hung up on making your notes look perfect. When you make them, you think carefully about what you hear, reformulate some thoughts, highlight the important things. That way any information is remembered better, and it takes less time to repeat it.

It is customary to allocate one spread for each lecture or book. We recommend practicing first. You can take visual notes on a book, podcast, or TED talk. By the way, these notes are a great way to save all the ideas you generate while you brainstorm, so you can organize them later into logical chains.

No need to fear that the outline turns out not too detailed, as a rule, the details are remembered with ease. The goal isn't to write everything down in great detail, but to remember the information for as long as possible.

Record the most important concepts and dates, but don't spend time writing down what you already know. You can mention irrelevant information in passing, or refer to other pages or books in your outline. Information is better remembered when portions of the outline are highlighted in different fonts.

All listings should be in a list, not as a continuous text, but on a new line; this helps structure the information and helps you remember things better. Before you get started, look at pictures of visual notes for inspiration. For example, you can find them on Instagram using the hashtags #studynotes and #visualnotes.

Those who don't like to take notes on paper can use one of the programs to create visual notes. The free version of Canva makes them easy. You can use a ready-made template or create your own.

Not to worry if you're not very good at drawing. Use simple geometric shapes and the most basic drawings. Visual Notebook author Mike Rowdy says five basic elements are all you need to create a picture: a circle, a square, a triangle, a line, and a dot. Visual Notes often uses symbols – for example, arrows and money signs.

The main advice all visual note-taking enthusiasts give – constant practice. These unusual notes are easy to take, and for students, they can be a treasure map of information that's easy to remember with a glance.

Recommend reading:

Mike Rowdy, «Visual Notes. An Illustrated Guide to Sketchbook».