Happy May 2026!

The weather in Milwaukee is finally warming up, so it’s fun to head out and take street photos! The photo above was from a photo walk last week in Milwaukee’s Third Ward. If you’re curious about my photography, check out my Flickr photo stream.

What’s in this issue?

• 5 Cool Things to share with you.

• Sketchnote Podcast is coming to Sketchnote Lab!

• Sketchnote Lab April Problem-Solving: Mauro Toselli Video Replay (free).

• My feature in Beauty of a Game with NFL/college football sketchnotes!

• Sketchnote Lab Live May - Foundations: Drawing People with Alejo Porras.

• Sketchnote Lab 2026 Schedule - see what’s happening each month of 2026.

Five Cool Things

Here are five cool things I thought you would enjoy:

❥ 1. Think faster. Sketch more. How to stay relevant in a time of AI - Visual thinking is a skill for navigating complexity, sparking collaboration, and staying sharp in a world of growing AI reliance. Wise words from Unruled Play.

❥ 2. Reflection Calendars Reveal What Words Can’t in Your Journal - I love this idea of a visual journal with a single square for each day of the week from Erin Nolan. If you’ve struggled to start a visual journaling practice, this might do the trick!

❥ 3. How I filled 100 sketchbooks. And how you can too - My friend Danny Gregory shares his story of going from 0 to 100 sketchbooks with ideas you can use to get yourself rolling if you’ve been dormant. Baby steps!

❥ 4. Disney Imagineering Artist Says Talent is a Myth - Ray Kinman never aimed to become a Disney Imagineering legend. Ray, a self-taught woodcarver, reflects on his journey from a broke young father with no formal training, tools, or plan to carving for Disneyland’s iconic attractions. “Your greatest asset is your persistence.”

❥ 5. Workshop: Sketch with Confidence: The Skill That Gets Your Design Thinking Out of Your Head - On May 14th, I’m leading a 90-minute workshop on wireframing. Sketching is where your thinking becomes visible, where clients see how you solve problems, not just how you use tools. Join me!

Sketchnote Podcast comes to Sketchnote Lab!

BIG NEWS! The podcast formerly known as Sketchnote Army Podcast is coming to Sketchnote Lab! With my focus here, it made sense to bring the podcast over too.

If you’ve not heard or seen the podcast before, I interview fascinating people who practice sketchnoting and visual thinking to understand what makes them tick.

You can check out the 185+ episodes of the old Sketchnote Army Podcast, which has been running since 2016, with tons of great interviews with interesting people.

Watch the teaser video above and see details on the announcement post. The first episode drops next week on Tuesday!

April Live Lab Video Replay: Problem-Solving with Mauro Toselli (Free)

Mauro Toselli brought his Visual Problem Solving methodology to the session, opening with the Meta-Problem — the idea that we often build up a wall of justifications and deflections that buries the real problem we need to solve.

While Mauro laid out the concepts, I sketched his ideas live at my desk, and then we worked through three hands-on drawing exercises together.

The exercises we did together offered a framework to apply immediately:

1. Mapping the gap between where you are and where you want to be

2. Sketching the wall of obstacles blocking your path

3. Identifying a concrete first step forward.

Watch the replay for free

Artist Mike Rohde Uses “Sketchnotes” To Connect With His Beloved Green Bay Packers

My work was featured in the magazine Beauty of a Game this week, featuring my NFL and college football sketchnotes! Thanks for the feature, Jimmy.

Read the article

Coming soon: Sketchnote Lab Live May - Foundations: Drawing People with Alejo Porras.

​People are one of the most useful and most intimidating things to draw. In this session, we’ll break it down into two parts so you can start simple and build toward more expressive, dynamic figures.

On Saturday, May 30th from 12-1 US Central, I’ll kick things off by showing you how to draw people using simple shapes and structures. We’ll cover practical approaches you can use immediately in your sketchnotes.

​Then, guest Alejo Porras will teach you how to add movement, gesture, and fluidity to your figures. You’ll learn how to make your drawn people feel more alive on the page, not stiff or static.

​What you’ll walk away with:

​A process for drawing people quickly, starting from the simplest possible forms and building toward figures with energy and personality. Whether you’re capturing a speaker at a conference or mapping out a team scenario, you’ll have techniques you can put to work right away.

Attend live for free

The session is free to all subscribers, with the recorded replay video available exclusively to Supporting and Founding Lab Partners (which includes all video replays since December 2024).

Sketchnote Lab Schedule for 2026

I have two focus areas for 2026:

1. Teaching foundations for people new to sketchnoting

2. Live problem-solving sessions to show how you can use sketchnotes as a thinking and problem-solving tool at work and in your everyday life.

You can see January-March replays already as a Supporting or Founding Lab Partner!

Check out the full 2026 schedule.

Last Month’s Sketchnote Lab Posts

Here’s what happened at Sketchnote Lab last month:

Become a Supporting or Founding Lab Partner to support my work and access all Live Lab recorded replays since December 2024.

Subscribe now

Buy my Sketchnoting Workshops

Check out my sketchnoting workshop videos to build your lettering, layout, and icon creation skills in your sketchnotes, or to learn my travel sketchnote method.

Sketchnoting Skills Workshops

Custom Sketchnote Workshops

I love teaching teams like yours how to think visually and sketch simply with Custom Sketchnote Workshops.

I've presented workshops at schools: Drexel University, Marquette University, and The University of Michigan; Anne Arundel, New York City, and Fresno school districts.

I’ve also presented workshops for teams at SmugMug/Flickr, Hubspot, Northwestern Mutual, Johnson Controls, Dentsu Creative, and Sibley Memorial Hospital.

I’d love to teach your team as well. Let’s talk!

Thanks again for the chance to share something useful in your inbox!

— Mike

Sketchnote Lab is Mike Rohde’s space designed to bridge the gap between sketchnote theory and practice. You don’t need to be an artist to think visually. Join Mike and learn to use sketchnotes to clarify your thinking, solve problems, and move forward. Learn more about Sketchnote Lab.

Mike is the author of The Sketchnote Handbook and The Sketchnote Workbook, bestselling books that teach regular people how to start sketchnoting and build a regular sketchnoting practice.

He founded the Sketchnote Army and hosts the Sketchnote Podcast, where he interviews visual thinkers to understand what makes them tick.

Mike teaches recorded, live, and in-person workshops to help accelerate your sketchnoting practice and provides personalized coaching for your specific visual thinking challenges.

He is the illustrator of bestselling books like REWORK, REMOTE, The $100 Startup, Honest SEO, The Culture Playbook, and The Future Begins with Z.

Become a Supporting or Founding Lab Partner to support Mike’s work.

Some links in Sketchnote Lab posts are affiliate links. If you purchase through them, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. I only recommend tools and resources I use and believe in.

©2026 Mike Rohde, Sketchnote Lab

Guests for the new season include: Federica Tabone & Claudio Nichele, Danny Gregory, Sarah Greer & Adrian Peryer, David Armano, Tabitha Walker, Andrew Tan, Georgina Dean, and Atom Brum!

Listen to the episode here:

Running Order

• The podcast’s transition from Sketchnote Army to Sketchnote Podcast and the reasoning behind the rebrand

• The move to sketchnotelab.com as the new home for content and resources

• Continuation of interviews with influential visual thinkers and their stories

• How existing episodes remain accessible at sketchnotearmy.com

• The focus on expanding content and bringing fresh guests in upcoming seasons

• How to stay connected and access archived episodes

Resources & Links

• Sketchnote Army Podcast

• Sketchnote Lab

• Sketchnote Podcast on YouTube

• The Sketchnote Handbook

• The Sketchnote Workbook

Sponsored by The Reflective Travel Workshop

Have you ever wanted to create travel sketchnotes from an experience you’ve had, just using the photos and memories you’ve got?

In the Reflective Travel Workshop, I’ll guide you through my process for creating travel sketchnotes and then help you reflect on your own photos and memories so that you can make travel sketchnotes of your own trips, too!

This 2-hour recorded video includes a set of downloadable, printable sketching templates and a process to kickstart your own travel sketchnoting practice.

All this for just $20.

Buy the Workshop for $20

Subscribe to the Sketchnote Podcast

You can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or your favorite podcast-listening app.

Support the Podcast

To support the creation and production of the Sketchnote Podcast, buy one of my bestselling books. Use code ROHDE40 at Peachpit.com for 40% off.

Transcript

Hey everybody, it’s Mike Rohde the author of the Sketchnote Handbook and the Sketchnote Workbook and the founder of the Sketchnote Army Podcast. I’m here with some good news and some changes.

The podcast continues for its next season. The changes are, I’m changing the name of the podcast from the Sketchnote Army podcast to the Sketchnote podcast. And it’s moving to sketchnotelab.com. Since that’s where I’m focusing most of my attention and area of expertise for teaching.

It made sense to move the podcast there too. So the podcast will remain. I’ll still be talking to the most interesting visual thinkers in the world, understanding their origin stories, why they do what they do, as well as tips that they can share with you to make your visual practice better and help you think differently about visual thinking to expand your skills and to encourage others to do visual thinking and sketchnoting too.

So the podcast will continue in the audio form. So if you’re listening to this, you’re hearing it in the same feed that the Sketchnote Army podcast was in, but you may notice that there’s new artwork on the podcast when you’re listening. So all that’s really easy for you. Nothing will change.

If you’re watching on YouTube, it’s going to be coming to the same channel where it was posted before. So that doesn’t change either. If you’re looking for the Sketchnote Army podcast, those back episodes that archive still exists at Sketchnote Army.

Go to sketchnotearmy.com/podcast. I think there’s over 185 episodes that you can listen to in the back catalog. Lots of really fascinating people and encouraging stories that you can listen to in that back catalog of information. That’s all going to remain there.

But going forward, we’re going to start with a new season. This will be season one of the Sketchnote Podcast. It’s going to be published at sketchnotelab.com. But everything else is the same.

So the best of all worlds, I think, and I’m excited to bring you new guests starting soon. So look for the next episode with the first guest of the new season and the new name. I’m excited to bring this to you, and until then, talk to you soon

Sketchnote Lab is Mike Rohde’s space designed to bridge the gap between sketchnote theory and practice. You don’t need to be an artist to think visually. Join Mike and learn to use sketchnotes to clarify your thinking, solve problems, and move forward. Learn more about Sketchnote Lab.

Mike is the author of The Sketchnote Handbook and The Sketchnote Workbook, bestselling books that teach regular people how to start sketchnoting and build a regular sketchnoting practice.

He founded the Sketchnote Army and hosts the Sketchnote Podcast, where he interviews visual thinkers to understand what makes them tick.

Mike teaches recorded, live, and in-person workshops to help accelerate your sketchnoting practice and provides personalized coaching for your specific visual thinking challenges.

He is the illustrator of bestselling books like REWORK, REMOTE, The $100 Startup, Honest SEO, The Culture Playbook, and The Future Begins with Z.

Become a Supporting or Founding Lab Partner to support Mike’s work.

Some links in Sketchnote Lab posts are affiliate links. If you purchase through them, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. I only recommend tools and resources I use and believe in.

©2026 Mike Rohde, Sketchnote Lab

Watch the Full Video Replay for Free!

This video is free to watch because Mauro and I felt it was too valuable to hide behind a paywall! Enjoy!

brought his Visual Problem Solving methodology to the session, opening with the Meta-Problem — the idea that we often build up a wall of justifications and deflections that buries the real problem we need to solve.

While Mauro laid out the concepts, I sketched his ideas live at my desk, and then we worked through three hands-on drawing exercises together.

If you are a Supporting Lab Partner, you can watch this and other video replays from December 2024 onward. If you like these videos, become a Lab Partner!

Subscribe now

The exercises we did together offered a framework to apply immediately:

1. Mapping the gap between where you are and where you want to be

2. Sketching the wall of obstacles blocking your path

3. Identifying a concrete first step forward.

Here is Mauro’s original Flat Tire Meta-Problem sketchnote with my notes added live:

Sketchnotes from the session

Below are my sketchnotes from the session, showing how the Meta-Problem framework comes together visually.

1. Mauro’s Problem Statement and Reversal Concept

First, Mauro offered an example of a meta-problem and shared how reversing the thinking can help break down the meta-problem:

2. The 2x2 Matrix of Meta-Problems

Then Mauro talked about his love for 2x2 matrices, offering this one to help identify where a meta-problem falls within the four quadrants:

3. Drwing the Gap

Here is a sketchnote of me drawing gap between my current state (no illustration page or case studies on my website) and my goal state (create a new illustration page and case study pages for my work).

We talked about how the gap is harder to face than it looks:

4. The Meta-Problem Wall

I created a sketchnote map of the Meta-Problem itself: the wall of justifications, deflections, and derivative problems that stack up and bury the real issue you need to solve. Black numbers relate to sketchnote 5 below:

5. The First Step Map

This sketchnote connects ideas for solving meta-bricks in the wall, showing how getting past the wall leads directly to first actions you can take right now:

6. Tools to help with Meta-Problems

Here are some of the tools we discussed to help solve Meta-Problems, like asking 5 Why’s, Doing a Root Cause Analysis, and working with others to avoid blind spots:

Resources

Here are some resources related to this session:

• Mauro Toselli (xLontrax)

• Keep the Creative Juices Flowing Substack

• Mauro’s Meta-Problem Post

• The xLontrax Theory of Sketchnote — Mauro’s flagship book; handwritten and hand-drawn, landscape-oriented. Explores his philosophy and definition of sketchnoting as “notes enriched with meaningful visual elements, open to sharing and creating new opportunities for human connections.

• 100+1 Drawing Ideas for Sketchnoters and Doodlers — A practical tutorial book of simple drawing techniques for sketchnoters.

Thanks again for the chance to share something useful in your inbox!

— Mike

Sketchnote Lab is Mike Rohde’s space designed to bridge the gap between sketchnote theory and practice. You don’t need to be an artist to think visually. Join Mike and learn to use sketchnotes to clarify your thinking, solve problems, and move forward. Learn more about Sketchnote Lab.

Mike is the author of The Sketchnote Handbook and The Sketchnote Workbook, bestselling books that teach regular people how to start sketchnoting and build a regular sketchnoting practice.

He founded the Sketchnote Army and hosts the Sketchnote Podcast, where he interviews visual thinkers to understand what makes them tick.

Mike teaches recorded, live, and in-person workshops to help accelerate your sketchnoting practice and provides personalized coaching for your specific visual thinking challenges.

He is the illustrator of bestselling books like REWORK, REMOTE, The $100 Startup, Honest SEO, The Culture Playbook, and The Future Begins with Z.

Become a Supporting or Founding Lab Partner to support Mike’s work.

Welcome to the Sketchnote Lab Dispatch for April 2026!

Spring is here, and I’m happy to have it arrive, finally. We had a late snowstorm in Wisconsin in mid-March, so warmer weather is much appreciated.

I hope you’re doing well wherever you are in these chaotic times.

What’s in this issue?

• 5 Cool Things to share with you.

• March’s Creating Icons for Sketchnoters Video Replay.

• April’s Problem-Solving with Mauro Toselli - sign up for free!

• Sketch First! - My post on the importance of sketching in iterative projects.

• Sketchnote Lab 2026 Schedule - see what’s happening each month of 2026.

Five Cool Things

Here are five cool things I thought you would enjoy:

❥ 1. Drawing Visual Metaphors with Eva-Lotta Lamm - Draw along with Eva-Lotta Lamm as she shows you how to explore metaphors and analogies for greater creativity, exploring abstract concepts, and coming up with new solutions.

❥ 2. How to add writing to your sketchbook - Andrew James of Coffee In Drawings Out offers tips for adding writing to sketches in your sketchbook.

❥ 3. Why you stopped drawing and how to start again - an inspiring video from Danny Gregory, encouraging you to start drawing again if you’ve stopped.

❥ 4. How the iconic LIFE Noble Notebook is made - A 7-minute JetPens video documenting how the unique LIFE Noble notebooks are manufactured. ASMR!

❥ 5. Why boredom is good for you - A short BBC animated video on the benefits of allowing yourself to become bored to increase your capacity for creativity.

Ellington Pens offers beautiful, feel-great-in-the-hand metal fountain pens at reasonable prices. Get 20% off their pens with my special affiliate code: INKED

March Live Lab Replay: Creating Sketchnote Icons

Icons are among the most useful tools in your sketchnoting practice. In this live session, I’ll teach you how to build icons from the five basic shapes, making marks into icons that communicate your ideas simply and quickly.

What We Covered

• The 5 Basic Shapes - how squares, circles, triangles, lines, and dots are the building blocks of every icon.

• Recognizable, not realistic - simplicity is the goal; nearby words in sketchnotes carry some of the weight.

• Live icon demos - I created houses, books, coffee cups, mountains, and pizza slices, drawing each with as few lines as possible with the first template sheet.

• Icon Generator Sheet - I shared how to use my template for generating icons quickly; quantity over quality.

• Icon Iterator Sheet - I also shared the template sheet for refining your best ideas into clean, repeatable icons.

• Final Icon Library Sheet - The template sheet where your finished icons end up, ready to reference and practice against.

• Visual metaphors - We took a quick look at moving from drawing objects to capturing abstract ideas and shared Dario Paniagua’s metaphors community.

See the 8-minute teaser video of me creating icons.

April Live Problem-Solving w/ Mauro Toselli

Special guest Mauro Toselli will bring a challenge on Saturday, April 18, and I’ll use sketchnoting to visualize the problem and brainstorm potential solutions.

Sign up for Free

The session is free to all subscribers, with the recorded replay video available exclusively to Supporting and Founding Lab Partners (which includes all video replays since December 2024).

Sketch first! Designing the bag for Baking Steel 72-Hour Pizza Dough Mix

In this detailed post, I share my sketch process for creating packaging for pizza dough mix and explain why sketching first is vitally important in iterative projects.

This past weekend, I tested out the dough mix, and it was awesome!

Sketchnote Lab Schedule for 2026

I have two focus areas for 2026:

1. Teaching foundations for people new to sketchnoting

2. Live problem-solving sessions to show how you can use sketchnotes as a thinking and problem-solving tool at work and in your everyday life.

You can see January-March replays already as a Supporting or Founding Lab Partner!

Check out the full 2026 schedule.

Last Month’s Sketchnote Lab Posts

Here’s what happened at Sketchnote Lab last month:

Become a Supporting or Founding Lab Partner to support my work and access all Live Lab recorded replays since December 2024.

Subscribe now

Buy my Sketchnoting Workshops

Check out my sketchnoting workshop videos to build your lettering, layout, and icon creation skills in your sketchnotes, or to learn my travel sketchnote method.

Sketchnoting Skills Workshops

Custom Sketchnote Workshops

I love teaching teams like yours how to think visually and sketch simply with Custom Sketchnote Workshops.

I've presented workshops at schools: Drexel University, Marquette University, and The University of Michigan; Anne Arundel, New York City, and Fresno school districts.

I’ve also presented workshops for teams at SmugMug/Flickr, Hubspot, Northwestern Mutual, Johnson Controls, Dentsu Creative, and Sibley Memorial Hospital.

I’d love to teach your team as well. Let’s talk!

Thanks again for the chance to share something useful in your inbox!

— Mike

Sketchnote Lab is Mike Rohde’s space designed to bridge the gap between sketchnote theory and practice. You don’t need to be an artist to think visually. Join Mike and learn to use sketchnotes to clarify your thinking, solve problems, and move forward. Learn more about Sketchnote Lab.

Mike is the author of The Sketchnote Handbook and The Sketchnote Workbook, bestselling books that teach regular people how to start sketchnoting and build a regular sketchnoting practice.

He founded the Sketchnote Army and hosts the Sketchnote Podcast, where he interviews visual thinkers to understand what makes them tick.

Mike teaches recorded, live, and in-person workshops to help accelerate your sketchnoting practice and provides personalized coaching for your specific visual thinking challenges.

He is the illustrator of bestselling books like REWORK, REMOTE, The $100 Startup, Honest SEO, The Culture Playbook, and The Future Begins with Z.

Become a Supporting or Founding Lab Partner to support Mike’s work.

Some links in Sketchnote Lab posts are affiliate links. If you purchase through them, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. I only recommend tools and resources I use and believe in.

Saturday's icon foundations session covered a lot of ground in just 60 minutes. We worked through how every icon starts from five basic shapes, why recognizable beats realistic every time, and how to build a personal icon library you can put to use right away. Attendees drew along live, which made for a fun, active session.

“Thanks Mike, I really like seeing you walk through the process.” - Eric

“Always enjoyable!“ - Ben

Here’s an 8-minute teaser of creating icons from the 1-hour live session:

Subscribe now

What We Covered

• The 5 Basic Shapes - how squares, circles, triangles, lines, and dots are the building blocks of every icon.

• Recognizable, not realistic - simplicity is the goal; nearby words in sketchnotes carry some of the weight.

• Live icon demos - I created houses, books, coffee cups, mountains, and pizza slices, drawing each with as few lines as possible with the first template sheet.

• Icon Generator Sheet - I shared how to use my template for generating icons quickly; quantity over quality.

• Icon Iterator Sheet - I also shared the template sheet for refining your best ideas into clean, repeatable icons.

• Final Icon Library Sheet - The template sheet where your finished icons end up, ready to reference and practice against.

• Visual metaphors - We took a quick look at moving from drawing objects to capturing abstract ideas and shared Dario Paniagua’s metaphors community.

Sketchnote Icon Samples

Below are my sketchnotes created during the session.

Session Overview & Icon Principles

The schedule, 5 Basic Shapes, and icon creation with the template, page 1:

Icon Generator & Iterator Work

Detail work on a laptop icon using the Icon Iterator template, page 2.

Supporting and Founding Lab Partners can watch the full video to see how these were developed during the session.

Resources

• The Noun Project - icon reference and inspiration

• Dario Paniagua’s community - in-depth training on visual metaphors

• Icon Template Sheet in US Letter or A4 formats for printing.

• Lamy Studio Fountain Pen

• TWSBI Eco Fountain Pen

Spring Discount — 10% Off Annual Lab Partnerships.

As a thank-you for this spring, here’s 10% off an annual Supporting or Founding Lab Partnership through May 1, 2026.

Claim it here: sketchnotelab.com/spring10

Watch the Full Video Replay

If you aren’t a Supporting or Founding Lab Partner, watch me demonstrate my icon design process by becoming a Lab Partner. You’ll get access to the full session recording and all recordings in the Partner Vault from December 2024.

Read more

Sketching is a key part of my design process. Here’s how a package design for Baking Steel’s 72-Hour Pizza Dough Mix reveals the value of that process.

Andris Lagsdin of Baking Steel needed packaging for his 72 Hour Pizza Dough mix, a product he created around his popular recipe for pizza dough. He loved the idea of making this mix accessible to anyone who wants to make pizza by just adding water.

This is a way for Andris to extend the empire he is building with Baking Steel tools that align with teaching foundational pizza and baking techniques and selling other tools and materials you need to support baking as a practice.

Origin story: Meeting Andris

A few years ago, I learned about Baking Steel from my friend Bryan who swears by them for his weekly pizza ritual.

When I dug into the Baking Steel story I discovered Andris Lagsdin. I reached out through Instagram after using his 72-hour dough recipe for pizza nights. We chatted for a bit and we made a trade: my Sketchnote Handbook for one of his Baking Steels. A friendship was born.

We talked off and on for about a year as I experimented with the Baking Steel he sent by baking pizza and sourdough bread. The Steel worked so well I became an unofficial ambassador for the product!

Last year I becan experimenting with Detroit-style pizza, and Andris invited me and my son Nathan to Grand Rapids to shoot a video on my process:

This led to a level of trust between me and Andris that laid the foundation for design work that would follow this year.

Listen before sketching

Late last year I got a text from Andris with pictures of a dough bag and a note about making a shelf-ready package to hold his 72-hour pre-mixed pizza dough. We got on the phone and I started asking him about the details and what he was imagining.

A few key ideas he shared:

• He wanted to feature a dough ball prominently on the bag

• A black bag color was important to signal the high-end quality of the organic flour he’s using and the upscale brand of Baking Steel

• Hand-drawn sketchnoted feel for the packaging was also key for Andris to make it human and fun

With a brief in place I could begin the process of sketching ideas to share. The next step: make time and get out the old iPad Pro and Apple Pencil.

Join Sketchnote Lab
Become a Supporting or Founding Lab Partner to access the Lab Partner Vault and all the Lab video replays since December 2024.

Join Sketchnote Lab!

Sketching on the iPad

For this project I decded to use Concepts on the iPad to sketch ideas for Andris, since we had an established brand, colors, and a bag size in mind.

My first sketch focused on the title of the mix being emphasized and the idea that this one dough ball can create many things, with arrows pointing to drawings of those various baked goods.

A Just Add Water element was also important, to reinforce that making pizza dough with the mix is as easy as adding water, mixing, and waiting:

We discussed the first sketch and decided to simplifly the front of the bag for clarity by moving the multiple baked items to the back of the bag.

With an actual template for the bag from the printer, I adjusted the proportions to match the specs and reoriented the details into a second sketch of both the front and back designs with all elements accounted for:

Having this ability to explore ideas and tweak the details, a benefit of using the vector-based Concepts app, helped me in this process. Sketching is all about exploration and adapability until the pieces fall into place.

Final production

Andris loved the second sketch and approved the direction for production. I had a detailed template he provied that I used to build the layered production file from in Adobe Illustrator, then began dropping all of the pieces in place.

Because I used the vector-based Concepts I was able to bring in many of the already hand-drawn elements from the sketches into the final prodution art with some tuning up. This saved a lot of time having to re-draw the baked goods, lettering, etc.

This package design was a perfect candidate for using my Sketchnote Typeface, which was drawn by hand for The Sketchnote Handbook in 2011 and has been a great tool for projects like these.

The very condensed hand-drawn typeface for PIZZA DOUGH MIX was created for another project as a headline font (in Concepts) and has been a great for projects like this. I have plans to add a new Sketchnote Compressed to the typeface suite.

With drawn elements, text, UPC code, and indgredients details in place, the artwork went off to Andris for final approval and then to the printer for production.

Here’s the final result:

You can now buy 72-Hour Pizza Dough Mix from Baking Steel to see the package in detail and give this easy-to-make dough option a whirl for pizza night.

The takeaway for your own work?

What I love about this process:

• I intentionally keep myself from moving too quickly to production. I talk with the client to deeply understand their needs and desires and then reflect those in my sketches to gain alignment with them.

• It’s important to spend the time needed to iterate in the sketch until it feels like you can’t wait to actually build the thing. Allow the excitement to build.

• An iterative approach means you don’t have to make it perfect right out of the gate. Let the client, your senses, and time help you refine the project.

The process is similar for many other projects. Whatever you’re working on, time spent sketching saves time, gets you to better ideas, and keeps you in sync with your colleagues, clients, and yourself.

Thanks again for the chance to share something useful in your inbox!

— Mike

P.S. I’m leading a Live Lab session on Saturday, March 21st on creating sketchnote icons and you’re invited! It’s free to join the live session, recordings are for Supporting and Founding Lab Partners. Sign up for the free session.

Sketchnote Lab is Mike Rohde’s space designed to bridge the gap between sketchnote theory and practice. You don’t need to be an artist to think visually. Join Mike and learn to use sketchnotes to clarify your thinking, solve problems, and move forward. Learn more about Sketchnote Lab.

Mike is the author of The Sketchnote Handbook and The Sketchnote Workbook, bestselling books that teach regular people how to start sketchnoting and build a regular sketchnoting practice.

He founded the Sketchnote Army and hosts the Sketchnote Podcast, where he interviews visual thinkers to understand what makes them tick.

Mike teaches recorded, live, and in-person workshops to help accelerate your sketchnoting practice and provides personalized coaching for your specific visual thinking challenges.

He is the illustrator of bestselling books like REWORK, REMOTE, The $100 Startup, Honest SEO, The Culture Playbook, and The Future Begins with Z.

Become a Supporting or Founding Lab Partner to support Mike’s work.

Welcome to the Sketchnote Lab Dispatch for March 2026!

Spring is just around the corner, and it’s a great time to learn to create simple icons in this month’s Live Lab session.

I hope you are doing well wherever you are.

What’s in this issue?

• 5 Cool Things to share with you.

• Creating Icons for Sketchnoters: a free Live Lab session on Saturday, March 21.

• February Problem-Solving with Brad Did Video Replay - watch me use sketchnotes to work through a real problem in real time.

• Sketchnote Lab 2026 Schedule to see what’s happening each month of 2026.

Five Cool Things

Here are five cool things I thought you would enjoy:

❥ 1. Help! I don’t know what to draw! My friend Zsofi shares eight great ways to fill your illustrated journal with drawings to capture your life.

❥ 2. Hand-drawn explanations: how curling works - I’m loving the hand-drawn explainer videos from SportsBall_Visual. In this video, learn how curling works!

❥ 3. How to get 1% better at drawing every day — Artist and teacher Massa offers helpful ways to make it a sustainable practice.

❥ 4. Don’t Call it Art — My friend Austin Kleon is releasing his 4th book, Don’t Call it Art, on June 2, 2026. Steal Like an Artist was his first, launching the same year as The Sketchnote Handbook (2012). Pre-order.

❥ 5. Ellington Pens - I teamed up with Ellington Pens to test-drive their Stealth Fountain Pen in February. It’s beautiful, feels great in the hand, and is reasonably priced. As a new affiliate, I can offer you a 20% discount on any of their pens with my special code: INKED — check it out!

March Live Lab: Creating Sketchnote Icons

Icons are one of the most useful skills in your sketchnoting practice. In this live session, I’ll teach you how to build icons from the five basic shapes, making marks into icons that communicate your ideas simply and quickly.

Here’s a look at what we’ll cover:

• How every icon starts with circles, squares, triangles, lines, and dots

• Simplification: what makes an icon recognizable, rather than realistic, and how to add just the right details to let the brain fill in the rest.

• Building an icon library: how to create a set of icons specific to your work and life that you can use right away.

• Visual metaphors: we’ll touch on ways to draw abstract concepts.

This session will build your practical icon-making skills, which you can put to work immediately on your next sketchnote.

Join me on Saturday, March 21, 2026, from 12-1 US Central for this free session:

Sign Up for Icons Live Lab (Free)

The session is free to all subscribers, with the recorded replay video available exclusively to Supporting and Founding Lab Partners (which includes all video replays since December 2024).

February Sketchnote Lab Live Video Replay: Problem-Solving with Brad Did

In February, special guest brought a personal challenge to the live session. I used sketchnoting to listen to Brad, map the problem, and then brainstorm a solution.

Here’s a sample sketchnote page from the session:

Here’s a short teaser to show you how the image above was built:

Watch the Replay Video

By the way, Supporting and Founding Lab Partners have had access to all video replays since December 2024. If you subscribe today, you get access too!

Sketchnote Lab Schedule for 2026

I have two focus areas for 2026:

1. Teaching foundations for people new to sketchnoting

2. Live problem-solving sessions to show how you can use sketchnotes as a thinking and problem-solving tool at work and in your everyday life.

Check out the full 2026 schedule.

Last Month’s Sketchnote Lab Posts

Here’s what happened at Sketchnote Lab last month:

Become a Supporting Lab Partner to support my work and access all Live Lab recorded replays since December 2024 to help build your sketchnoting practice!

Subscribe now

Buy my Sketchnoting Workshops

Check out my sketchnoting workshop videos to build your lettering, layout, and icon creation skills in your sketchnotes, or to learn my travel sketchnote method.

Sketchnoting Skills Workshops

Custom Sketchnote Workshops

I love teaching teams like yours how to think visually and sketch simply with Custom Sketchnote Workshops.

I've presented workshops at schools: Drexel University, Marquette University, and The University of Michigan; Anne Arundel, New York City, and Fresno school districts.

I’ve also presented workshops for teams at SmugMug/Flickr, Hubspot, Northwestern Mutual, Johnson Controls, Dentsu Creative, and Sibley Memorial Hospital.

I’d love to teach your team as well. Let’s talk!

Thanks again for the chance to share something useful in your inbox!

— Mike

Sketchnote Lab is Mike Rohde’s space designed to bridge the gap between sketchnote theory and practice. You don’t need to be an artist to think visually. Join Mike and learn to use sketchnotes to clarify your thinking, solve problems, and move forward. Learn more about Sketchnote Lab.

Mike is the author of The Sketchnote Handbook and The Sketchnote Workbook, bestselling books that teach regular people how to start sketchnoting and build a regular sketchnoting practice.

He founded the Sketchnote Army and hosts the Sketchnote Podcast, where he interviews visual thinkers to understand what makes them tick.

Mike teaches recorded, live, and in-person workshops to help accelerate your sketchnoting practice and provides personalized coaching for your specific visual thinking challenges.

He is the illustrator of bestselling books like REWORK, REMOTE, The $100 Startup, Honest SEO, The Culture Playbook, and The Future Begins with Z.

Become a Supporting or Founding Lab Partner to support Mike’s work.

Some links in Sketchnote Lab posts are affiliate links. If you purchase through them, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. I only recommend tools and resources I use and believe in.

Saturday’s Sketchnote Lab Live workshop was a huge success! 63 spots were reserved, and 33 attended the live event!

After reading the initial brief and discussing the details of a problem my friend Brad brought to the session, we had a live client discussion, and I worked on a sketchnote to solve it in real time.

The Q&A period was great. We saw samples from attendees, while comments and suggestions furthered the possible solutions. It was fun, and it made me want to do another session!

Here are a few comments from attendees:

“I had so much fun with this workshop! Thank you to Brad for sharing his inspirational journey and to Mike for working through Brad's challenge on paper. Thank you so much for making this available. Great work!” — Brooke

“Thank you. Really enjoyed seeing you work through the problem.” — Eric

“I learned a lot, and time flew. You listen well.” — Toni

“I joined late and still got many good ideas, insights, and recommendations. Thank you’d to Mike and Brad.” — Jim

Here’s a 5-minute teaser from the 1-hour live session:

Subscribe now

Sketchnotes from the session

Below are my sketchnotes created during the session, so you can see the kind of sketchnotes I think can help move projects forward.

Sketchnote Part 1: Problem Overview and Current State

Here’s my sketchnote mapping my perception of the problem after reviewing the brief and talking with Brad about the issue he presented. He shared an idea that had become overwhelming, shelved it, but the zombie project keeps reappearing.

The second sketchnote lays out Brad's current state in the session, along with some questions I asked to reveal other details I could work with in the ideation phase.

Sketchnote Part 2: Ideation and Definition

My final sketchnotes include ideas for how we might solve the challenge and practical steps for Brad to move the project forward with a simpler zine instead of a huge book.

This included constraints on time and deliverables to prevent the project from expanding and becoming overwhelming before he could deliver an MVP to test.

Resources

Here are some resources related to this session:

• Connect with Brad Did: Visual Newsletter or his Face-to-Face connect calls

• Lamy Studio Fountain Pen

• TWSBI Eco Pen in Cerulean

• Book: The Lazy Guru’s Guide to Life

• Zines 101: Make a Zine - Cornell University

• Time Timer MOD Edition

Sign up to get Brad’s zine and give him feedback

Brad will be creating a zine based on the session and is seeking people to have a look and offer feedback to move it to a finished, delivered state. Sign up here:

Here’s a link to Brad’s brief survey to offer feedback.

Watch the Full Video Replay

If you aren’t a Supporting Lab Partner, you can watch me demonstrate my visual problem-solving process by becoming a Lab Partner. You’ll get access to the full session recording, so you can watch me think and sketchnote while I share actionable tips under a deadline.

Read more

I saw the Innioasis Y1 iPod clone on YouTube and thought maybe, just maybe, this little $62 tool could help me carve out focus for my design and illustration work.

A week later, I opened the package, loaded the music, and took the Y1 for a spin while working on a UX design project. It was AWESOME!

What did I notice most? The silence. Not a single beep or boop. Just pure music, letting me focus on the task at hand. Two hours later… I’d made significant progress on my work without distraction.

Here’s my sketchnote of the Innioasis Y1:

With repeated tests, I confirmed that this little, single-purpose music player kept me more focused than using my Mac or iPhone for music.

I know there are many music players you can get cheaply, but the Y1 felt different because it uses the iPod's proven design as its foundation.

The UI is simple, and that makes it just good enough. The scroll wheel makes a huge difference for navigation. It’s no wonder the iPod was so successful.

The Y1 can play audiobooks and videos (large videos seemed to clog playback and desync audio and video a bit), and even has an FM radio with recording capabilities. But its sweet spot for me is simply music playing, which it does well.

Not long after my testing, I posted a note about the Y1:

Note on March 4, 2026:
Innioasis has added a 1TB version of the Y1, so if you have a large collection that 128GB wasn’t enough to hold, the Y1 may now be an option.

Music Rediscovery

But the fun didn’t stop there! As I started using the Y1 with ripped music from my own CDs, I started wondering about the new music I could buy and download.

I’ve subscribed to Gabbie for over a year. She runs the fantastic New Bands for Old Heads, and I love her discoveries and recommendations, especially New Wave 80s-style music from young bands.

Of course, I’d used Bandcamp, so I began seeking out music. I found quite a bit I could buy and download. I’ve also used Amazon Digital Music in the past.

Here are a few of my favorite music downloads from Bandcamp:

• Nation of Language - A Way Forward

• Anoraak - Night Drive with You

• Tribal Need - Organica V.1

• El Ten Eleven - Transisions

• VHS Collection - VHS Collection

• FM-84 - Atlas

• Future Islands - Singles

How is this related to sketchnoting?

I use sketchnoting for problem-solving quite a bit (I’m running a free workshop this Saturday if you’re curious), and focus is so important when I do that kind of work. Having a focus-encouraging device like the Y1 helps me stay dialed in so I can connect the dots and get into a flow state.

If you do any work that demands your focus, a device like the Y1 could be a great fit.

Other Resources

Of course, you can upgrade to a customized iPod if you have the funds. PlayerMods will outfit classic iPods with new, larger SSD drives, USB-C ports, Bluetooth capabilities, haptic engines, color shells, and even AirTags. Custom iPods start at about $240 and go up from there.

If you’re curious about themes and other mods for the Y1, you can find that on the Y1 updater page.

If you need focus and love music, the Y1 is worth experimenting with.

Thanks again for the chance to share something fun and useful!

— Mike

Sketchnote Lab is Mike Rohde’s space designed to bridge the gap between sketchnote theory and practice. You don’t need to be an artist to think visually. Join Mike and learn to use sketchnotes to clarify your thinking, solve problems, and move forward. Learn more about Sketchnote Lab.

Mike is the author of The Sketchnote Handbook and The Sketchnote Workbook, bestselling books that teach regular people how to start sketchnoting and build a regular sketchnoting practice.

He founded the Sketchnote Army and hosts the Sketchnote Podcast, where he interviews visual thinkers to understand what makes them tick.

Mike teaches recorded, live, and in-person workshops to help accelerate your sketchnoting practice and provides personalized coaching for your specific visual thinking challenges.

He is the illustrator of bestselling books like REWORK, REMOTE, The $100 Startup, Honest SEO, The Culture Playbook, and The Future Begins with Z.

Become a Supporting Lab Partner or Founder to support Mike’s work at Sketchnote Lab.

It’s the Sketchnote Lab Dispatch for February, 2026!

Punxsutawney Phil says 6 more weeks of Winter ahead, darn it! I hope you are as well as you can be wherever you are. I know for some, there is chaos, fear, and trouble. I stand with you.

What’s in this issue?

• 5 Cool Things to share with you.

• Sketchnote Problem-Solving with Brad Did Saturday, February 14th, for FREE! Sign up.

• Sketchnotes 101 Video Replay the foundations of sketchnotes from January 2026. Watch.

• Sketchnote Lab 2026 Schedule so you can plan your participation for the year. Read.

Five Cool Things

Here are five cool things I thought you would enjoy:

❥ 1. Sketch Your Mind Conference 2025 Videos! - My friend Zsolt Viczián hosted an amazing conference in late 2025 and has shared all eight session videos on YouTube. Say thanks to Zsolt by purchasing his new book, Sketch Your Mind!

❥ 2. How to look back at your year with visuals - It is not too late to reflect on 2025! Take a few moments to absorb Zsofi Lang’s wisdom in this gem of a post.

❥ 3. Why Sketching Is Becoming The New Digital Detox - So, the physical act of drawing activates neural pathways that digital input! In the chaos of our present moment, try sketching to unwind and relax. It’s been helping me.

❥ 4. Need to remember something? Draw it - This University of Waterloo study is 10 years old, but it still offers valuable insights into the power of drawing for memory. From the study overview, I love this quote: "We pitted drawing against a number of other known encoding strategies, but drawing always came out on top," — Jeffrey Wammes, Ph.D.

❥ 5. Inking Abroad with Ben Crothers and Axelle Vanquaillie - If you want to boost your creativity in sketchnoting like never before, and have a taste for travel (and great cappuccino), then you'll love this 3-day creative retreat in Florence, Italy! It’s hosted by my friends Ben and Axelle, so you get a special discount with code SKETCHNOTE for 200 Euros / $240 USD off. Bellissimo!

Here’s a sample video of Ben and Axelle’s teaching the SNAILS approach to drawing.

Sketchnote Problem Solving with Special Guest Brad Did

​Special guest Brad Did will bring a problem to solve, and I’ll use sketchnoting to visualize the problem and brainstorm potential solutions with Brad. Watch and learn how to use sketchnotes as a visual thinking tool in this real-time, problem-solving session.

Here’s what sketchnotes from these problem-solving sessions look like:

You can sign up to attend the free problem-solving event right here:

Sign up for free

The session is free to all subscribers, with the recorded replay video available exclusively to Paid Lab Members (along with all recordings since December 2024).

January Sketchnote Lab Live Video Replay: Sketchnotes 101

Watch me teach the foundations of sketchnoting in Sketchnotes 101.

Learn the foundations of sketchnoting so you can kick off your year sketchnoting! I’ll teach you how to create sketchnotes using the five basic shapes (square, circle, triangle, line, and dot), people, faces, and lettering. This video replay is free, and you can watch it right now.

By the way, Paid Lab Members get access to all video replays since December 2024. If you subscribe today, you get access too!

Sketchnote Lab Schedule for 2026

I have two focus areas for 2026:

1. Teaching the basics for people new to sketchnoting who want to try it in 2026, and

2. Live problem-solving sessions to show how you can use sketchnotes as a thinking and problem-solving tool at work and in your everyday life.

Check out the full 2026 schedule.

Last Month’s Sketchnote Lab Posts

Here’s what happened at Sketchnote Lab last month:

Become a Paid Lab Member, and you’ll support my work and have access to all Live Lab recorded replays since December 2024 to help build your sketchnoting practice!

Subscribe now

Buy my Sketchnoting Workshops

Check out my sketchnoting workshop videos to build your lettering, layout, and icon creation skills in your sketchnotes, or to learn my reflective method for creating travel sketchnotes.

Sketchnoting Skills Workshops

Custom Sketchnote Workshops

I love teaching teams like yours how to think visually and sketch simply with Custom Sketchnote Workshops.

I've presented workshops at schools: Drexel University, Marquette University, and The University of Michigan; Anne Arundel, New York City, and Fresno school districts.

I’ve also presented workshops for teams at SmugMug/Flickr, Hubspot, Northwestern Mutual, Johnson Controls, Dentsu Creative, and Sibley Memorial Hospital.

I’d love to teach your team as well. Let’s talk!

Thanks again for the chance to share something useful in your inbox!

— Mike

Sketchnote Lab is Mike Rohde’s space designed to bridge the gap between sketchnote theory and practice. You don’t need to be an artist to think visually. Join Mike and learn to use sketchnotes to clarify your thinking, solve problems, and move forward. Learn more about Sketchnote Lab.

Mike is the author of The Sketchnote Handbook and The Sketchnote Workbook, bestselling books that teach regular people how to start sketchnoting and build a regular sketchnoting practice.

He founded the Sketchnote Army and hosts the Sketchnote Podcast, where he interviews visual thinkers to understand what makes them tick.

Mike teaches recorded, live, and in-person workshops to help accelerate your sketchnoting practice and provides personalized coaching for your specific visual thinking challenges.

He is the illustrator of bestselling books like REWORK, REMOTE, The $100 Startup, Honest SEO, The Culture Playbook, and The Future Begins with Z.

Become a Supporting Lab Partner or Founder to support Mike’s work at Sketchnote Lab.

Join me for twelve monthly sessions throughout 2026: foundations every other month, live problem-solving in between. In the problem-solving sessions, friends will challenge me to tackle real problems with sketchnotes, and you’ll see the process unfold in real time.

All sessions are free to attend live. Supporting Lab Partners get access to all recorded replays in the Lab Partner Vault.

Here’s the schedule for 2026:

C O M P L E T E D:

1. January: Sketchnoting 101 ✅

The foundations of sketchnoting were covered in a free 1-hour sketchnoting 101 workshop, including a fun treehouse sketchnote mapping exercise.

2. February: Problem-Solving w/ Brad Did ✅

Special guest Brad Did brought a challenge, and I used sketchnoting to visualize his problem and brainstorm solutions. This was a lively session with lots of a-ha moments and a great ‘zine solution that Brad is now pursuing.

3. March: Sketchnote Foundations - Drawing Icons ✅

In this foundational session on Saturday, March 21, we dove into icon creation, using five basic shapes to create icons for your sketchnotes. I shared how to build a personalized visual library that's tailored to your work and projects.

4. April: Problem-Solving w/ Mauro Toselli ✅

Special guest Mauro Toselli and I talked about Meta Problems on Saturday, April 18, using sketchnoting to visualize how to deal with them.

A Supporting or Founding Lab Partner, you can watch all of the replays right now, plus everything in the archive from December 2024. Join today!

N E X T:

5. May: Sketchnote Foundations - Drawing Dynamic People w/ Alejo Porras ⏱️

In this foundational session, Pro sketchnoter Alejo Porras will join me live to explore both simple and dynamic approaches to drawing people. We’ll start with basic people-drawing fundamentals, then Alejo will show you simple techniques to make your people drawing more dynamic.

Sign up for Free!

S C H E D U L E D:

6. June: Problem-Solving w/ Steven Lin 🗓️

Special guest Steven Lin will bring a challenge, and I’ll use sketchnoting to visualize the problem and brainstorm potential solutions.

7. July: Sketchnote Foundations - Lettering w/ Andy Fishburne 🗓️

I’ll dive deep into my approach to lettering in sketchnotes, including two-line, three-line, condensed, and faux-script. My friend Andy Fishburne will teach his unique lettering style, too!

8. August: How to Sketch Your Story as You Tell It w/ David Hutchens of Story Telling Leader 🗓️

In August, my guest will be David Hutchens of Story Telling Leader. Storytelling is a powerful way to communicate, so what better skill to teach than to walk you through the practice of sketching your story as you tell it? This will be a fun one!

9. September: Sketchnote Foundations - Layout 🗓️

The layout of sketchnotes is the bane of many sketchnoters. I’ll share my approaches to simplify your layout and clarify information for readers, drawing on layout tips from my days in graphic design.

10. October: Problem-Solving w/ (Guest TBD) 🗓️

I’ll bring in a guest with a real-world problem (past challenges have covered everything from career pivots to community projects), and we’ll work through it live, with sketchnotes to clarify and generate ideas for my guest.

11. November: Sketchnote Foundations - Listening Skills w/ Sarah Greer and Adrian Peryer 🗓️

The secret weapon of visual thinkers is great listening. My friends Sarah Greer and Adrian Peryer of Shared Vision Toolkit will share how we can focus our listening and ways to capture what we’re hearing. We’ll also explore how we can shift from a private, internal listening posture to a collaborative, co-creation listening posture.

12. December: Problem-Solving w/ (Guest TBD) 🗓️

I'll bring in a guest with a real-world problem (past challenges have covered everything from career pivots to community projects), and we'll work through it live, with sketchnotes to clarify and generate ideas for my guest.

If this year of learning sounds like your kind of thing, join as a Supporting or Founding Lab Partner, and you'll get access to every session, including the archive.

Join Sketchnote Lab!

Sketchnote Lab is Mike Rohde’s space designed to bridge the gap between sketchnote theory and practice. You don't need to be an artist to think visually. Join Mike and learn to use sketchnotes to clarify your thinking, solve problems, and move forward. Learn more about Sketchnote Lab.

Mike is the author of The Sketchnote Handbook and The Sketchnote Workbook, bestselling books that teach regular people how to start sketchnoting and build a regular sketchnoting practice.

He founded the Sketchnote Army and hosts the Sketchnote Podcast, where he interviews visual thinkers to understand what makes them tick.

Mike teaches recorded, live, and in-person workshops to help accelerate your sketchnoting practice and provides personalized coaching for your specific visual thinking challenges.

He is the illustrator of bestselling books like REWORK, REMOTE, The $100 Startup, Honest SEO, The Culture Playbook, and The Future Begins with Z.

Become a Supporting or Founding Lab Partner to support Mike’s work at Sketchnote Lab.

We had a great foundations session on Saturday with 85 sign-ups and 36 attendees. I was able to cover lots of things in this session, including a fun exercise at the end, creating sketchnote idea maps together:

• What are sketchnotes?

• How can sketchnotes be applied in everyday life?

• The 5 basic elements of drawing and how to use them

• Creating a visual library

• Useful icons for sketchnotes

• Simple lettering

• Drawing people

• The sketchnote mapping exercise: create a treehouse

Some testimonials for the session:

“The lab was great, well organized and a pleasure to listen, learn and participate. Our time solidified 'it' for me, I've ordered your book and will dive in to learning more.” — Earla

“Appropriate pacing and lots of good nuggets to apply - liked the idea of using the note cards instead of slides - really made it engaging and I’d like to find out the best practices of how to do that for the next working meeting I have to facilitate.” — Jenn

“Loved the reassurance that draws could suck and appreciated the exceptional qualities of Mike’s sketch notes. Motivated me to find my Sketchnote Workbook and get to work.” — Jim

Become a Paid Lab Member

If you aren’t a Paid Lab Member yet, this is a great time to subscribe for access to all of the live and recorded sessions in 2026! If you’d like these videos and access to all recordings since December 2024, become a paid Lab Member to support my work.

Subscribe now

Permission to Suck at Drawing Certificate

Don’t feel you're good at drawing? That’s where we all are! Here’s a PDF download of the Official Permission to Suck at Drawing Certificate! Download it, print it, add your name, and hang it up where you’ll see it when drawing as a reminder that it’s OK to suck at drawing. :-)

The Sketchnote Handbook 40% off

Get your own copy of my book, The Sketchnote Handbook. It’s a really cool book (I realized I’m biased, but it really is cool). Get it for 40% off at Peachpit.com with code ROHDE40.

More details on the book, including free sample chapters.

Thanks again for the chance to share something useful in your inbox!

— Mike

Sketchnote Lab is Mike Rohde’s space designed to bridge the gap between sketchnote theory and practice. You don’t need to be an artist to think visually. Join Mike and learn to use sketchnotes to clarify your thinking, solve problems, and move forward. Learn more about Sketchnote Lab.

Mike is the author of The Sketchnote Handbook and The Sketchnote Workbook, bestselling books that teach regular people how to start sketchnoting and build a regular sketchnoting practice.

He founded the Sketchnote Army and hosts the Sketchnote Podcast, where he interviews visual thinkers to understand what makes them tick.

Mike teaches recorded, live, and in-person workshops to help accelerate your sketchnoting practice and provides personalized coaching for your specific visual thinking challenges.

He is the illustrator of bestselling books like REWORK, REMOTE, The $100 Startup, Honest SEO, The Culture Playbook, and The Future Begins with Z.

Become a Supporting Lab Partner or Founder to support Mike’s work at Sketchnote Lab.

Welcome to the Sketchnote Lab Dispatch for January, 2026!

Happy New Year! It’s January, which means I’ve started preparing for the new direction here at Sketchnote Lab: a focus on the basics and deep dives into visual problem-solving with sketchnotes.

What’s in this issue?

• 5 Cool Things to share with you.

• Sketchnotes 101 this coming Saturday, January 24th, for FREE! Sign up here.

• What’s ahead at Sketchnote Lab with more details on my plan for the year.

• Sketchnote Handbook Chapter 3: Listen Up! A Guided Walkthrough Video was posted.

Five Cool Things

Here are five cool things I thought you would enjoy:

❥ 1. Journaling for Beginners: What Actually Matters - It’s not too late to start journaling in 2026, this article from Bryant Del Toro offers practical insights to get you started.

❥ 2. Create an Artist Diary Series from Adam Ming - An artist diary is another form of journaling and in this article, Adam Ming talks about why it’s easy to get ideas but so difficult to turn them into anything tangible and how an artist diary can help.

❥ 3. Stop Drawing Well, Start Drawing Honestly - I LOVE this article from Christopher Thornock with the advice to draw what matters to you, honestly, instead of trying to impress other people.

❥ 4. Navigation fundamentals for graphic recorders - My friend Cara Holland offers four simple steps to help your audience find their way round your sketchnotes and graphic recordings.

❥ 5. Sergio Ingravale’s Creative Quests - My friend Sergio offers a mix of gamified visual activities for productivity and creativity. Save 25% on his for-sale items w/ code SKETCHNOTELAB at Gumroad.

January Sketchnote Lab Live: Sketchnotes 101 to kick off 2026!

On Saturday, January 24th, 2026, at 12 noon US Central Time, I’ll teach the basics of sketchnoting in Sketchnotes 101.

Come and learn the basics of sketchnoting so you can kick off your year with a new skill—sketchnoting! I’ll teach you how to create sketchnotes using the five basic shapes (square, circle, triangle, line, and dot), people, faces, and lettering.

We’ll wrap the session with a fun activity where you can practice your new skills right away!

The session is free to all subscribers, with the recorded replay video available exclusively to Paid Lab Members (along with all recordings since December 2024).

Attend the Live Lab (Free!)

What’s ahead at Sketchnote Lab for 2026

In December, I shared a survey for readers and got fantastic feedback. The results gave me clarity on what to focus on — two focus areas for 2026:

1. Teaching the basics for people new to sketchnoting who want to try it in 2026, and

2. Live problem-solving sessions to show how you can use sketchnotes as a thinking and problem-solving tool at work and in your everyday life.

You can check out the full 2026 schedule on the Live Labs page.

For more details and full survey results, read the article.

The Sketchnote Army Podcast is coming to Sketchnote Lab!

I’m also migrating the Sketchnote Army Podcast to Sketchnote Lab this spring, and rebranding it The Sketchnote Podcast. It will have the same format: interviews with interesting visual thinkers. I’m centralizing my work at Sketchnote Lab and that includes my podcast.

Curious about the podcast? Check out the 17 seasons and 185 episodes at Sketchnote Army.

More about the rebranding and migration soon!

Sketchnote Handbook Chapter 3: Listen Up! A Guided Walkthrough Video

In December, I released video 3 from my series walking through The Sketchnote Handbook, sharing the thinking behind the chapter and some stories from creating the book:

You can see video 1 and video 2 on YouTube. More are coming this year!

Last Month’s Sketchnote Lab Posts

Here’s what happened at Sketchnote Lab last month:

Become a Paid Lab Member, and you’ll support my work and have access to all Live Lab recorded replays since December, 2024 to help build your sketchnoting practice!

Subscribe now

Buy my Sketchnoting Workshops

Check out my sketchnoting workshop videos to build your lettering, layout, and icon creation skills in your sketchnotes, or to learn my reflective method for creating travel sketchnotes.

Sketchnoting Skills Workshops

Custom Sketchnote Workshops

I love teaching teams like yours how to think visually and sketch simply with Custom Sketchnote Workshops.

I've presented workshops at schools: Drexel University, Marquette University, and The University of Michigan; Anne Arundel, New York City, and Fresno school districts.

I’ve also presented workshops for teams at SmugMug/Flickr, Hubspot, Northwestern Mutual, Johnson Controls, Dentsu Creative, and Sibley Memorial Hospital.

I’d love to teach your team as well. Let’s talk!

Thanks again for the chance to share something useful in your inbox!

— Mike

Sketchnote Lab is Mike Rohde’s space designed to bridge the gap between sketchnote theory and practice. You don’t need to be an artist to think visually. Join Mike and learn to use sketchnotes to clarify your thinking, solve problems, and move forward. Learn more about Sketchnote Lab.

Mike is the author of The Sketchnote Handbook and The Sketchnote Workbook, bestselling books that teach regular people how to start sketchnoting and build a regular sketchnoting practice.

He founded the Sketchnote Army and hosts the Sketchnote Podcast, where he interviews visual thinkers to understand what makes them tick.

Mike teaches recorded, live, and in-person workshops to help accelerate your sketchnoting practice and provides personalized coaching for your specific visual thinking challenges.

He is the illustrator of bestselling books like REWORK, REMOTE, The $100 Startup, Honest SEO, The Culture Playbook, and The Future Begins with Z.

Become a Supporting Lab Partner or Founder to support Mike’s work at Sketchnote Lab.

On Saturday, January 24th, 2026, at 12 noon US Central Time, I’ll teach the basics of sketchnoting in Sketchnotes 101.

Come and learn the basics of sketchnoting so you can kick off your year with a new skill—sketchnoting! I’ll teach you how to create sketchnotes using the five basic shapes (square, circle, triangle, line, and dot), people, faces, and lettering.

We’ll wrap the session with a fun activity where you can practice your new skills right away!

The session is free to all subscribers, with the recorded replay video available exclusively to Paid Lab Members (along with all recordings since December 2024).

Attend the Live Lab (Free!)

Sketchnoting Skill Building Workshop Videos

Check out my sketchnoting workshop videos to build your lettering, layout, and icon creation skills in your sketchnotes, or to learn my reflective method for creating travel sketchnotes from photos and memories after you return home from your trip:

Sketchnoting Skills Workshops

Buy my Books on Sketchnoting

You have what it takes to create sketchnotes, even if you’re a complete beginner at drawing. I’ve crafted two bestselling books that teach you the basics of sketchnoting: drawing ideas with the five basic shapes, creating a visual library, building your listening skills, and working through the exercises I’ve designed to develop your sketchnoting confidence and abilities.

Buy The Sketchnote Handbook

Buy The Sketchnote Workbook

Use code ROHDE40 for 40% off at Peachpit.com

Thanks again for the chance to share something useful in your inbox!

— Mike

Sketchnote Lab is Mike Rohde’s space designed to bridge the gap between sketchnote theory and practice. The goal is to guide you in integrating sketchnoting into your everyday life. Learn more about Sketchnote Lab.

Mike is the author of The Sketchnote Handbook and The Sketchnote Workbook, bestselling books that teach regular people how to start and keep sketchnoting.

He founded the Sketchnote Army and hosts the Sketchnote Army Podcast, where he interviews visual thinkers to understand what makes them tick.

Mike offers recorded, live, and in-person workshops to help accelerate your sketchnoting practice and coaching for personalized, 1:1 sketchnoting guidance.

Become a Paid Lab Member to support Mike’s work.

Episode 3: Chapter 3 - Listen Up!

This video covers chapter three of The Sketchnote Handbook and includes new details about its creation that I have never shared, like:

• Why I believe listening is the secret weapon of a sketchnoter

• The importance of focus for creating sketchnotes

• Eliminating distractions

• The practice of caching information (it gets easier with practice)

• Why pattern matching is helpful in your sketchnotes

I will continue this video series with the remaining chapters and publish them here at Sketchnote Lab and on YouTube.

Walkthrough for Chapters 1 & 2

If you missed the walk-through for The Sketchnote Handbook, Chapters 1 or 2, watch them here:

Buy The Sketchnote Handbook

Want to buy a copy of The Sketchnote Handbook? Use the 40% off discount code ROHDE40 at Peachpit.com on the printed or digital book.

Buy The Sketchnote Handbook at Peachpit

Thanks again for the chance to share something fun in your inbox!

— Mike

Sketchnote Lab is Mike Rohde’s space designed to bridge the gap between sketchnote theory and practice. The goal is to guide you in integrating sketchnoting into your everyday life. Learn more about Sketchnote Lab.

Mike is the author of The Sketchnote Handbook and The Sketchnote Workbook, bestselling books that teach regular people how to start and keep sketchnoting.

He founded the Sketchnote Army and hosts the Sketchnote Army Podcast, where he interviews visual thinkers to understand what makes them tick.

Mike offers recorded, live, and in-person workshops to help accelerate your sketchnoting practice and coaching for personalized, 1:1 sketchnoting guidance.

Become a paid Lab Member to support Mike’s work.

P.S. If you’d like to become a paid Lab Member to support my work here, there’s a link for 10% off annual plans available through December 31, 2025:

Subscribe Annually for 10% Off

Yearly Diary Sketchnote

Here’s a test of the yearly diary sketchnote created for the session. It was fun to do, and I feel like I could fill a couple of pages with more reflective skethnotes like this.

Weekly Diary Sketchnote

A weekly diary sketchnote I did live in the session:

Daily Diary Sketchnote

One of my original diary sketchnotes after being inspired by Andrew Tan (Drewscape).

Resources

Resources mentioned in the session:

Diary Sketchnote Templates (PDF)

Andrew Tan (Drewscaope) Diary Comics Video (inspiration for this session)

Become a Paid Lab Member

If you aren’t a Paid Lab Member yet, this is a great time to subscribe for access to all of the live and recorded sessions in 2026! I’m offering 10% off annual Paid Lab Memberships for your first year. Use the special button below to claim this 10% discount through December 31, 2025:

Subscribe Annually for 10% Off

Thanks again for the chance to share something useful in your inbox!

— Mike

Sketchnote Lab is Mike Rohde’s space designed to bridge the gap between sketchnote theory and practice. The goal is to guide you in integrating sketchnoting into your everyday life. Learn more about Sketchnote Lab.

Mike is the author of The Sketchnote Handbook and The Sketchnote Workbook, bestselling books that teach regular people how to start and keep sketchnoting.

He founded the Sketchnote Army and hosts the Sketchnote Army Podcast, where he interviews visual thinkers to understand what makes them tick.

Mike offers recorded, live, and in-person workshops to help accelerate your sketchnoting practice and coaching for personalized, 1:1 sketchnoting guidance.

Become a Paid Lab Member to support Mike’s work.

First of all, thank you to everyone who has subscribed and become a Paid Lab Member of Sketchnote Lab in 2025!

This first year of experimentation has gone very well. I was pleased with how much I learned by trying out so many ideas in 2025. Thanks for coming along for the ride and supporting my work!

Survey Results and Direction

The survey I ran in early December provided helpful insights on what you’d like to see going forward. I loved seeing that more than half of you are applying the skills you’ve learned here, and that some of you still want to apply new sketchnoting skills in 2026. Awesome!

On topics you want more of, you told me that you wanted more teaching on the basics of sketchnoting and more live problem solving with sketchnotes:

Based on that feedback, I’m focusing on Sketchnoting 101: The Basics and Problem Solving with Sketchnotes, featuring real-world problem-solving with friends and colleagues in 2026.

Sketchnoting 101: The Basics

Many responses to what you would like to see more of included basic sketchnoting techniques, so for 2026, I’ve scheduled six live sessions focused on teaching sketchnoting basics:

Sketchnoting 101, Drawing Icons and People, Lettering, Layout, and Listening.

I’ll start with a 101 overview of sketchnoting in January 2026, followed by specific key sketchnoting skills throughout the year.

Problem Solving with Sketchnotes

The other area you wanted to see more of was live problem-solving using sketchnoting. I’ve done two sessions on this in December 2024 and again in November 2025, which were very well received. I have six sessions scheduled in 2026 to solve problems live using sketchnnotes.

Subscribe now

Sketchnote Lab 2026 Schedule

Here is the Sketchnote Lab schedule for 2026. Things may change as the year unfolds:

1. January: Sketchnoting 101

The basics of sketchnoting with a free, 1-hour 101 sketchnoting basics workshop, where we will cover elements of sketchnoting at a high level and then practice together with a fun exercise. The recording will also be free to everyone.

2. February 2026: Problem Solving Session 1 (Guest TBD)

Live session 1 with a guest with a problem to solve. I will work live with my guest, using sketchnoting techniques to explore the problem we’re trying to solve and develop possible solutions.

3. March 2026: Drawing Icons

I’ll go deep into creating icons for your sketchnotes using the five basic shapes as a foundation for making almost any icon. We’ll also talk about building your own visual library that suits the work you do.

4. April 2026: Problem Solving Session 2 w/ guest Mauro Toselli

Live session 2 with guest with a problem to solve. I will work live with Mauro, using sketchnoting techniques to explore the problem we’re trying to solve and develop possible solutions.

5. May 2026: Drawing People w/ guest Alejo Porras

My friend and professional sketchnoter will join me live to talk about advanced and straightforward ways to draw people. I will cover basic people drawing, and Alejo will show you how make your people more dynamic.

6. June 2026: Problem Solving Session 3 (Guest TBD)

Live session 3 with a guest with a problem to solve. I will work live with my guest, using sketchnoting techniques to explore the problem we’re trying to solve and develop possible solutions.

7. July 2026: Lettering w/ Andy Fishburne

I’ll dive deep into my approach to lettering in sketchnotes, including two-line, three-line, condensed, and faux-script. My friend will teach his unique lettering style, too!

8. August 2026: Problem Solving Session 4 w/ Steven Lin

Live session with Steven Lin with a problem to solve. I will work with him live using sketchnoting techniques to work through a problem to develop possible solutions we can explore.

9. September 2026: Layout

Layout is the bane of many sketchnoters. I’ll share my approaches to simplify your layout and clarify information for readers with layout tips from my graphic design days.

10. October 2026: Problem Solving Session 5 (Guest TBD)

Live session with a guest with a problem to solve. I will work with them live using sketchnoting techniques to work through their problem to develop possible solutions they can explore.

11. November 2026: Listening

The secret weapon of visual thinkers is great listening. I’ll share how I focus my listening and share ways I capture what I’m hearing.

12. December 2026: Problem Solving Session 6 (Guest TBD)

Live session with a guest with a problem to solve. I will work with them live using sketchnoting techniques to work through their problem to develop possible solutions they can explore.

As the schedule fills in with guests, I’ll keep it updated on the Monthly Live Labs tab.

I’m excited for what we’ll do together in 2026, and I hope you are excited as well. If you aren’t a Paid Lab Member yet, this is a great time to subscribe for access to all of the live and recorded sessions in 2026!

Subscribe now

Thanks again for the chance to share something useful in your inbox!

— Mike

Sketchnote Lab is Mike Rohde’s space designed to bridge the gap between sketchnote theory and practice. The goal is to guide you in integrating sketchnoting into your everyday life. Learn more about Sketchnote Lab.

Mike is the author of The Sketchnote Handbook and The Sketchnote Workbook, bestselling books that teach regular people how to start and keep sketchnoting.

He founded the Sketchnote Army and hosts the Sketchnote Army Podcast, where he interviews visual thinkers to understand what makes them tick.

Mike offers recorded, live, and in-person workshops to help accelerate your sketchnoting practice and coaching for personalized, 1:1 sketchnoting guidance.

Become a Paid Lab Member to support Mike’s work.

Welcome to the December 2025 edition of the Sketchnote Lab Dispatch.

Christmas is coming soon, and the New Year is just around the corner. I appreciate your support this year at Sketchnote Lab as I send out this final Sketchnote Lab Dispatch for 2025.

What’s in this issue?

• 5 Cool Things to share with you.

• A year-end survey for you, readers of Sketchnote Lab, is open til Friday!

• Free December Live Lab: How to create Diary Sketchnotes on December 20th.

• Sketchnote Lab Video Set with all 13 recordings from 2024/2025.

• Sketchnote Army Podcast season 17 is now complete with All The Tips

Five Cool Things

Here are five cool things I thought you would enjoy:

❥ 1. World Sketchnote Week 2026! On Sunday, January 11, 2026, we’ll celebrate World Sketchnote Day, and the following week, January 12-16, be sure to attend the free World Sketchnote Week with tons of sessions organized by Ashton Rodenheiser with the biggest names in visual thinking!

❥ 2. Danny Gregory’s Illustrated Travel Journaling - I love travel journaling, and so does illustrator . Check out his sensible, practical approach to capturing your experiences on the road in this helpful video.

❥ 3. Eva-Lotta Lamm’s Visual Starter Kit - If you’re interested in kickstarting your visual practice in 2026, there’s no better way than with my friend Eva-Lotta’s Visual Starter Kit. She also has lots of helpful workshops.

❥ 4. Seeing Eye to Eye: How Visuals Bridge the Generation Gap at Work - My friends at Scriberia have a fantastic article with guidance on using visuals to bridge the generation gap at work. Love it!

❥ 5. How to Develop Your Visual Vocabulary - Friend and visual thinker Zsofi Lang offers a great article on building up your visual vocabulary the easy way. Thanks, Zsofi!

Sketchnote Lab Survey 2025

I would love to hear your thoughts on my work here at Sketchnote Lab for 2025! I’ve created a quick survey with six simple questions for you. Take the survey here:

Take the Survey

Thanks for all of your support this year! I’m excited to share what’s in store for 2026 in January.

December Sketchnote Lab Live: Creating Diary Sketchnotes

Join me live on Saturday, December 20th, at 12 noon US Central Time for a free workshop on creating diary sketchnotes!

In this session, I’ll share how to create diary sketchnotes — a visual way to capture your day or reflective experiences using simple sketchnotes. It’s a great way to remember today, this week, or this past year. We’ll make diary sketchnotes together as a group in this session.

Here’s a sample I created in 2025:

The session is free to all subscribers, with the recorded replay video available exclusively to Paid Lab Members (along with all recordings since December 2024).

Sketchnote Lab Live Free Tickets

Sketchnote Lab Sessions Video Set

At the end of this year, at Sketchnote Lab, I’ve gathered all the video recordings from Live Lab sessions since December 2024 and put them all in a downloadable set on Gumroad for $100.

If you’re a Paid Lab Member, you get free access to download these through December 31, 2025, in the Lab Member Resources area. Check it out!

Buy Sketchnote Sessions Video Set $100

Sketchnote Army Podcast Season 17 is a wrap!

Season 17th season of Sketchnote Army Podcast is a wrap! Check out the popular All The Tips episode featuring tips from Dan Roam, Katya Balakina, Nishant Jain, Cara Holland, Ted Shachtman, Lindsay Wilson and Andrew Park!

Sketchnote Army Podcast

My Sketchnoting Workshops are on sale!

Check out my sketchnoting workshop videos to build your lettering, layout, and icon creation skills in your sketchnotes, or to learn my reflective method for creating travel sketchnotes from photos and memories after you return home from your trip:

Sketchnoting Skills Workshops

Last Month’s Sketchnote Lab Posts

Here’s what’s been happening at Sketchnote Lab:

Become a Paid Lab Member and you’ll support my work and have access to all Live Lab recorded replays since December, 2024 to help build your sketchnoting practice!

Subscribe now

Custom Sketchnote Workshops

I love teaching teams like yours how to think visually and sketch simply with Custom Sketchnote Workshops.

• I've presented workshops at schools: Drexel University, Marquette University, and The University of Michigan; Anne Arundel, New York City, and Fresno school districts.

• I’ve also presented workshops for teams at SmugMug/Flickr, Hubspot, Northwestern Mutual, Johnson Controls, Dentsu Creative, and Sibley Memorial Hospital.

I’d love to teach your team as well. Let’s talk!

Thanks again for the chance to share something useful in your inbox!

— Mike

Sketchnote Lab is Mike Rohde’s space designed to bridge the gap between sketchnote theory and practice. The goal is to guide you in integrating sketchnoting into your everyday life. Learn more about Sketchnote Lab.

Mike is the author of The Sketchnote Handbook and The Sketchnote Workbook, bestselling books that teach regular people how to start and keep sketchnoting.

He founded the Sketchnote Army and hosts the Sketchnote Army Podcast, where he interviews visual thinkers to understand what makes them tick.

Mike offers recorded, live, and in-person workshops to help accelerate your sketchnoting practice and coaching for personalized, 1:1 sketchnoting guidance.

Become a Paid Lab Member to support Mike’s work.

It’s the end of the year, and time to reflect on accomplishments and look at ways to keep on improving what I do here at Sketchnote Lab. I would love your help.

Take the Quick Survey

Here’s a short 6-question survey to get a sense of what you’ve liked best and to hear your feedback. This will help me plan and deliver more things you enjoy at Sketchnote Lab in 2026.

Thanks again for your support!

— Mike

Sketchnote Lab is Mike Rohde’s space designed to bridge the gap between sketchnote theory and practice. The goal is to guide you in integrating sketchnoting into your everyday life. Learn more about Sketchnote Lab.

Mike is the author of The Sketchnote Handbook and The Sketchnote Workbook, bestselling books that teach regular people how to start and keep sketchnoting.

He founded the Sketchnote Army and hosts the Sketchnote Army Podcast, where he interviews visual thinkers to understand what makes them tick.

Mike offers recorded, live, and in-person workshops to help accelerate your sketchnoting practice and coaching for personalized, 1:1 sketchnoting guidance.

Become a paid Lab Member to support Mike’s work.

Buy my video workshops

Learn at your own pace with my Reflective Travel Sketchnote Workshop and Sketchnote Live Workshop Set videos, including downloadable videos and PDF templates:

Hey friends!

As the year draws to a close, I’ve packaged all 14 videos from the past year into one convenient set, available for download (or streaming) on Gumroad.

Buy the Sketchnote Lab Video Set for $80

Why buy this video set?

Buying the complete set gives you all the Sketchnote Lab videos I’ve created since December 2004 in one convenient package. Because these are downloadable video files, you can purchase the complete set and access all the videos on whatever device works best for you.

Here’s a complete list of downloadable videos in this set:

1. December 2025 - Creating Diary Sketchnotes (50:42)

2. November 2025 - Sketchnoting Projects (1:06:58)

3. October 2025 - Tools Hangout (1:06:01)

4. September 2025 - Daily Plan Bar (46:35)

5. August 2025 - Metaphors w/ Dario Paniagua (53:03)

6. July 2025 - Ask Mike Anything about Sketchnotes (56:16)

7. June 2025 - Whiteboard Sketchnotes (1:00:41)

8. David Fugate Interview (49:36)

9. May 2025 - Travel Sketchnotes (56:20)

10. April 2025 - Book Publishing Q&A (55:55)

11. March 2025 - Ask Mike Anything about Sketchnotes (52:23)

12. February 2025 - Thumbnail Sketches (1:00:16)

13. January 2025 - What Makes Sketchnotes Tick (1:07:13)

14. December 2024 - Problem Solving (56:15)

Thanks again for the chance to share something useful in your inbox!

— Mike

Sketchnote Lab is Mike Rohde’s space designed to bridge the gap between sketchnote theory and practice. The goal is to guide you in integrating sketchnoting into your everyday life. Learn more about Sketchnote Lab.

Mike is the author of The Sketchnote Handbook and The Sketchnote Workbook, bestselling books that teach regular people how to start and keep sketchnoting.

He founded the Sketchnote Army and hosts the Sketchnote Army Podcast, where he interviews visual thinkers to understand what makes them tick.

Mike offers recorded, live, and in-person workshops to help accelerate your sketchnoting practice and coaching for personalized, 1:1 sketchnoting guidance.

Become a paid Lab Member to support Mike’s work.

Buy my video workshops

Learn at your own pace with my Reflective Travel Sketchnote Workshop and Sketchnote Live Workshop Set videos, including downloadable videos and PDF templates: