Moving Projects Forward with Sketchnotes
Sometimes, a sketchnote is the best tool you have for visualizing a problem, potential solutions, and moving your projects forward. Let me show you how.
Active projects exist in one of three states:
Started
In-Progress
Completed
Starting may be easy, but completing can be a real challenge. My solution? Keep projects moving forward using sketchnotes as a tool to visualize requirements, problems and solutions.
Sketchnotes get thoughts and ideas out of my head and onto a page, screen, or whiteboard. Seeing ideas visualized with notes (for just me or a team) gets ideas on the table, encourages alignment and helps reveal issues that can’t be seen so easily when only talking or typing.
Using sketches and words together as sketchnotes helps me capture more than just sketching or writing on their own. I don’t worry about making beautiful sketchnotes. It’s about getting ideas out of my head and onto the page to move to the next step.
PKWARE T-Shirt design
Here’s an example of using sketchnotes to move a project forward:
PKWARE, where I’m a Principal UX Designer, wanted a new T-shirt design for all of our US employees featuring our art deco headquarters building and a new marketing tagline for our security tools.
I worked with Kathy in HR to design the t-shirt, starting with a meeting to capture a rough sketchnote of ideas in my bullet journal. My goal in the early stage of any project is to define the requirements and explore options that can fulfill the request.
Here’s my first sketchnote from a call with Kathy:
Notice how loose this sketchnote is. As I listened to Kathy define her needs for the tee, I began exploring ideas for how I might pull it off. You can see the sketchnote includes explorations around our very unique art deco headquarters:
In my second sketchnote, I began playing with more ideas, realizing that I’d need to use a very steep, wide-angle view of our building to work on a t-shirt. I also had a hard time figuring out where to place the Milwaukee skyline without the design getting overly busy.
I eventually decided to simplify the design and remove the Milwaukee skyline as a design element. In these sketches I studied the details of the building corner since I would have to represent it simply in the final artwork. Having the opportunity to study objects visually was so helpful.
In a third sketchnote, explored the idea of placing the HQ building in a circular shape to define its edges, curving the new tagline into an arc and putting the PKWARE logo at the top of the circle.
After exploring ideas on paper, I moved to Concepts on the iPad and started to sketchnote these ideas with details that were a bit closer to the final design, including a t-shirt base, colors, and notes:
Throughout this process, I shared my sketchnotes with Kathy to show her my progress and ensure I was meeting expectations. Having sketchnotes to share with Kathy was very helpful for her because she did not have to wait for the final production art to voice her thoughts.
Sketchnotes work for projects because they let you explore ideas and they’re in-progress artifacts at the same time. Clients can be part of the design process, sharing feedback as the project unfolds, instead of feeling boxed in and unable to participate until the very end.
Completed t-shirt and sticker design
Through the process of production, I learned that screen printing gradients is tough so swapping it out for radiating blue lines was a great way to carry the feeling of the gradient while making it practical for screen printing. In the end I liked the radial lines better than the gradient!
Note the addition of the curved tagline inside the circle. I also changed the logomark to blue and silver instead of a darker blue. This saved the costs of a 4th color besides white, blue, and silver.
Once the artwork was completed, we created stickers for the staff to go with the t-shirts and the stickers turned out just as great as the t-shirts:
The important thing to remember: sketchnotes are a simple way to convey ideas and information and they give me a way to play around until the right combination of pieces falls into place.
Your project challenge might be much smaller and simpler than designing a t-shirt. Maybe it’s sketching out elements on a page for a presentation, or the layout of a room for flow, or getting two or three ideas on the page and seeing which one makes most sense.
Whatever it is, don’t get too hung up on making sketchnotes perfect; focus on communicating the idea, moving your project from one step to the next, and eventually to completion.
Join me at the November Sketchnote Lab Live!
If you’re curious to see how I use sketchnotes to keep projects moving so you can steal my process, join me for the Noverber Live Lab. It’s free to attend!
Join me live on Saturday, September 29th at 12 noon US Central Time for a workshop where I’ll show you how I use sketchnotes to move projects forward and answer your questions.
I’ll share samples of past projects, then take on a project challenge from a friend that I will explore in the session to show you my process in detail. Of course, I’ll make time at the end for Q&A.
The session is free to all subscribers, with the recorded replay video available to Paid Lab Members (along with all recordings since December 2024).
Can’t wait to see you there!
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.
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