One Squiggly Line

A visual thinking business that uses hand-drawn pictures to make things clear, simple, & fun
  • Welcome!
  • About
  • Portfolio
  • Classes
  • Shop
  • Contact
  • Welcome!
  • About
  • Portfolio
  • Classes
  • Shop
  • Contact

One Squiggly Line Blog

Hand-drawn pictures can make things clear, simple, and fun in blogs, too!

  • All
  • About Visual Thinking
  • Animated GIFs
  • Creativity
  • Drawing
  • Graphic Recording
  • How to be More Visual
  • Lettering
  • life
  • Sketch Animation
  • Supplies
  • the creative process
  • Tips & Tricks
  • Visual Notes
  • Visual Notes: Sketchnotes
  • Visual Thinking Examples
  • Visual Thinking Tips
  • Visuals in Use
VisualThinking_Creative_Letter_Design_D_MelindaWalker_OneSquigglyLine

Visual Thinking & Lettering: Designing Lowercase D's

melinda carpenter December 28, 2014

There's more than one way to draw pretty much everything. Especially letters!

For some great visual and creative thinking practice, pick something and try to draw it as many different ways as you can. If you set a time limit, you'll actually work a lot faster. It also helps you to not focus on whether or not you like what you just drew.

Here's my 2 minutes worth of lower case d's, drawn on a white board.

In Lettering, How to be More Visual Tags creativity, doodle, drawing, lettering, imagination, illustration, ideas, practice, visuals, visual thinking, Graphic Recording
Comment
Quote_KeepTryingNoChancesLeft_Creative_Lettering_Design_MelindaWalker_OneSquigglyLine

Visual Thinking & Lettering Design: Fill the Space!

melinda carpenter December 26, 2014

Hand-lettering has a certain charm computer generated letters just don't have. The letters are never perfectly formed. Spacing is never 100% uniform. And lines are never perfectly straight. All those little imperfections are where that charm comes from.

Take a look at the quote above. This was done rather quickly, with a permanent pen straight from the start. So obviously, things aren't perfectly planned out. Or perfectly drawn in. But it's safe to say, the text is far from boring.

That's partly because pretty much all of the white space is between the letters. To make the words fit the page, I had to get creative with the spacing. It's unpredictable. It breaks the rules a bit. And that's what makes it interesting.

Big blocks of text can be very boring to the eye. So the next time you're faced with a big, boring block of text, let the words fill the space. And forget about making everything perfectly uniform.

In Lettering, Tips & Tricks Tags creativity, doodle, drawing, lettering, experiment, whitespace, illustration, quotes, visuals, visual thinking, Visual Notes
Comment
VisualThinking_Creative_Letter_Design_Christmas_Mug_MelindaWalker_OneSquigglyLine

Visual Thinking & Lettering: Use Those Lines!

melinda carpenter December 24, 2014

Lines are a big part of drawing. When not used for the main part of the picture, they're often overlooked. But that's easy to change!

If there's something unique or surprising about the lines, people will notice. That sense of mystery draws them in. And the visual captures their attention for much longer.

Take a good look at the steam lines coming out of the mug above. There are a lot of ways those lines could have been drawn to give the effect of steam. There are a lot of ways "Merry Christmas!" could have been written, too.

When the words "Merry Christmas!" are written in the steam, those lines suddenly become much more interesting. The words become part of the picture. They're definitely not an after thought!

So use those lines to really unify your visuals!

In Lettering, Tips & Tricks Tags creativity, doodle, drawing, lettering, imagination, illustration, movement, pictures, visuals, visual thinking, Visual Notes
Comment
VisualThinking_Creative_Letter_Design_Christmas_CandyCanes_MelindaWalker_OneSquigglyLine

Visual Thinking & Lettering: Add Some Action!

melinda carpenter December 21, 2014

Movement makes people look. It's mysterious. Maybe even exciting. Kind of like going on a scavenger hunt. Even if you know exactly where you're going and what you're looking for, there are bound to be some surprises along the way! 

That's why it's great to have visuals with a lot of movement in them. Especially if the topic is not so exciting. An energetic visual with a strong sense of movement will keep people interested. And their eye will naturally travel around the whole page. That means they're much more likely to take in all of your great information.

Cartoonists often use what they call "action lines". That's how they create the sense of movement in a still picture. And it works! Just look at the word "merry" in the visual above. It look like it's moving, thanks to those action lines!

In Tips & Tricks, Lettering Tags basics, drawing, doodle, lettering, illustration, movement, visuals, visual thinking, action
Comment
VisualThinking_Lettering_Custom_Name_Gift_Idea_MelindaWalker_OneSquigglyLine

Visual Thinking & Lettering: Make it Personal - Gift Idea

melinda carpenter December 17, 2014

Ever tried to buy a gift for someone who can buy whatever they want? It's not easy. And definitely requires an extra dose of creativity! 

So, here's an idea for you:

Give them something obviously created just for them - their name hand-drawn in a creative way. It might even include something you know they like, like the flower in the name above.

The name can then be framed or printed on any number of things (stickers, notepads, t-shirts, etc.) at places like Vistaprint or CafePress or used online.

Want more info? Email me and we can iron out the details of what would work best for you.

In Lettering Tags creativity, drawing, lettering, illustration, visuals, gift idea
Comment
VisualThinking_Letterin_Creative_Design_MelindaWalker_OneSquigglyLine

Visual Thinking & Lettering Practice: Designing Lowercase E's

melinda carpenter December 13, 2014

Another super quick visual thinking, lettering design, and creative thinking practice - all in just 2 minutes! Just choose a letter and if it will be upper or lower case. Get some paper or whatever you're going to draw on and something to draw with ready. Set the timer for 2 minutes. Draw your letter as many different ways as you can until the timer goes off. That's it! Whatever you draw stays there - no erasing, no scribbling out. The ideas you don't like this time around may be just what you're looking for later on.

My 2 minute practice above was done on a whiteboard.

In Lettering, How to be More Visual Tags creativity, drawing, doodle, ideas, lettering, Golden Gate Bridge, illustration, Scribing, Visual Notes, visual thinking, Workshop, Graphic Recording
Comment
VisualLEttering_BigLetters_MErryChristmas_MelindaWalker_OneSquiggoyLinwThinking_

Lettering: Fill the Space!

melinda carpenter December 12, 2014

Flowing calligraphy. Fancy script. Bouncy bubble letters. Bold block letters. They're all great but can take time to create. Sometimes you simply don't have the time.

Don't let a time crunch stop you from giving your letters some style! All you have to do is draw your letters instead of writing them. That means you really think about each line before you draw it. Also, think about how the letters fit together and look as a whole.

Your goal now is to make an eye-catching design with a message. Not to write out a word as quickly as possible. That's what computers are for!

Take a second or two to imagine how the image would look with a line in a couple of different places. Try to really see that line on the page before you draw it.

If you have a longer word, make it fill the space. Don't worry about making it all fit on one line. As long as you keep all the letters in order, people will get the message. But make it look like you broke the word up on purpose to make it look good. Not because you didn't plan ahead and ran out of room! If you have some extra spaces, fill them in with something simple related to the word. Like I used a star in mine.

 

In Lettering, How to be More Visual Tags basics, Scribing, creativity, doodle, drawing, Events, lettering, Graphic Recording, Visual Notes, visual thinking, visuals, illustration
Comment
VisualThinking_Christmas_GingerbreadHouse_MelindaWalker_OneSquigglyLine

Lettering: Make it Belong!

melinda carpenter December 6, 2014

Lettering is all about drawing letters, instead of just writing them the way you usually do - without thinking!

If you want to add some words to something you've drawn, then it's really important that you think of the letters as part of the design, because they sure are! One way is to make the words part of the central image, instead of adding them somewhere in the background. Like in the image above - there's plenty of room to fit "Merry Christmas!" in the snow below the gingerbread house, but I made it part of the smoke instead. Now the viewer has the nice surprise of discovering a cheery message somewhat hidden in the smoke.

This image is one of 31 Merry Christmas! designs I drew last December, drawn in black marker and colored in Photoshop or Illustrator.

In Tips & Tricks, Lettering Tags drawing, creativity, doodle, lettering, illustration, visuals, visual thinking
Comment
  • One Squiggly Line Blog
  • Older
  • Newer

One Squiggly Line:

A visual thinking business that uses pictures to keep things clear, simple, & fun...in blogs, too!


  • Animated GIFs (1)
  • Supplies (1)
  • Visual Notes: Sketchnotes (1)
  • Drawing (2)
  • Sketch Animation (3)
  • the creative process (8)
  • Visuals in Use (9)
  • Visual Thinking Tips (16)
  • life (19)
  • Visual Notes (30)
  • Graphic Recording (41)
  • Lettering (44)
  • Creativity (46)
  • Visual Thinking Examples (46)
  • Tips & Tricks (48)
  • About Visual Thinking (53)
  • How to be More Visual (60)

Visual Thinking:

Words and pictures used together to engage the whole brain and turn information into knowledge that can lead to wisdom and action.

It's about communication, not art!


Graphic Recording:

Large-scale visual notes drawn live, in real-time, usually in color.


Visual notes:

A catch-all term for notes of any size created with a mixture of words and pictures, and may or may not be created live.


Sketchnotes:

Small-scale visual notes drawn in real-time. They may be created live or from audio or video files. My sketchnotes are usually black & white.


Graphic facilitation:

Facilitation of a meeting through the use of visuals. Often involves the use of templates and worksheets. Popular for problem solving, brainstorming, goal-setting, and strategy sessions.


Synthesis images:

Illustrations created to simplify complex information, drawn in the style of graphic recording or sketchnotes. Synthesis images are usually in color and generally created from print materials (like a company report or brochure).


Graphic Illustrations:

Simple, stylized drawings (including icons) created to represent an idea, concept, or information.


Other Illustration:

Drawings done in a variety of styles with varying degrees of complexity for a variety of reasons to depict pretty much anything.


Lettering:

A variety of unique, original lettering styles drawn by hand and designed to complement and add impact to the words.


Sketch Animation:

Short animations made from hand-drawn illustrations, generally to inform or educate.



  • July 2023 (18)
  • June 2023 (1)
  • November 2022 (2)
  • October 2022 (4)
  • December 2019 (1)
  • November 2019 (6)
  • August 2019 (6)
  • July 2019 (9)
  • June 2019 (5)
  • May 2019 (5)
  • June 2016 (20)
  • May 2016 (2)
  • April 2016 (4)
  • March 2016 (3)
  • August 2015 (5)
  • July 2015 (1)
  • June 2015 (4)
  • April 2015 (6)
  • March 2015 (4)
  • February 2015 (3)
  • January 2015 (24)
  • December 2014 (31)
  • November 2014 (20)
  • October 2014 (6)
  • September 2014 (1)
  • August 2014 (1)
  • May 2014 (1)
  • April 2014 (5)
  • March 2014 (4)
  • February 2014 (2)
  • January 2014 (1)

  • One Squiggly Line ~
    Thanks so much @reverentgeek So glad you like the #visualnotes. And I am sooooooo excited about how much you have b… https://t.co/QAGSb9bHUX
    May 28, 2022, 11:12 AM
  • One Squiggly Line ~
    Love this creative logo 💖 https://t.co/BT2hh56tbo
    May 20, 2022, 11:14 AM
  • One Squiggly Line ~
    One squiggly line amidst wildflowers 🌸🌸🌸 #wildflowers #beautiful https://t.co/4K6NsifAbu
    Apr 30, 2022, 10:44 AM

  • abstract
  • academic
  • action
  • art
  • basics
  • block letters
  • blog
  • books
  • bubble letters
  • cheerful
  • color
  • composition
  • Conference
  • conference
  • conferences
  • Crayons
  • Creative Connections Network
  • creative lettering
  • creative thinking
  • creativity
  • decisions
  • definition
  • design
  • Design Thinking
  • diagrams
  • doodle
  • downloads
  • drawing
  • education
  • efficiency
  • Events
  • events
  • Experience
  • experiment
  • free
  • gift idea
  • goals
  • good mood
  • Graphic Recording
  • graphic recording
  • happy
  • ideas
  • illustration
  • imagination
  • imagine
  • impact
  • implementation
  • Innovation
  • innovation
  • inspiration
  • leadership
  • lettering
  • live illustration
  • markers
  • meetings
  • organization
  • pictures
  • planning
  • post-event
  • posters
  • powerpoint
  • practice
  • pre-event
  • productivity
  • progress
  • quotes
  • San Francisco
  • scribe
  • Scribing
  • scribing
  • simplicity
  • sketch animation
  • sketchnotes
  • social media
  • stories
  • story
  • success
  • summits
  • surprise
  • synthesis image
  • TED Talk
  • TEDx
  • template
  • The Product Summit
  • thinking
  • tips & tricks
  • travel
  • video
  • vision
  • Visual Notes
  • visual notes
  • visual thinking
  • visual thinking practive
  • visualize
  • visuals
  • website
  • white board animation
  • Workshop
  • World Creativity & Innovation Week
  • writing

“The soul never thinks without a mental picture.”
— Aristotle

instagram-unauth youtube pinterest email
  • FAQ
  • Copyright Notice
  • Blog

 

I’m raising money for Fighting Blindness through CharityMiles! Click to support/donate.

 

One Squiggly Line

A visual thinking business that uses hand-drawn pictures to make things clear, simple, & fun

Hand-drawn visuals to make things clear, simple, and fun so you can understand more deeply, communicate more clearly, and act more confidently. Visual Notes ~ Illustration ~ Sketch Animation ~ Graphic Recording ~ Other Creative Services.

One Squiggly Line | San Francisco Bay Area & beyond!, California, USA

instagram-unauth youtube pinterest email