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

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Creativity & Visual Thinking: Love is Powerful!

melinda carpenter June 11, 2019

Do you know what love feels like?
 

Does it make your heart skip several beats? Does it make you feel nervous? Excited? Content? Happy? Calm?
 

Love feels different for everyone - we each have our own love language. It’s our goal to identify how we respond and react to love.
 

In order to do so, we must become more familiar with ourselves.
 

This doesn’t just apply to romantic relationships. This applies to all aspects of our lives - our jobs, our friends, ourselves, as well as our significant others.


It’s important to fall in love with our lives, or at least certain aspects of them, as our lives are too short for mediocracy.  Our lives are too short for mediocre careers, hobbies and relationships.


We must not settle for something that doesn’t stir our heart. We must try and live our lives in accordance with our passions.
 

In order to find love, we must know what we’re passionate about.
 

This all takes takes time, experience, and even failure. We must not be afraid of encountering new experiences, as every new and unfamiliar experience is valuable in helping us learn more about ourselves.
 

How are you going to learn more about yourself and your love language? What experiences do you want to have this year? What areas do you want to grow in?

Learn more about Visual Thinking

In life, Creativity, Tips & Tricks, the creative process Tags quotes, writing, website, education, art, thinking, happy, imagine, Innovation, progress, abstract, story, doodle, ideas, goals, cheerful
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Dance_onesquigglyline_visualthinking.png

Creativity: We All Have It — Reignite Yours!

melinda carpenter May 14, 2019

Think back to when you were a kid. Do you remember your personality? Do you remember any quirks you had?
 

And if you can’t remember that far back, think about the little kids you know, whether family, friends, or even strangers.
 

They all have one thing in common - they’re at the the most creative stage in their life.
 

Children are at a stage where they haven’t been conditioned to many routines and norms. They are completely themselves - unfiltered and raw.
 

...Always asking why

...Not caring too much of what others think about their appearance or their actions

...Saying whatever comes to mind

...Not holding back any ounce of laughter
 


As we grow older, eventually we don’t question as much
 

Eventually the routines of life become mainstream
 

Eventually our imagination grows stale
 

We hold back our laughter more and more
 

And eventually we lose the perspective of what could be in exchange for what is

Creativity gets taught out of us


Our teachers telling us to write in 12 pt. Arial font.


Our parents not having enough patience to answer all of our why’s.
 

Our own inflicted judgements
 

We become afraid of failure. Of messing up. Of saying the wrong thing. Of being judged.
 

To the point where we’ve lost ourselves in exchange for a mask that society has handed us.

We have unlearned creativity.

We all have the ability to be creative, but it's our job to learn it again.

Visual thinking is a great way to jumpstart your creativity, whether personally or professionally, alone or with a group. Simply watching someone else create something can inspire creative thinking and actions. Contact me to bring the power of visuals to your next event, meeting, or project and reclaim your creativity!

In Creativity, Tips & Tricks, life Tags creativity, Innovation, World Creativity & Innovation Week, drawing, cheerful, simplicity, quotes, writing, experiment, education, TED Talk, thinking, happy, success, stories, story, planning, art, design, visual thinking, good mood, goals, books, visual notes, blog, New Year, innovation, inspiration
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Visual Thinking: Get it! Grab it! Go for it!

melinda carpenter June 24, 2016

While visual thinking makes things simple, it certainly does not dumb them down. Part of the simplicity comes from removing unnecessary parts, leaving behind only what you need to work with. That allows you to really see exactly what it is you do have to work with. This often leads to that, "Oh, now I get it!" moment when everything finally seems to fall into place and make sense.

Once you can see things more clearly, you are able to make better decisions. Sometimes, things become so obvious it doesn't even really feel like you're making a decision at all. The right choice just jumps right at you. Or if you do need to think about it for a minute, it's much easier for you to grab it and run with it.

Check out One Squiggly Line's About Visual Thinking page to learn more.
 

In About Visual Thinking Tags decisions, visual thinking, leadership, tips & tricks, vision, template, planning, imagine, stories, education, live illustration, Conference, events, Workshop, illustration, action, synthesis image, productivity, basics, drawing, inspiration, pictures, doodle, visuals, conference, Events, success, visualize, creative thinking, efficiency, design, Innovation, visual notes, meetings, goals, innovation, imagination, implementation, thinking, story, Visual Notes, summits, progress, impact, creativity, conferences, ideas, simplicity
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Visual Thinking & Visual Notes: Live Graphic Recording

melinda carpenter June 18, 2016

People often think I do a lot of drawing while taking live visual notes. If you really look at the image above, you'll see there's really not much drawing there at all. Just some squares, a couple of circles, and an arrow. That's it!
When you write words inside simple shapes, those simple shapes start making your own notes a bit more visual. They become more dynamic. More interesting. The image and the message become more unified. And far more powerful. 

A great way to make your own notes more visual is to write some of your words inside simple shapes — circles, squares, triangles, arrows, etc. Give it a try!

The image above is a close-up of a 4'x8' drawing, created live, in real-time during a Design Thinking workshop. Be sure to check out the entire image!

In Graphic Recording, Visual Notes, About Visual Thinking, Visual Thinking Examples Tags posters, creative thinking, The Product Summit, leadership, illustration, conferences, visuals, synthesis image, design, meetings, doodle, Workshop, pictures, Scribing, definition, innovation, ideas, Graphic Recording, visual notes, sketchnotes, implementation, Visual Notes, Design Thinking, basics, imagine, summits, live illustration, Conference, scribing, conference, impact, graphic recording, organization, visualize, simplicity, action, education, thinking, visual thinking, success, events, inspiration, scribe, creativity, Innovation, imagination, drawing, Events, social media
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Visual Thinking & Creativity: Timelines

melinda carpenter June 17, 2016

Pictures are obviously a big part of visual thinking. So are words. But if you just throw a bunch of words and pictures on a page, you just end up with a mess. A visual mess that makes your thinking messy, too.
That's where organization comes in. It's the third essential component of successful visuals. It doesn't have to be fancy. In fact, it's often best to keep things really simple.

A timeline is a simple and effective way to visually organize information.The image above shows a simple timeline of the International Center for Studies in Creativity, where I got my master's degree. Of course there's a whole lot more to their story than shown in this timeline, but it includes the things that influenced or impacted me in some way. You get the idea, at a glance.

Check out One Squiggly Line's About Visual Thinking page to learn more.

In Tips & Tricks, How to be More Visual, Visual Notes, Creativity, Visual Thinking Examples Tags creative thinking, efficiency, illustration, visuals, synthesis image, design, composition, diagrams, doodle, pictures, ideas, innovation, tips & tricks, visual notes, History, stories, Visual Notes, progress, lists, Timeline, powerpoint, impact, organization, academic, visualize, simplicity, education, online learning, visual thinking, success, planning, leadership, inspiration, vision, creativity, Innovation, drawing, posters
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Visual Thinking & Visual Notes: Live Graphic Recording at Events

melinda carpenter June 15, 2016

There's never just one way to create visual notes, especially when they are created live. And at a large scale. That can make capturing a panel talk more of a challenge for some people. It takes a bit more flexibility than a clearly defined presentation.

I tend to capture panel discussions in a way that highlights the key points of the discussion as a whole. Not a series of summaries of what each person contributed. Since discussions tend to be rather fluid, the final visual makes much more sense that way. Speakers tend to like it better that way, too. So often key points build on what another speaker said, so there's no chance of misattribution when you capture the discussion as a whole.

The visual notes above were created during a panel discussion at TechInclusion last fall. You can see the whole set of visual notes created live, on-site there in this Flickr album. 

In Graphic Recording, How to be More Visual, Visual Notes, Visual Thinking Examples Tags basics, Conference, conferences, design, doodle, drawing, events, education, graphic recording, gift idea, thinking, impact, Innovation, inspiration, illustration, ideas, imagination, live illustration, meetings, posters, Workshop, pictures, planning, success, summits, synthesis image, social media, sketchnotes, visuals, visualize, visual thinking, visual notes, Events
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Visual Thinking & Live Visual Notes: Graphic Recording

melinda carpenter June 12, 2016

When working live, you never know what's going to happen. I usually only have the same information the people in the audience have, which is a basic agenda. So I know the speaker's name, title of their talk, and how long they are scheduled to speak. That's it!

It's not uncommon for talks to go longer as planned, like the one above. That's usually a good sign, as it means the audience is really engaged. But it can be a challenge to capture all that extra content on the same page. 

Color is a great way to keep things organized when there's not much space available. Grouping concepts and thoughts according to color allows you to have completely different ideas right next to each other without things getting confusing. 

See more visual notes created live at One Squiggly Line's graphic recording page.

In Graphic Recording, Visual Notes, Visual Thinking Examples Tags academic, Conference, conferences, Design Thinking, design, doodle, drawing, ideas, events, education, graphic recording, imagination, thinking, Innovation, illustration, impact, innovation, inspiration, Workshop, live illustration, meetings, organization, pictures, success, synthesis image, visuals, visual thinking, visual notes
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WordsVSImages_VisualThinking_OneSquigglyLine

Visual Thinking: Words vs. Images

melinda carpenter June 11, 2016

To many, the term visual thinking means pictures. Lots and lots of pictures. Maybe some charts and diagrams, too. And possibly a few mind maps thrown in for fun. 

While pictures are a big part of visual thinking, words are also a big part. Words can be really powerful. Pictures can be very powerful. And when you put the two together, the message becomes even more powerful.

Check out the drawing above to see more specifically what's involved with both words and pictures. 

Check out One Squiggly Line's About Visual Thinking page to learn more.

In About Visual Thinking, Creativity, Visual Thinking Examples Tags basics, design, doodle, drawing, diagrams, education, inspiration, illustration, lettering, impact, posters, Workshop, pictures, synthesis image, thinking, visuals, visualize, visual thinking, visual notes
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VisualNotes_AccidentalCreative_OneSquigglyLine

Visual Thinking & Visual Notes: Books

melinda carpenter June 5, 2016

People often think of taking visual notes while listening to a live presentation or maybe an audio file. But  there's no reason why your notes from print materials can't be visual, too. Especially if you're studying. Or gathering information to write a longer paper. Or even reading a non-fiction book just for fun.

The visual notes above were created while reading chapter 5 of The Accidental Creative, by Todd Henry. One assignment in my grad program was to write a book review. Of course, that meant I had to actually read the book first! So, I created visual notes of each chapter as I went along. That made it much, much easier to see main themes as they emerged.

I had no intention of showing these to anyone when I created them. They were just how I kept track of the key points from each chapter. And I actually ended up "writing" the entire book review visually! 

You can see then entire set in this Pinterest board. Because I hadn't planned on sharing them with anyone, I experimented with some things. Some I like better than others, but they all did the job of making my notes much easier to use later on...and the whole project way more fun!

In Visual Notes, Visual Thinking Examples, Creativity Tags books, drawing, doodle, design, education, inspiration, illustration, ideas, pictures, visuals
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Visual Thinking & Visual Notes: Sketchnotes

melinda carpenter April 26, 2016

What exactly are sketchnotes? I define them as small-scale visual notes drawn in real-time, live or from audio or video files. Mine are usually in black-and-white. They can also be created from print materials, although those often end up being more like illustrations than sketchnotes. At least in my experience. 

What's the difference between sketchnotes and illustration? The main difference between the two is the number of revisions — illustrations have many, sketchnotes have none!

The sketchnote above was drawn with an ultra fine Sharpie marker while listening to an audio file from The Business Soul Sessions online course by Beth Kempton. Sketchnotes from the course will continue to be added to this Flickr album and Pinterest board until the set is complete — close to 40 total!
 

In Visual Thinking Examples, Visual Notes: Sketchnotes Tags doodle, drawing, inspiration, sketchnotes, illustration, pictures, creativity, creative thinking, online learning, education, visuals, visual thinking, visual notes
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One Squiggly Line:

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


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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.



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

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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

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