Visual Thinking 🤔
Using doodling to help us become better thinkers
Hey friends,
While reading this article on Adjacent Skills, I started thinking about what new skills I can learn that widen my career perspective.
I listed down skills that I am average at but that I enjoy doing and is interesting to learn. I remembered I was good at drawing diagrams of human anatomy in high school (very random, I know). 2 years ago I had picked up the pencil again and drew some sketches. They turned out to be good but I didn’t continue the practice.
So this week I decided to try out my creative side again and enrolled in a doodle course to explore the world of visual thinking.
Today’s Skill: Thinking Visually through Doodling
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes 48 seconds✍🏻 Let’s Dive In
According to Dave Gray from Xplaner, Visual thinking is a way to organize your thoughts and improve your ability to think and communicate.
Visual information can be processed 60,000 times faster than text and is easier to remember - our mind tends to perceive info better in images. Similarly, small children start their cognitive process with games and drawings.
Humans have been doodling in snow, in the sand, and on cave walls since the early ages.
Broadly, visual thinking means thinking using images, graphics, or doodle. And there are many applications:
Graphic Recording
Data and Info Visualization
Sketchnotes
Mind Maps
Infographics
Process and Flow charts
Today, we’re just focusing on doodling.
Learning to doodle and think visually can enhance creativity, improve your clarity of thought, and help simplify complex ideas.
In today’s digital world, we have moved too far away from the tactile approach to learning. Yes, we can swipe around on our iPads and tablets for everything; we can brainstorm, draw, and mind-map using web tools, but what about the good old making-it-with-your hands approach?
The simple act of making something with your own hands changes the way we look at things. Doodling fits the bill (if you do with a pen, pencil, or whatever instead of a mouse or stylus).
Doodling is a way of designing information around a thought process.
I’ve been following Tim Urban from Wait But Why for a while, who effectively uses his drawing and writing skills to simplify complex concepts.
A graphic from Tim Urban’s post on AI revolution that I had shared in a previous issue.
The benefits are endless. There is even a Doodle For Self Development course (looks intense but a lot of fun)
Last year in November, I tried summarising my notes for a workshop visually:
This is certainly not where I want to be, but I think it’s a decent start.
A realistic goal I’m working towards:
Here are some of my practice doodles from this week:
👾 Why learn? (Learning Objectives)
Express yourself visually
Develop creative capacity - unlock the right side of your brain
Get a new perspective on complex problems and brainstorm new solutions
Better note-taking during meetings and workshops
Art Journaling - helps the mind to relax and be focused
Lots of ways to turn it into a profession or use it alongside other skills
It’s fun!
📋 Resources
Only one thing will help you learn to doodle effectively - Practice!
The best way is to just pick up a pen, learn some basics, and start drawing daily.
If you want a structured course, check out some options below:
Or just get started with these youtube videos- 1, 2, and 3
And definitely check out this post - How to be a master of visual thinking
👉🏼 If you end up doodling after reading this, do let me know and send through some of your drawings.
🔖 Something to Read
Fearing Forgetting: Should You Try to Maintain or Relearn Knowledge?How many of us could still pass exams for classes we took in college? How many dust-covered books sit on your shelf which you’ve forgotten the plot? Knowledge, like all things, decays with time. A great irony in learning is that those who remember best are the most acutely aware of how much they’ve forgotten.
https://www.scotthyoung.com/blog/2020/10/12/relearning/
Quincy Larson from FreeCodeCamp wrote this guide on how to opt-out of the platform that stock and sell your personal information. If you can make time to go through this tutorial, it should help you reduce your lifetime risk of getting stalked, having your identity stolen, or getting discriminated against by nosy employers:
https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/white-pages-removal-remove-information-spokeo-peoplefinder-whitepages-opt-out/
By James Clear:
Till next time!
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