Testing Tour Stop #9 : Pairing up on Sketchnoting with Marianne Duijst

My ninth stop on my #TestingTour was with Marianne Duijst to learn about Sketchnoting which I have been trying to learn since I came across some of Marianne's and Lisi Hocke's sketchnotes. I had briefly met Marianne at TestBash Brighton 2019 while we were in the queue for 99 secs talk.
I was really super excited for this session. I am a note taking person whether I'm in a meeting, while in conference or even when I'm watching any recorded talks. I even take notes when I'm reading a blog to make note of some interesting points. I usually use my notebook, pen and highlighter while taking notes. I was really interested to learn about sketchnoting to make my notes even more interesting while I'm reflecting back on those notes.

I had another session on my #TestingTour with @marianneduijst to learn about sketchnoting and here's my first sketchnote on my #TestingTour which we did together remotely.I cannot believe still that I did this sketchnote.Thank you so much for this @Mariane 😊🙏 pic.twitter.com/INQJOmHQMH

— Parveen (@Parveen_Khan10) January 30, 2020

Session

I briefly shared about my Testing Tour with Marianne when we started our session. I was very quick to mention that I don't have very good creative skills to draw something really good. The entire session was hands-on and interactive. We ended up having our session for almost 2 hours and 30 mins.

When we scheduled our session Marianne gave me the list of materials that were required for this session. Marianne joined the zoom call from two of her devices, one to screenshare while sketching using procreate app and other screen was used as our video call for us to talk.

First thing Marianne mentioned to me was that, sketchnoting is not about creative drawing. She also mentioned that a lot of people has this perception of relating sketchnoting to creative drawing. While scheduling our session Marianne asked me to pick a topic which we could use it for our sketchnoting. I picked up my Testing Tour as my topic to be used while I'm learning to sketchnote.

The first step we started off by drawing a banner and the title. I followed step by step instructions and I was also able to watch and follow while Marianne drawing it. Then next Marianne asked me to mentally divide the entire empty space into blocks and then draw shapes into each of those blocks. Shapes which I draw in those blocks were square, circle, triangle, oval and spiral oval.  I had no clue that these shapes are going to be converted into people. Next Marianne started adding a circle on each of those shapes to make it head. Next step to add legs and different types of hands to each of those shapes. I was already in awe to see those people all over my paper. She mentioned a point here about  sketchnoting which I totally agree with.

• Visually appealing
• Fun to do 
• Easy to share
• Easy to read

Then we continued to draw speech bubbles next to each person and added the names with whom I paired during my Testing Tour sessions as my stops. Next, we added another speech bubble to add the keylearning next to each person. I was already very excited to see the sketchnote to visualise my Testing Tour. And here's the outcome of this session which I feel so proud to share.

By Parveen Khan

By Marianne Duijst

Learnings

• I'm making this sketchnote for me and for future me. 
• Sketchnote is like a summary which triggers the reflection.
• The core of sketchnoting is its notes and its content. 
• Go slow to go fast.
• Constrain yourself to free yourself. And the way to do this is by sharing before you think you are ready. Until we share the anticipation is not gone and we have the feeling of adding some more details to the sketchnote.
• If we don't know how to do it, it's hard. If we know how to do it, it's simple.

I'm so grateful to Marianne for teaching me about sketchnoting and for her time. It was yet another amazing session of my Testing Tour to learn something unique. And a huge thanks to Marianne for inspiring me and motivating me throughout the session.