Everyone sees the world differently

We make connections to the real world and everyone “sees” differently based on race, culture, education , and wealth to name a few. The question lies where we can have a common vision or visual language that everyone can understand.

I became interested in visual notetaking a few years ago. There is an open discussion on what to call it, but many use the term, ” sketchnoting”. The first real test came during a weekly staff meeting I was required to attend. The biggest change was to turn my notepad horizontally in “landscape mode” , which through me off since the lines were now vertical. I ignored them.

The plan was to listen to what was going on and only write or sketch about something I felt was important. I was not so concerned with how it looked , but I decided to cluster common ideas together and purposely avoided adding titles to the clusters.

As the meeting continued, I found that I was more engaged and when something was not clear, I had a good reason to get it clarified because I was actively listening and wanted to get it right. Time really flew by and the meeting ended when me surprised at what I had created.

The meeting had a whole new importance. I could now share it with someone else. I can show my interpretation what I experienced. Was I totally wrong or did my version need some editing? Regardless, the experience has changed how I participate in meetings. When I am engaged it rubs off on others. People started to notice my sketchnotes and they became interested on how they could do it. Just like I told them …Now it’s your turn to see the world differently!