Visual notes help a listener remember what a speaker says and also seem to help an audience track the flow of a presentation (more on this in an online workshop I am developing now).  Drawing visual notes is a first step to developing a visual practice.  When people see me work live, they often ask what materials I use for visual note-taking and graphic facilitation.  This is a quick resource for people getting started with visual notes.

I love taking visual notes in a sketchbook or journal while I watch TED talks online, listen to live lectures, or have coffee with friends.  I typically write text and draw doodles in black marker and then add splashes of color here and there.  My style and materials are constantly evolving as I gain practice and learn what works, but this is what I am doing now.

Black outlines. I go back and forth between several black markers. I haven't found the best ink-nib combination, so I oscillate among four types of markers.

• My favorite black marker for sketch notes is the Marvy Memories Artist Pigmented Marker (bullet nib) by Uchida.  You can find it at Michaels stores or order it directly from Uchida.  It also comes in a calligraphy nib.  The Zig Memory System Writer is similar.  Both are pigment-based markers with different size nibs on either end.  These markers don't smear when I color over them with water-based ink.  However, the nibs get flat spots and dry out even before the marker is out of ink.
• My second favorite is the Neuland Outliner.  I love the Outliner ink.  I don't love the 1.0 mm nib on the small Outliner marker.  So I sometimes get empty markers (0.8 mm nib) and fill them with Outliner ink.  The Outliner ink also sometimes dries out and gets flat spots on the nibs.
• Sharpies work well (last a long time, don't get flat spots, and don't smear) but I think they are too toxic to use in public or anywhere except outdoors. 

People who see Moline Creative work live, either working as a visual process facilitator or a visual note-taker, often ask how they can learn these skills.  I always recommend these two AMAZING books for people who would like to work visually:

• Mike Rhode's The Sketchnote Handbook is a quick 30-minute read on visual note-taking.  Rhode practices what he preaches by writing the book in Sketchnotes, so each page takes about 1 minute to read.  I can't speak highly enough about this introductory text for learners.
  
• Sunni Brown's The Doodle Revolution is a creative, comprehensive how-to manual for anyone who would like to become a better visual thinker, facilitator, or note-taker.  This book launched the Doodle Revolution and will provide at least a year of food for thought to anyone who wants to join the revolution. 
  

I have included links to purchase these books from Better World Books (a super cool online used - and new - book retailer), but you can purchase them everywhere wonderful books are sold.

You already know how to speak a visual language. When you were a small person, you recognized faces before you knew names.  Then later, you probably started drawing before you wrote letters and words.  Now you are able to fluently read faces, facial expressions, icons, logos, maps, and a thousand other types of visual language without thinking too much about it.  As I just said, you are already a visual communicator.

However, many adults feel that they have lost touch with their ability to speak a visual language because somewhere along the way they were forced to make a choice between being an "artist" or not being one.  Most of us chose the second option.

Visual communication conveys the essence of your message in drawings, sketches, icons, or clip art.  If you've ever played the game Pictionary, you know that the drawings don't have to be pretty to get your message across!  If you want to learn to work visually, you must set aside your inner art critic - or send her to the Met to critique works by the masters. ;)

When you are starting to work visually, the most important thing you can train yourself to do is find the essential points of a story.  Once you have these points, you can determine how you'll visualize them and where you need to add lines and arrows to help your audience follow your thought train.  After you have those basics down on paper, you can make the presentation a bit prettier by adding color and flair.