My First Visual Note-Taking Experience
Prework 1 of Ironhack UI/UX design bootcamp
I will attend Ironhack UI/UX Design Bootcamp starting this August in Barcelona. One month prior to the bootcamp, the school gives us a list of reading materials and assignments to help prepare ourselves for the training.
The Assignment
In this assignment, we need to watch a TED Talk “ How Giant Website Design For You ” by Margaret Gould Stewart (Facebook’s director of product design) and take visual note while watching the video in order to practice our sketching skill.
Sketching is an important skill for UX designers because it helps you to get your ideas out quickly, iterating easily, and not feeling too “in love” with creations that need to die. The skill is used through out design process from ideation, user journey creation, wireframing to low-fidelity prototyping.
And here is the result:
The Experience
The last time I drew was probably a decade ago. I have to admit that it’s pretty scary for me to draw and then post it publicly.
In my first attempt, I can only take verbal note. I could not convert what I heard into visual note. The second attempt was a bit better but still full of words. After seeing some examples, I tried the third, the fourth time and etc. The final result was my fourth attempt with some fine-tune (watch the video again and again and pause to revise my drawing and continue.)
I found my sketching became bolder over time and I was able to draw what I thought more precisely. In the end, I conquer my fear, stretch my creative muscle and enjoy sketching!
Things I learned
- Sketching can be learned and can be improved over time through practices (faster than you think).
- Visual note helps me to remember the content more easily. I will always remember the visual note I drew and be able to share the takeaways with others.
- Visual note helps me to summarize complex ideas into simple drawings.
- Sketching is fun!
