Sketchnoting: A Visual Literacy Methodology
Verena Paepcke-Hjeltness
Iowa State University, USA
Teddy Lu
Veo, USA
Abstract. In recent times, sketchnoting has become more popular due to its approach to visual sense making and visual synthesis resulting in instructors across disciplines increasingly implementing it into their curriculum. Being that it is heavily focused on visual sense making, the question arose if there is an opportunity to explore sketchnoting in the greater context of Visual Literacy? In an effort to investigate and understand the similarities and differences of various Visual Literacy definitions and explore their relationship to sketchnoting in general, select definitions were sketchnoted to uncover patterns and connections to its principles of listening, synthesizing, and visualizing. Building on these visual explorations this chapter discusses the introduction of sketchnoting at two different industrial design programs and the connection to all five pillars of Visual Literacy Theory: visual learning, visual language, visual communication, visual thinking and visual perception. The outcomes give insight for how sketchnoting, as a methodology, could support building Visual Literacy competency by increasing students’ observation, listening, and visualization skills, aiming at fostering a sense of general empowerment.
Keywords: Sketchnoting, visual empowerment, visual listening, visual sense-making