UX Australia 2018

Full day workshop, Tuesday August 28.

Do you think you can’t draw? Do you wish you could confidently walk up to a whiteboard and sketch your ideas out in front of your colleagues? Do you wish the users in your storyboards were a bit more lively than just skinny stick men? Would you like to take more interesting and memorable notes during conferences and meetings?

This hands-on workshop will provide you with the necessary skills, practice and confidence to sketch your ideas and communicate more visually and engagingly.
We will start with a warm-up and basic sketching exercises and learn how to sketch simple objects, people and expressions. We’ll look at some key concepts of visual explanations and then move rapidly through a series of hands-on exercises interspersed with a live demonstration, group reviews, and practical critique.
We will dive into the topic of visual notetaking (also known as sketchnoting), explore why visual notes are powerful and how you can start capturing presentations, meetings, workshops and research interviews in a more engaging way.

This fun and informative day will equip you with some fundamental sketching skills, a good understanding of how to memorably capture what you hear and how to communicate your ideas visually.

What you’ll learn

 - how to express ideas and concepts through simple sketching
 - how to sketch objects, people, hands, actions and facial expressions
 - how to create perspective and use shading/shadows
 - how to develop visual metaphors for abstract concepts
 - how to build your own visual vocabulary
 - how to create structure and establish visual hierarchy
 - how to make your sketches clearer from a formal, structural and conceptual point of view
 - sketchnoting as a technique to capture talks, meetings, research interviews & workshop sessions in a memorable and engaging way
 - overcoming the challenges of live sketching: time pressure, fear, creating structure in the unknown, visualising abstract concepts, etc.

Who should attend 

This workshop is ideal for Designers, Researchers, Product Managers, Developers or anyone who needs to capture and express concepts quickly and engagingly. The techniques taught in this workshop will provide you with a valuable communication tool to add to your arsenal. All skill levels are welcome and no previous sketching skills or knowledge are necessary.