The Sketchnote Handbook is a fully-illustrated book and video, designed to teach regular people how to create sketchnotes.
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ROHDESIGN is the website of designer Mike Rohde, who writes on design, sketching, drawing, sketchnotes, technology, travel, cycling, books & coffee.
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Thursday, September 20, 2012 
On Wednesday afternoon around 2:04 PM, Landon John arrived and joined the Rohde clan.
Weighing in at 8 pounds, 4 ounces and 20.5 inches long, Landon is the biggest and tallest baby we've produced of our 3 children. He is also the 3rd of our 3 kids to arrive on a Wednesday.
We love you, little guy!
Monday, September 10, 2012 
TODAY I was honored to see my article, Lessons from Illustrating the $100 Startup appear on Chris Guillebeau's Art of Non-Conformity (AONC) blog.
Chris invited me to write a piece about how the illustrations were created and lessons learned through the process — of course I said yes!
Here's a little preview:
IN THE FALL of 2011, Chris Guillebeau reached out to me with a top secret project he was working on. It was his $100 Startup book and he needed illustrations to amplify the words he was writing in the book.
If not for my friend Jon Mueller at 800-CEO-READ, I might have declined the project, because at the time I was incredibly busy with multiple projects and was planning to write a book on sketchnoting.
I’d known a little about Chris, his blog and his book, AONC, but it was Jon who highly recommended Chris’s book project. So, I decided to go for it.
Go read the full article on Chris; AONC blog.
Chris doesn't give out guest posts lightly, so I'm incredibly honored to have been featured on his AONC blog today.
The $100 Startup is another great project I'm so proud to be part of because I think it helps people start businesses creatively, improving lives and offering new opportunities.
Thanks Chris!
Wednesday, September 5, 2012 TWO DEADLINES ARE LOOMING: I'm working hard to keep moving out updates to the book and video, and our third child could be born at any time.
Some days I feel overwhelmed with all that needs to be done with the book and preparing for the baby, and other days I feel energized. However I may feel, I just keep plugging away, making progress every day.
This past week was a good one, as I've been able to ink illustrations, scan them in and build chapters 1 
through 4. I'm just about halfway through the book, as chapters 5-7 have a larger page count, but feature worksheets and samples of sketchnoter work by a variety of people.
I was fortunate to locate some bristol card stock at the art store that replicates the surface of the Moleskine sketchbooks I love. Having great paper and great pens makes all the difference.
The final, inked art has been scanned at 600 dpi, which works well for quality and detail. I've been keeping the contrast on the art high, so the final pages will have a clear, crisp look and feel.
Instagram has worked perfectly for sharing my work as I've progressed. You can also see those images in my Sketchnote Handbook photo set on Flickr.
I'm preparing to spend the rest of the week and weekend inking, scanning and building out the last 3 chapters (5, 6, 7) so that next week I can make any typo fixes and add orange highlights.
The final artwork is being built in Photoshop, because of the flexibility it offers as I'm turning sketches into final art. I can blend inked image scans with typography and tweak positioning in the app I'm most comfortable using.
We're using PDF versions of the illustrations to trade commentary, which works well. I can open the PDF of sketches or final art on the MacBook's screen, and make changes in Photoshop on my main LCD screen.
Once the final illustrations are proofed and prepared for 2 color orange and black, I'll import the high-res files into InDesign for page layout. I'll build the book from front to back, add page numbers and so on.
Cover art for the book and video packaging will be created separately, as those need to get to the printer a little earlier than the remainder of the book artwork.
I have much to do, but I'm feeling good about how the project is shaping up.
Looking back, one of the best decisions I've made in the book project has been working with Delve Withrington to create fonts of my handwriting and headlines. The combination of a handwriting font for body text and a hand-drawn, squared-style headline font has saved numerous hours of drawing and writing.
Ultimately, Delve and I will be offering a Sketchnote Family set of fonts for purchase, once the book and video are done. We're thinking end of 2012 or so, but we'll see. One thing at a time.
I'm very pleased with the variety of work I'm seeing as the featured sketchnoters deliver their sketchnotes to me. There are only 3 of the 14 left to go before I have all of the art — I can't wait for readers to see these beautiful pieces.
The video is going well too. Brian Artka is busy editing the last of the 20 videos this week. When he's done, the huge video files go on a hard drive and will be shipped to Peachpit for production.
I need to produce art for the packaging as well as the on-screen menu for the DVD. Should be fun learning about this stuff.
Once again, thank you to everyone who has encouraged me. Writing, illustrating and designing a book is hard, hard work. Even harder when there's a video companion. Triple points for having a baby at the same time.
However, I can already see how the book and video will help people give sketchnoting a try and may really change some lives.
Can't ask for more than that.
Thursday, August 9, 2012 
WHEN YOU'RE IN THE MIDDLE of a huge project, it can be hard to see clear to the end of it. That's when you have to keep making daily progress, chipping away at the mountain, bit by bit.
It's been almost a month since my last update, and things have gone pretty well. I'm sketching out the manuscript, shooting video and things seem on track.
On my trip to Pennsylvania, I was able to make pretty good progress converting my final manuscript into pencil sketches, in preparation for inking and final production. I had a very optimistic goal of sketching the entire 7 chapters: but it just didn't happen.
Initially, I was bummed to have only completed 3 of 7 chapters, but as I look back, I see how much was actually accomplished, especially with one of the kids getting sick and the limited time I had to sketch.
Pencil sketches from chapter 4.
Currently, I've sketched all the way through chapter 4 and am excited about wrapping up chapters 5, 6 and 7. It's hard work — but the good news is that these sketches will make inking and layout of the pages easier, because I'll know almost exactly how each page will look.
Next up: I'll be inking up a spread and creating final art for the Peachpit production team's review. It will be fun seeing how the sketches translate to ink and the page. I can't wait!
I just need to keep on cranking.
Thursday I was excited about the video. As of 5pm, Brian Artka and I had completed every "talking head" shot and all of the voice overs needed for the video chapters. This felt like a huge accomplishment, considering how insurmountable the video project looked when I began.
A screen capture from the Sketchnote Handbook Video Edition intro sequence.
We still have to shoot some b-roll (secondary video for cutaway shots) next week: shots of me drawing out concepts and examples, of books and pens and of sketchnote samples from other sketchnoters. With one more big day of shooting ahead, I'm feeling relieved and excited about the video.
Brian comparing close-up shots from Thursday and the week before.
Having so much of the video done lets me focus on the pencil sketches, inking and final production of the book, while Brian works his magic, editing the raw video into a unified video experience.
Things are going well with my featured sketchnoters — rough sketches have been delivered and the crew is starting to work on the 2 page spread they have each been given to share their stories. I can't wait to see what each person does and how they express themselves with their space in the book.
JetPens launched an interview series on their blog with an interview with me talking about who I am, my work and the book. I was honored to kick off that feature and had lots of fun sharing my story with David at Jet Pens.
If you enjoy podcasts, I recommend the Pen Addict Podcast 17: Sketchnoting With Mike Rohde — an interview with me about sketchnotes and the book.
As I've managed this emerging project, I've identified some of the tools and services that have been working well for me an my team. Rather than let those details get lost, I want to capture them here.
iPad - I'm finding one of the most valuable tools I've used is my iPad. I've used it for writing the manuscript, reading the manuscript and sketching it out, showing sketchnotes and websites online for the video and as a teleprompter for video shoots to name just a few key tasks. The long battery life, portability and large screen have been instrumental in this project.
Instagram — As I've been shooting video and sketching the book, Instagram has been a great way to share progress with everyone who has been watching it unfold. Amy, my video producer at Peachpit has enjoyed seeing the work Brian and I have been doing as we're doing it.
Basecamp - Having Basecamp has been useful for managing the team working on the video, custom sketchnote font and my featured sketchnoters. It's great for reference, file sharing and storage and easy email replies.
I really appreciate all of the support and encouragement from everyone following this project. Being able to share the process with you all has been the most fun of all. Thanks!
Saturday, July 21, 2012 
IN MY LAST UPDATE I mentioned keeping everything moving on the Sketchnote Handbook — this is the story of the project. Keeping everything moving and juggling it and my normal life too.
The good news is, I've been able to keep things moving. There is still quite a bit to do on the book and video, so the juggling will continue.
I've been working hard to get the manuscript finalized, am I'm happy to report I've written all 7 chapters as of this week. There are a few details to finalize, but I expect adjustments to be made even as I illustrate the book.
This coming week is key. I'm working on creating pencil sketches for the entire book — all 7 chapters — to see how many pages the manuscript converts to when fully illustrated and filled samples of sketchnotes to illustrate the ideas.
I'm on a family vacation in Western PA (an hour North of Pittsburgh) which works out well for sketching. I'll have afternoons and evenings free, while the kids have activities, to turn a text-only into a fully sketched book, ready for inking.
It's going to be hard work, but I'm excited to make my written ideas visual.
The second part of the project, video, is really a separate project in itself. The video has progressed as well. Last week Brian Artka and I shot a third of the raw video so he can create 6 videos, including an intro and several on-site shots.
Here are a few images of from Brian's work:
See the updated Sketchnote Handbook Flickr set for more photos.
It's been a great experience seeing my team of friends and colleagues working together to make the video happen. From Gabe's scripting and Brian's video, to Jon Mueller's presentation, Translator's beautiful space and everyone who turned out to help make the video happen: thank you all.
We've finalized the soundtrack from Steve Mork. It sounds great, and I can't wait to see it added to the video. We're talking about offering the track, remixed by Steve, for free, so you can add it to your playlists. Stay tuned.
Since I've been creating a video of my book, I have a great appreciation for the hard work put into every film and video production. There are so many takes, so much footage, and yet only a fraction of it survives to be used.
I've been fortunate to have press for the book the last few weeks:
First is an article by Ian Sanders in The Financial Times: The simple power of the doodle. In the piece, Ian shares how to a variety of business people and visual thinking experts use the power of doodling and sketchnoting in their business. (See the article without FT registration: search for the title on Google News).
An interview with the Chick-fil-A Leadercast blog, The Designer Behind the Sketchnotes, was published on July 8th, asking questions about me, sketchnotes and leadership. It was also a good opportunity to talk about the book.
I was invited to speak at the International Forum of Visual Practitioners (IFVP) this coming Wednesday. As it turned out, I was an hour north of Pittsburgh the very week of the event, so I jumped on the opportunity to share.
The event will include a brief keynote on sketchnotes and a 90 minute workshop afterwards to get attendees doing sketchnotes. Most IFVP members focus on larger-scale graphic recording or facilitation — so it will be fun to challenge them to work small and try sketchnoting out.
There's a temptation to decline opportunities to share the message of the book and its ideas, to only focus on writing or sketching or video work. But I've realized over the years how critical it is to take opportunities like these when they come, to help plant seeds for the future. I think they will pay off.
I wanted to end this update with thanks to everyone who has been so encouraging as I work through this project. It feels great to have support as I'm fighting my way to completion — thanks!
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