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Sketchnotes from Jason Fried's talk at Discovery World 37signals Sep 26

10 comments Latest by Sean McCambridge

sketchnotes

Photos of Mike Rohde’s sketchnotes captured from Jason Fried’s talk at Discovery World, Milwaukee, WI on September 24, 2008. This talk was sponsored by Milwaukee Area Technical College. View the archived live video from the event.

Special thanks to Vicky Hennegan (MATC teacher and proprietor of Remarkable Parents) for making this event happen, Melissa Pierce (Life in Perpetual Beta Movie for keeping me company there and back, and to Matt (last name unknown) for his nighttime camera work for Melissa’s interview.

Related: Links to more of Mike Rohde’s sketchnotes from 37signals events.

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10 comments so far

Jason Zimdars 26 Sep 08

I first noticed Mike’s notes at SXSW 08 —love his work. Looking forward to the next conference where I can try to spend a little more time on my notes.

Jeppe 27 Sep 08

Justin.tv says the archive for the event is not restored(?)

Erhard 27 Sep 08

One reason why I love his sketches lies in their inspiration. Since I know what kind of quality (and information) a sketch or note can contain, I also try to do better, when I make my own sketches. And, very important, they give me the feeling that a sketch can be worth the time it takes.

The second thing I admire is the information it transports. For my opinion Mike Rhode hits exactly the idea of infographics. What means to me – showing the information at a glance.

ariel 27 Sep 08

you were good love your work

ariel 27 Sep 08

i made my own too

clint 28 Sep 08

I can’t believe I missed this event.

Sean McCambridge 29 Sep 08

So who here feels like they’re built to work for other people? Jason, I can’t tell from the webcast - I know you had the entrepreneurial spirit before you started in web design - but do you feel like you were already an artist before you became an entrepreneur?

(hey, can i put my twitter account here, too?: @mccambridge)

Mike Rohde 29 Sep 08

@Jason — Thanks! I’ll be attending An Event Apart Chicago, October 13-14 and will be the official “sketchnoter” so you can look forward to a bunch more pages from that event. More details:

http://www.aneventapart.com/events/2008/chicago/

@Erhard — I’m very pleased to hear my work is inspiring you to try out this technique with your own notes. Thanks!

@Ariel — Thanks for the kind words! I’m glad to hear you took notes as well. Hope mine are a good supplement. :-)

@Sean — Jason, while I can’t reply for Jason here, he did mention in his talk that his and 37signals approach to design is more functional than design for design’s sake. Check out this spread for more detail:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rohdesign/2886152449/in/set-72157607482408631/

Thanks everyone for the very kind words. I’m always happy to share these sketchnotes with those who were at the events and those who couldn’t make it out, as a handy reference.

I’m already looking forward to An Event Apart. :-)

Vicky H 29 Sep 08

I’ve seen all the 37signals Live events so far and by far the September 24th broadcast is my favorite. It may at first seem like I’m biased, but if you visit the archive and the broadcast you will see why.

Jason, in my opinion was the best I’ve ever seen him at an event and I’ve watched quite a few of them. I’m not sure if it was the freedom of not following a presentation, that he was having a great day, or just that he fell in love with Milwaukee, but he was on!

His message, his eye contact, his gestures, I had one friend who was watching it streaming live said to me the next day “I turned off the volume for 5 minutes just to watch and pick up on his gestures and body language” and he is the manager of several public speakers.

Thanks Jason! @eeUS

Sean McCambridge 29 Sep 08

@Mike – Great job, man. These are really cool. I remember (way) back in architecture school, there was this girl whose notes looked like a blueprint, used a ruler and colored pencil and took her time. Anyway, yours are in the same sort of spirit, and it’s fun to see.

I guess ‘artist’ was the wrong word choice earlier, but I get the feeling that being an entrepreneur is kind of an artistic endeavor. Or maybe I should say creative? To be a great functional interface designer, you do need to be more than practical, don’t you? I mean, their products aren’t Drudge-Report simple. Seems like a kind of function-inspires-then-follows-form process.

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