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Sketchnoting for PKM

I'm exploring ways to take Personal Knowledge Management to the next level. I'm learning to think more visually, integrating Excalidraw into my Obsidian knowledge graph. My drawings have become more than just illustrations. They are self-standing documents, interlinked with everything else in my PKM system.

Sketchnoting for PKM

With the release of the Obsidian-Excalidraw plugin v1.2.0 Sketches have become first-class citizens in Obsidian!

I am exploring the possibilities of Sketchnoting for PKM.

Drawings can become much more than (just) illustrations inserted between paragraphs of text. [[Links]] in sketches can elevate your drawing to navigational hubs (a.k.a. Index Notes) in your vault.

The Stencil-Library offers an ideal place to store your Visual Vocabulary.

The stencil-library

Drawings are great for brainstorming and problem-solving. The slightly slower process of creating visual notes offers more time to reflect and internalize your subject.

I have many ideas to integrate sketchnoting into the PKM workflow, for example by supporting occlusion in drawings to facilitate learning through sketch-based spaced repetition.

Develop your Visual Vocabulary

Because I couldn't even get past the level of drawing stick figures, I have always felt intimidated by friends who could draw well. The idea of developing my visual vocabulary was a game-changer for me.

Visual Vocabulary

Visual Vocabulary for Project Planning

I created a stencil library for project planning. I added hashtags to each icon because, this way, if you add them to your sketch in the Obsidian-Excalidraw plugin, your drawing will be tagged with the relevant keywords. You can download the library from here.

Excalidraw stencil library for Project Planning
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  1. Yakov PyatnitskovOctober 11, 2021 at 1:11 PM

    Thank you very much for sharing it Zsolt! A quick question - did you draw the symbols in Developing your visual library picture or downloaded them into Obsidian? I can't find those symbols and drawing with a mouse is nowhere nearly as good. Or maybe you use a graphic pad?

    Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Zsolt VicziĆ”nOctober 11, 2021 at 1:42 PM

      I draw with a mouse as well. I don’t use freedraw, but rather lines, rectangles, ellipses and diamond… Everything can be constructed from these. You can download my icons from here: https://ko-fi.com/zsolt/shop

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