Sketchplanations
Big Ideas Little Pictures

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Explaining the world one sketch at a time

Sketchplanations makes complex ideas simple with clear, insightful sketches. Explore topics from science, creativity, psychology, and beyond explained in pictures.

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Learn something new in a sketch each Sunday

Recent sketches

Plug computing

I love the idea that the computer just disappears backwards into the plug. Neal Moore first mentioned this to me. In the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving there’s an idea that all functions will eventually be subsumed by the system above it. Assuming that we will always need some sort of power it makes sense that the computer will disappear into there at some point. The iMac was essentially a jump where the computer disappeared into the screen. For this reason I’ve often thought that floors, walls and ceilings should be given more thought than they are. When everything else has changed, I reckon they will still be around. I wouldn’t mind if our dinner table disappeared into the floor once we were done with it for example.
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How many ideas will you get in idea generation quote: "The number of ideas produced in an ideation session is proportional to the size of the stack of paper in front of you."

The number of ideas produced in an ideation session is proportional to the size of the stack of paper in front of you

The number of ideas produced in an ideation session is proportional to the size of the stack of paper in front of you. —Conrad Wai I definitely think there’s some truth to this observation about idea generation. It’s all about expectation and belief. Like how if you simply ask people to be creative, they come up with more creative ideas. Simple. Conrad credits Lucas McCann for the quote (who no doubt said it much more concisely and pithily). Also see: 6 thinking hats How to peel a Post It so it doesn't fall down
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Designing for adoption

This helpful framework is an enhancement of regular adoption theory with the different approaches to design for each stage. Canada, Mortensen, Patnaik, 2007 (pdf). Some great examples of each stage in the paper.
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Supermoon illustration: showing the moon large at its perigee, when it is closet to Earth, and smaller at it's apogee, when it's furthest from Earth

Supermoon

A supermoon is when the Moon appears at its largest. Because most orbits are actually ellipses—an oval shape—rather than circular, the moon changes how close it is to Earth each day. A supermoon occurs when the Moon is at least 90% of perigee, the point at which it is closest to Earth. The point it is furthest from Earth is known as the apogee—for our moon, that's around 50,000km further away than when it's at the perigee. According to NASA, a supermoon can appear around 17% larger and 20% brighter than the faintest moon of the year. Super moons are a treat for photographers with big zooms and aspirational-looking cityscapes or yachts on the horizon (or ET on a flying bike). Hat tip to Science Llama.
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Air-write before inking

Checking that things fit by rehearsing in the air is often a few seconds well spent.
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