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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Recent sketches

Anatomy of a wave

The anatomy of a wave showing the key features of a wave: the crest, amplitude, trough, wavelength and when and how it starts to break on a beach. Common in experience. Less commonly understood. With assistance from surfing-waves.com…

11 Aug 2013

On microwaves

Every time I stop and think about a microwave I am reminded of Arthur C Clarke’s 3rd law of prediction: “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Right up there with wifi and MRI. All just magic. Also, I think you can use microwaves that little bit better when you understand what’s really going on.…

10 Aug 2013

Remove text formatting

OK, so this seems like the most complex yet, but I find myself doing this small and rapid series of key strokes many times a day and it saves a whole lot of fiddling. Update: Several people have helpfully pointed out to me that you can do this better and more easily simply with Control + shift + v on PC and Command + Alt + Shift + V on Mac. More time saved!…

9 Aug 2013