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.

New sketches by email

Learn something new in a sketch each Sunday

Recent sketches

Smart little people

I love the Smart Little People problem-solving tool from TRIZ that invites you to compose your problem of smart little people and ask, “What would they do?” Smart Little People is one of a suite of psychological inertia tools for unblocking your thinking and giving you new ways to look at solving a problem. In the sketch, I was trying to illustrate how they might find a solution to a cut with what is effectively a clot.…I love the Smart Little People problem-solving tool from TRIZ that invites you to compose your problem of smart little people and ask, “What would they do?” Smart Little People is one of a suite of psychological inertia tools for unblocking your thinking and giving you new ways to look at solving a problem. In the sketch, I was trying to illustrate how they might find a solution to a cut with what is effectively a clot.

17 Mar 2014

Only quote quotes

And, ideally, only exclaim exclamations. Woah!…

16 Mar 2014

Core components of risk

Your preference for risk - a psychological measure that changes slowly throughout our lifetime except for sudden shifts with big life events (eg losing a family member, having a baby). Your capacity for loss - a situational factor that depends on your circumstances and, say, the context of the money you are taking a risk with. For example, if money is an unexpected bonus or gift, then you probably have a greater capacity for its loss, than if you earned it. Both aspects are important. For example, some people are naturally daredevils on the ski-slopes, but even they may slow down a little when they have a family depending on them.…Your preference for risk - a psychological measure that changes slowly throughout our lifetime except for sudden shifts with big life events (eg losing a family member, having a baby). Your capacity for loss - a situational factor that depends on your circumstances and, say, the context of the money you are taking a risk with. For example, if money is an unexpected bonus or gift, then you probably have a greater capacity for its loss, than if you earned it. Both aspects are important. For example, some people are naturally daredevils on the ski-slopes, but even they may slow down a little when they have a family depending on them.

15 Mar 2014

Travel and new foods

A pattern I have observed.…

14 Mar 2014

Think cradle to cradle

From Michael Braungart and William McDonough’s groundbreaking book Cradle to Cradle (you should buy it just to feel the book itself). Production and use need not be a straight line. It has to be a loop. Known often as the circular economy.…

13 Mar 2014

Drawings of a mug and bowl showing the difference of allowing for the thickness of the edge

Think through the whole object

The little things like these make all the difference. Comic artists can only draw realistic bulging muscles because they know what muscles are actually where. Thinking through an object carefully, not superficially, makes a huge difference in being able to represent it well.…

12 Mar 2014

Search·Categories·Archive·List