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

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.
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Cradle to Cradle or circular economy sketch. Production has to be a loop. Known often as the circular economy. Sketch of a loop/production loop

Think cradle to cradle

Production and use need not be a straight line. It has to be a loop. Often known as the circular economy. Related Ideas to Cradle to Cradle There is no "away" From Michael Braungart and William McDonough’s groundbreaking book Cradle to Cradle (you should buy it just to feel the book itself).
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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.
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How to load a dishwasher well

Not everyone has the same ideas about dishwashers, particularly ones you might share at work.
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