The Art of Visual Notetaking: An interactive guide to visual communication and sketchnoting Paperback – Illustrated, March 5, 2019

I have been following Emily's career as an illustrator, sketchnoter, and graphic recorder for a few years now and I've always been fascinated by her skills, style, positive attitude, and willingness to share what she knows about her chosen profession... and this book is just that: A collection of everything that she knows about visual note taking!She takes you by the hand and guides you through every facet of the process of making visual notes (as I assume she does in her workshops). The way that she explains and breaks down the steps and adds skills and techniques is direct and - at the same time - caring. The illustrations (I won't call them "doodles") and examples/samples are strong, straight-to-the-point, and easy enough for a beginner to copy and practice... and gain confidence as they progress. (Note: the fact that there are large spaces to practice in are a plus.)As great as this book is, there is one glaring thing missing from it: other voices in the choir.What I mean by "other voices in the choir" is that I wish that there were examples from other visual note takers and sketchnoters. While Emily's "voice" has a gorgeous tone that is well trained and resonates high above the rest, a few other "voices" or examples might add to the depth of what she is teaching and reinforce what her audience is learning.While at times the book might seem to get too elementary for someone with some knowledge of sketchnoting, I do understand that that is not her intended audience. A teachable person can learn anything from anyone, and this old dog did learn a few new tricks. (Thanks, Emily!)Update: Having spoken with Emily about her book, the “singular voice” of her book was due to limitations set by the publisher and not by her choice. While unfortunate, I cannot fault her for that so I’m changing my star rating from 4 to 5. ;)

I appreciate the detail and thoughtfulness of the author. This was a fun process book that helped me be more comfortable with drawing notes.

Emily Mills did an excellent job with this book! It contains very practical information for those just starting out with visual note taking and also for those who have been sketch noting for a while.This book is really well designed. I love the exercises throughout, so that you can immediately apply what you have learned. The biggest lesson I took away was the idea of establishing hierarchy. The information on pre-scheduling is also genius!I also own the excellent books by Mike Rohde, but this one amazingly covers several areas that those books do not; e.g. pros and cons of various tools and even a touch of color theory. I really appreciate how she emphasizes that information should take priority over illustration. A very pragmatic approach. I am so happy with this purchase!I’ve been applying it to analog and digital note taking.

I’m excited about this book even though I don’t have an artistic bone in my body. It, instead, teaches me to listen better and retain more with short and easy step by step lessons that break down all the elements effectively and thoroughly. The design, illustrations, layout and practice areas make the whole process fun and engaging. Even after the first few pages I was able to apply the changes to my note taking and already experienced better understanding! I can’t wait to continue, and plan to gift the book to others!

The Art of Visual Notetaking by Emily Mills is a free NetGalley ebook that I read in late February.Right away, kablam, the paragraph headers are highlighted through in a near-blinding neon yellow. Mills' notes engage your senses with sketches and they draw the eye back and forth across the page to lines of handwritten notes and illustrated graphs. And it's not just sketches, but deeply embedded text, doodles, basic cartoony drawings, dialogue bubbles, icons, symbols, and iconic/symbolic storytelling sketch progressions.

I've seen Emily take visual notes in-person and it's a sight to behold. She's extremely talented and at first it seemed like my lack of drawing skills would keep me from being able to do anything similar. I'm not an artist but I do love to take good notes.That's where I really appreciated the approach she took in her book. It's not a "how to draw pretty notes" type of book, even though she does give pointers on how to draw well. Instead, she goes step-by-step through the process of how to synthesize the talk you're hearing into a visual format.The end result is that I'm taking notes that I actually want to look through later and that end up being a lot more useful. Even if you can't draw well like me, you'll still walk away with a great skill that will (hopefully) keep getting better. Thanks, Emily!

If you would like to start sketchnoting is this book an easy and fun approach.Easy to follow and understand the writers instructionsHands on exercises after each chapter

I wish this info was more readily available in my ol high school and college days. The book takes you through the structural foundation of visual note taking, including relevant examples and how to draw simple figures or objects. I'm not the best drawer, but I'v found her processes helpful in visual mapping meeting presentations, book reviews, or whatever. And it helps me to remember the content. Highly recommend.