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The smell of Fall is in the air. Every September, I get that “back to school” urge to stock up on art and school supplies. This fall, armed with our trusty pencils, sharpies and paper, we’re knee-deep in exploring how lo-fi pen-and-pencil techniques can impact our work.

As I talk about in the essay The Joy of Sketch, there’s a lot of activity at Adaptive Path around analog visual methods. Below are some of the inspirations we’ve found helpful in exploring different approaches.

1) Hand Sketching for drawing people, places & things

We’re inspired by:

• Mark Baskinger, and his article in Interactions Magazine
• Rapid Viz : A New Method for the Rapid Visualization of Ideas by Kurt Hanks and Larry Belliston
• Thinking with a Pencil by Henning Nelms
• The Art of Field Sketching by Clare Walker Leslie

2) Hand Sketching for drawing abstract concepts & ideas

We’re inspired by:

• Dan Roam’s site for The Back of the Napkin
• Indexed: Clarity and humor bundled into insightful and simple diagrams
• The VizThink conference
• The Periodic Table of Visualization Methods (an oldie but a goodie)

3) Graphic recording and Graphic facilitation

We’re inspired by:

• The Grove consultants
• International Forum of Visual Practitioners
• Graphic recordings on Flickr

4) Mind Mapping

We’re inspired by:

• The Mind Mapping Book by Tony Buzan
• A selection of mind maps from Tony Buzan
• Mind maps on Flickr

5) Sketchnoting

We’re inspired by:

• Mike Rhode, well-known for his SxSW sketchnotes, and his thoughts on the practice
• Everyday matters by Danny Gregory
• Sketchnotes on Flickr

And if you’re in the back-to-school mood yourself, check out David Gray’s web-based Visual Thinking School.

What methods and approaches have you found that have furthered your practices? Please share them in the comments. New tools are always welcome!