Explaining the world one sketch at a time

Simplifying complex ideas through fun and insightful sketches. Explore topics from science, creativity, psychology, and more explained in pictures.

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Learn something new in a sketch each Sunday

Recent sketches

Clear is kind

Being clear is not only helpful, it's actually being kind. Being unclear about expectations, fuzzy on what you really need, or skirting around an issue, is actually unkind — it sets people up to fail, and creates problems in the future. If you don't give clear feedback then you're holding that person back from improving. If you say two weeks, but you're really expecting one week, then you'll resent it when it's not done in time. If you say it's really fine when it's not then you'll continue to be upset about how things are going. Clear is kind is a simple reminder, though by no means always easy, of how being clear in your communication is the generous, brave, helpful, and kind thing to do. I learned clear is kind, and unclear is unkind, from Brené Brown in Dare to Lead, and she said she first heard it in a 12-steps meeting. I borrowed the dancing emphasis from the always excellent Eva-Lotta Lamm. Static sketch of clear is kind.…Being clear is not only helpful, it's actually being kind. Being unclear about expectations, fuzzy on what you really need, or skirting around an issue, is actually unkind — it sets people up to fail, and creates problems in the future. If you don't give clear feedback then you're holding that person back from improving. If you say two weeks, but you're really expecting one week, then you'll resent it when it's not done in time. If you say it's really fine when it's not then you'll continue to be upset about how things are going. Clear is kind is a simple reminder, though by no means always easy, of how being clear in your communication is the generous, brave, helpful, and kind thing to do. I learned clear is kind, and unclear is unkind, from Brené Brown in Dare to Lead, and she said she first heard it in a 12-steps meeting. I borrowed the dancing emphasis from the always excellent Eva-Lotta Lamm. Static sketch of clear is kind.

18 Sep 2022

Veblen goods

Most things increase in demand as they get cheaper — as the price of electric cars comes down we can expect more people to buy more of them. Veblen goods are the opposite. They thrive on exclusivity. Veblen goods are more desirable exactly because they are more expensive. If everyone could buy a Rolex, the vintage whisky, or that supercar, then they wouldn't seem so super anymore. Many luxury items are veblen goods. The I Am Rich iPhone app briefly sold for $999.99 and displayed only a glowing red gem and a mantra about being rich. Genius/madness. Veblen goods are named after Thorstein Veblen, coiner of the concept of conspicuous consumption.…Most things increase in demand as they get cheaper — as the price of electric cars comes down we can expect more people to buy more of them. Veblen goods are the opposite. They thrive on exclusivity. Veblen goods are more desirable exactly because they are more expensive. If everyone could buy a Rolex, the vintage whisky, or that supercar, then they wouldn't seem so super anymore. Many luxury items are veblen goods. The I Am Rich iPhone app briefly sold for $999.99 and displayed only a glowing red gem and a mantra about being rich. Genius/madness. Veblen goods are named after Thorstein Veblen, coiner of the concept of conspicuous consumption.

11 Sep 2022

The side of a pyramid of needs: physiological, safety, love-belonging, esteem, self-actualization

Maslow's hierarchy of needs

Maslow's hierarchy of needs, or Maslow's pyramid of needs, was created as the basis for a theory of human motivation by the psychologist Abraham Maslow shared in a 1943 paper. He was interested in what gives our lives meaning and what makes people happy — particularly in the context of a world increasingly driven by consumerism. He suggested there were our basic needs and our higher level needs — psychological, spiritual, and growth. In the basic needs you have physiological needs such as not being hungry, thirsty, or cold. Then we have our safety needs such as being free from the threat of violence, or being healthy. Then we have the higher-level needs of love and belonging including friendship, connection, family. Then esteem needs such as self-respect and self-esteem. And finally our need for self-actualization — reaching our potential, achieving mastery, or being the best we can be. Maslow continued to refine his original framework. For all its flaws — it always provokes discussion and counter-arguments in my experience — it's remained a clarifying and remarkably enduring model. If you're designing for needs I prefer Patnaik's hierarchy of needs.…Maslow's hierarchy of needs, or Maslow's pyramid of needs, was created as the basis for a theory of human motivation by the psychologist Abraham Maslow shared in a 1943 paper. He was interested in what gives our lives meaning and what makes people happy — particularly in the context of a world increasingly driven by consumerism. He suggested there were our basic needs and our higher level needs — psychological, spiritual, and growth. In the basic needs you have physiological needs such as not being hungry, thirsty, or cold. Then we have our safety needs such as being free from the threat of violence, or being healthy. Then we have the higher-level needs of love and belonging including friendship, connection, family. Then esteem needs such as self-respect and self-esteem. And finally our need for self-actualization — reaching our potential, achieving mastery, or being the best we can be. Maslow continued to refine his original framework. For all its flaws — it always provokes discussion and counter-arguments in my experience — it's remained a clarifying and remarkably enduring model. If you're designing for needs I prefer Patnaik's hierarchy of needs.

4 Sep 2022

Fungible goods and non-fungible goods: Examples of fungible goods on the left: money, fuel, and commodities and Non-fungible goods on the right: houses, art, people, used cars

Fungible - non-fungible

Fungible goods are mutually interchangeable in that, in principle, you could swap in any unit for any other unit of the same type or kind and it would be equivalent. Money is a classic fungible good. A $10 bill is equivalent to any other $10 bill, so if you were to borrow $10 from someone they wouldn't care or expect to get the same $10 bill back. Non-fungible goods are unique and not mutually interchangeable. Each house, even cookie-cutter houses, is in a unique location, with different neighbours, quirks, and history. Having a print of the Mona Lisa on your wall is not the same as having the original from the Louvre. And swapping people between teams at work, even people with similar experience, will still result in different outcomes. A nice thought experiment to distinguish fungible and non-fungible goods is to ask if you were to borrow one, would it make a difference if you returned a different one? So if you were to borrow my car, you could return it to me with a different tank of fuel (a fungible good) and it wouldn't make any difference to me. But if you were to return a different used car (a non-fungible good) that would be rather odd. In case you've heard of NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) and would like to understand their flaws and promise better I recommend the NFT Freakonomics episode of the 3-part series What can Blockchain do for you? Also see, rival and non-rival goods…Fungible goods are mutually interchangeable in that, in principle, you could swap in any unit for any other unit of the same type or kind and it would be equivalent. Money is a classic fungible good. A $10 bill is equivalent to any other $10 bill, so if you were to borrow $10 from someone they wouldn't care or expect to get the same $10 bill back. Non-fungible goods are unique and not mutually interchangeable. Each house, even cookie-cutter houses, is in a unique location, with different neighbours, quirks, and history. Having a print of the Mona Lisa on your wall is not the same as having the original from the Louvre. And swapping people between teams at work, even people with similar experience, will still result in different outcomes. A nice thought experiment to distinguish fungible and non-fungible goods is to ask if you were to borrow one, would it make a difference if you returned a different one? So if you were to borrow my car, you could return it to me with a different tank of fuel (a fungible good) and it wouldn't make any difference to me. But if you were to return a different used car (a non-fungible good) that would be rather odd. In case you've heard of NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) and would like to understand their flaws and promise better I recommend the NFT Freakonomics episode of the 3-part series What can Blockchain do for you? Also see, rival and non-rival goods

28 Aug 2022

The first draft is always perfect

The magic of a first draft is that the first draft is always perfect. It doesn't matter if it's rubbish, if it's messy, if it doesn't flow, if it lacks personality, or if it won't work. The job of a first draft is to be a draft and get the process started. So however it turns out, the first draft has done its job perfectly. In the illustrated art collection by Dr Seuss you can see some of the first drafts and iterations of text and images that go to refine the seemingly effortless rhythm, rhyme and combination of text and images from his wacky illustrations. Donald Schön, in his classic The Reflective Practitioner, goes further by sharing his analysis of design as a reflective conversation – observing each mark sketched on paper informs the next you make. You don't know how it will turn out until you put pen to paper. Seeing what comes out allows you to adapt and modify as you go in a back-and-forth of discovery and evaluation. Don't worry about your first draft — it'll be perfect. Start small. Start now. I read this for the first time in an article by Casey Fowler that's no longer live. Most likely, it originates from the novelist Jane Smiley: "Every first draft is perfect because all the first draft has to do is exist. It's perfect in its existence. The only way it could be imperfect would be to NOT exist."…The magic of a first draft is that the first draft is always perfect. It doesn't matter if it's rubbish, if it's messy, if it doesn't flow, if it lacks personality, or if it won't work. The job of a first draft is to be a draft and get the process started. So however it turns out, the first draft has done its job perfectly. In the illustrated art collection by Dr Seuss you can see some of the first drafts and iterations of text and images that go to refine the seemingly effortless rhythm, rhyme and combination of text and images from his wacky illustrations. Donald Schön, in his classic The Reflective Practitioner, goes further by sharing his analysis of design as a reflective conversation – observing each mark sketched on paper informs the next you make. You don't know how it will turn out until you put pen to paper. Seeing what comes out allows you to adapt and modify as you go in a back-and-forth of discovery and evaluation. Don't worry about your first draft — it'll be perfect. Start small. Start now. I read this for the first time in an article by Casey Fowler that's no longer live. Most likely, it originates from the novelist Jane Smiley: "Every first draft is perfect because all the first draft has to do is exist. It's perfect in its existence. The only way it could be imperfect would be to NOT exist."

21 Aug 2022

Ponderosa pine and its bark listing out some of the fire protections it has

Ponderosa pine fire protections

Many trees and forests were built to live with fire and in many cases, fire is essential for a healthy ecosystem. Giant sequoias, for example, have cones that dry out during surface fires releasing their seeds so they can germinate at the ideal time to grow with less competition. Ponderosa pines have a number of ways they have evolved to live with fire. They have bark that when heated can split off from the tree protecting the trunk and reducing the spread of fire. They often lose lower branches, sometimes from smaller fires, reducing the likelihood of ladder fires that climb towards the crown. The shade they cast and the acidic soil they favour helps reduce understory plants that could catch fire beneath the tree and help a fire to latch onto the main trunk. They have deep roots that can remain intact after a fire allowing the tree to still gather water and nutrients even when surface roots are damaged. Some policies of suppressing natural fires have changed the balance of many forest systems and helped promote some of the recent mega-fires. More about the Fire ecology of ponderosa pines (pdf). Also see: identify a douglas fir, time hierarchy…Many trees and forests were built to live with fire and in many cases, fire is essential for a healthy ecosystem. Giant sequoias, for example, have cones that dry out during surface fires releasing their seeds so they can germinate at the ideal time to grow with less competition. Ponderosa pines have a number of ways they have evolved to live with fire. They have bark that when heated can split off from the tree protecting the trunk and reducing the spread of fire. They often lose lower branches, sometimes from smaller fires, reducing the likelihood of ladder fires that climb towards the crown. The shade they cast and the acidic soil they favour helps reduce understory plants that could catch fire beneath the tree and help a fire to latch onto the main trunk. They have deep roots that can remain intact after a fire allowing the tree to still gather water and nutrients even when surface roots are damaged. Some policies of suppressing natural fires have changed the balance of many forest systems and helped promote some of the recent mega-fires. More about the Fire ecology of ponderosa pines (pdf). Also see: identify a douglas fir, time hierarchy

14 Aug 2022

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