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Explore the full visual archive of over a decade of Sketchplanations and discover sketches that interest and inspire you. Use them to have great conversations about ideas.

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Pyrrhic saving concept showing shoppers leaving a megastore with an overloaded trolley under deal signs, captioned “If we save any more money, we’ll be ruined” – spending more to save money examplePyrrhic Saving: "Saving" money by spending moreVolcanic Explosivity Index VEI 0 to 8 with examples Kilauea, Etna, Mt St Helens, Pinatubo, Tambora and Yellowstone, each level about 10 times more materialThe Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI): Comparing EruptionsThe Mathematics of Everyday Life showing everyday maths examples including budgeting, shopping, splitting a bill, travel planning, buying a house, voting statistics, baking measurements and fitting furniture, created for the VERDI inclusive mathematics project.Mathematics in Everyday LifeWhen there’s a gold rush, sell shovels and picks, a classic business and entrepreneurship quote with prospectors chasing gold and suppliers lining the roadWhen there's a gold rush, sell shovelsFront-load key words in lists and when writing for the web for clearer communication with a conference features exampleFront-load Key WordsLaplace's Demon thought experiment quote by Pierre-Simon Laplace about determinism and predictabilityLaplace's DemonCommon dune types showing how different wind patterns and sand availability shape transverse dunes, linear dunes, barchan dunes and star dunes.Dune Types: Transverse, Linear, Barchan, Star DunesWhat is contentment? Happiness, wellbeing and contentment is what you have relative to what you want, from Morgan Housel’s The Art of Spending Money.Contentment: What you Have Relative to What you WantExplanation of SMART goals meaning, showing that SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound, and how setting SMART goals leads to clearer progressSMART GoalsWhat is diagonal billing in cinema, film credits, titles, and design? Example of Steve McQueen and Paul Newman from the Towering Inferno in a movie theatre. Also staggered billing.Diagonal Billing (or Staggered Billing)Cornwall vs Devon cream tea styles shown side by side: jam first for Cornwall, cream first for Devon.Cream Tea: Cream First or Jam First?What are the contradictory traits of creative people? Illustration of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s 10 paradoxical personality traits, showing each pair of opposites such as energetic and restful, smart and naive, and passionate and objective.10 Contradictory Traits of Creative PeopleHow to remember latitude and longitude on a world map, understand which is which, which is x or y, and how to read lat–long coordinates using an easy mnemonic: latitude is flat and longitude convergesLatitude and Longitude: How to Remember Which is WhichApples and ideas quote (not) from George Bernard Shaw illustrated as a concept - giving an apple vs sharing an ideaApples and IdeasSpectrum of abstraction for finding and the essence of a symbol for communication and design. From realistic to abstract: symbols for love, death, excellence, awareness, and growth, as examples. Abstract-o-meter concept and heart example from Christoph NiemannSpectrum of AbstractionWhat is the newsletter paradox: your email newsletter subscriber list grows when you do nothing and people unsubscribe when you sendThe Newsletter Paradox: Your newsletter grows when you do nothingMirage explained: what causes a mirage and why it looks like water, showing hot air bending light from the sky so it appears as a reflection on the ground.Mirage: why do we see a pool of water?What are collective nouns for animals? Illustration of African animals showing examples of collective nouns: a tower of giraffes, a crash of rhinos, a pride of lions, a dazzle of zebra, a murder of crows, a bask of crocodiles, and others.Collective Nouns: Examples, meanings, and the best ones for animalsWhat is a rich picture diagram — a group of people sketching a rich picture about planning a group holiday, showing connected ideas, icons, and notes on a large whiteboard to visualise a complex situation.Rich Pictures: Making Sense of Complex ProblemsWhat is systolic and diastolic blood pressure — diagram showing heart contraction (systolic) and relaxation (diastolic) with 120/80 example and pressure graph.Systolic and Diastolic Blood PressureQuote and advice from Jane Goodall's mother: If there's something you really want, you're going to have to work really hard, take advantage of opportunity and, above all, never give up.And, above all, never give upThe Buttered Cat Paradox meme explained with the buttered toast phenomenon and the cat righting reflexThe Buttered Cat ParadoxPace Layers diagram by Stewart Brand explained: fashion, commerce, infrastructure, governance,culture, nature. Fast layers innovate, slow layers stabilise.Pace Layers: Six layers of robust and adaptable civilisationsThe Repeated Word Illusion using "I love Paris in the the Springtime" with a repeated "the" set in a pyramid layoutThe Repeated Word IllusionThe difference between Science and Engineering: quote by Theodore von Kármán "Scientists discover the world that exists; Engineers create the world that never was."Science and Engineering: What’s the Difference?The Figure Skater's Spin and Conservation of Angular Momentum Illustrated with equationsThe Figure Skater's Spin and the Conservation of Angular MomentumWhat is chiasmus? Illustration showing JFK's quote "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country" arranged as A-B-B-A symmetry of thoughts.ChiasmusWhat is Murphy’s Law? Meaning and example shown by a giant box labeled “This Way Up” lying upside down showing "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong."Murphy's LawTemperature palindromes: Handy reference points for converting fahrenheit to celsius - 82-28 and 61-16Temperature Palindromes: Converting Between Fahrenheit and CelsiusWhat is Grandma’s Rule? Illustration of the Premack Principle showing a child told ‘Vegetables first, then dessert’ and the First, Then RuleGrandma's Rule: First___, Then___What are topography and bathmetry, and their meaning, shown as land elevation and ocean depthTopography and BathymetryThe Trolley Problem original variant with the runaway trolley and moral dilemma of switching the tracksThe Trolley ProblemLooking back in time as we look to the stars: A visual explanation of how light from the Moon, Sun, stars, and galaxies shows us the past because light takes time to travel.Looking Back in Time: The Speed of Light and the Night SkyJohn Muir quote illustration: I only went out for a walk, and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in — John Muir quoteGoing Out Was Really Going In — John Muir QuoteWhat is a halfpinion with example of someone arguing for the benefits and another arguing the costs are too high. It's not a real opinion unless it considers both. Term from Scott Adams.Halfpinion: considering only the benefits or the costsCongested equilibrium and how suppressed journeys and latent demand build-up means you can't build your way out of congestionCongested EquilibriumCalm like a duck quote showing a duck who's calm on the surface, but under the water, I'm paddling like hell. Also, a Michael Caine quoteCalm Like a DuckTo scale, you first have to do things that don't scale, advice from Paul Graham and Brian Chesky of AirBnB for scaling companies shown with a founder packing boxes themselves like Jeff Bezos of AmazonTo Scale, First Do Things That Don't ScaleList of common sushi types, explained with names and pictures — a visual guide including nigiri, sashimi, maki rolls (hosomaki, futomaki, uramaki, temaki), inari, chirashi, and temari.Types of Sushi: Decoding a Sushi MenuWhat is the meaning of cognitive offloading? Shown by delegating our critical thinking to tools like calculators or AI chatbotsCognitive Offloading: Delegating Our Thinking
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