Sketchplanations
Subscribe
Big Ideas Little Pictures
Get the book!
Sketchplanations podcast photo of Rob Bell, Tom Pellereau and Jono Hey
Prefer to listen?
🎉 Help keep Sketchplanations ad-free by supporting me

Eponym: ideas and frameworks explained

A collection of ideas, frameworks and techniques related to Eponym, explained clearly so they are easy to understand and share.

Buridan's Ass philosophy puzzle: how does an ass choose between two equally tempting choices of piles of hay. How can we choose without a preference? Does it starve?Buridan's AssEinstein's Mirror - a famous thought experiment about what would you see if you travelled at the speed of light alongside a light wave and what would you see in a mirrorEinstein's MirrorThe McNamara Fallacy, also known as the quantitative fallacy, where we measure what is easy and ignore what is hardThe McNamara FallacyWhat 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 LawWhat 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 is Naismith's Rule for calculating walking time in the mountains example explained with a mountain ridge with hikers and lines for the horizontal distance and time and ascent and timeNaismith's Rule for mountain hiking timeEponym examples, explanation and etymology explained in a sketch with Erno Rubik of the Rubik's Cube, the Jacuzzi brothers, the 4th Earl of Sandwich, LĂĄszlĂł BirĂł, Etienne de Silhouette and Rudolf Diesel and his diesel engineEponymWhat is Hanlon's razor example explained: never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity. Here, it's explained in a cartoon of someone getting mad at dropped litter when it accidentally was dropped out of the bin bag of another person around the cornerHanlon's RazorThe Barnum effect (also the Forer effect) illustrated by 3 people, each getting the same seemingly personalised personality test result and figuring it described them perfectly.The Barnum effectThe Overton Window illustration: with the example of two children lobbying their parents on bedtime policies and the range of politically acceptable ideasThe Overton WindowThe Droste effect illustration: where the picture contains the picture which contains the picture which contains the picture...The Droste effectThe Feynman Learning Technique illustration: a flow diagram of picking a topic, writing about it to explain to someone until it's clear and then simplifying and adding analogiesThe Feynman Learning TechniqueWhat does a Pyrrhic victory mean example: King Pyrrhus laments a victory that wasn't worth winning as he surveys the remains of his troops after a victory on the battlefieldPyrrhic victoryBraille reading and writing system: the letters of the alphabet in english braille showing how it's constructed from 6 dotsBrailleThe two primary temperature scales of Celsius and Fahrenheit side-by-side calling out water freezing, body temperature and water boilingTemperature Scales: Fahrenheit and CelsiusComparison of typical goods selling by the box load at a retailer, and veblen goods — that have greater demand the more expensive they are — with people on a fancy yachtVeblen goodsThe side of a pyramid of needs: physiological, safety, love-belonging, esteem, self-actualizationMaslow's hierarchy of needsWhat is Chesterton's fence example explained: the meaning of Chesterton's Fence shown by two people contemplating a barbed wire fence stretching through rolling hills and wondering why on earth someone put a fence there, unaware of the large animal down the slopeChesterton's fenceMöbius strip animation: a small red ball continuously rolls around the surface of a 2-dimensional strip that has been twisted before having its ends joined - meaning the ball covers the entire shape. Möbius stripSankey Diagram illustration: a diagram shows an example of the flow of materials in a system. The example illustrated is the point of disposing of domestic waste. The jumbled, inbound mix of waste brought in on the left gets separated into outbound flows on the right including card recycling; plastic, glass & metal recycling; compost; landfill and directly re-useable items (such as milk bottles). The width of each outbound arrow represents size of flow. Sankey diagramRussell's Teapot illustration: an unexceptional china teapot floats peacefully in space with part of a large burnt-red planet visible in the background. Bertrand Russell's quote fills the space: "If I were to claim "there's a teapot, too small to spot, orbiting between Earth and Mars", the burden of proof lies on me."Russell's TeapotBlooms Taxonomy explanation: A series of 6 building blocks are stacked on top of each other, decreasing in size as they go up, creating a pyramid-style construction. Each block represents one of 6 thinking skills. These skills become more sophisticated as the pyramid climbs and reminds us that the foundation of learning is knowledge. Bloom's TaxonomyGini Coefficient illustration: a scale of wealth distribution is depicted where green squares represent the wealth of an individual within a population. On the left, every individual has a green square - equal wealth distribution. In the middle, the wealth sits with only half the population. On the right, all the wealth sits with only one person - they have a shiny crown and gold chain to display that wealth! The Gini coefficientThe Keeling Curve illustration: A line graph shows a tight zig-zag red line rising from around 310 parts per million (ppm) monthly average CO2 concentration in the air at the top of Mauna Loa volcano in Hawaii in 1960, up to 410 ppm in 2020. The smaller graph at the top shows the reason for the zig-zag nature of the line; the seasonal variation of CO2 concentration in the air due to more plants blooming and photosynthesising in Spring and Summer. The Keeling curveThe Boaty McBoatface effect: Someone holding up a poll for the naming of a boat which was vote-bombed to be Boaty McBoatface for a laughThe Boaty McBoatface effectWhat is the Peter Principle explanation: a confident and competent junior worker gets promoted to a senior level. At the senior level, they appear very happy and excel such that they get a promotion to Director. As a Director, their competence has been exceeded and we see them in a state of stress and disarray. Oh dear. The Peter PrincipleWhat is the Doppler Effect? Example of relative motion changes perceived frequency, with sound waves compressed ahead of a passing siren and stretched behind it.The Doppler EffectWhat is The Shirky principle explained — from Clay Shirky — illustration in a garage where a manager is astonished by a mechanic fixing the cars so they'll never need to come backThe Shirky PrincipleCampbell's law illustrated with examples from elections and leading to fake news and a crackdown on crime distorting how it is reported and measuredCampbell’s lawThe Abilene paradox: a family sets out on a trip to Abilene on a hot dusty day only to discover on the way back that none of them actually wanted to goThe Abilene paradoxWhat is the Jevons' paradox in economics: fuel use tends to increase, not decrease, despite efficiency gains, with definition and example. Observation from William Stanley JevonsJevons' ParadoxWhat is Marchetti's constant example explained: chart showing how Berlin increased in size with new means of travelling faster through walking, electric trams, and subways, to carsMarchetti’s constantWhat is the Pomodoro Technique in 3 steps: plan your tasks, complete one 25-minute pomodoro with a 5-minute break, and repeat for four pomodoros before taking a longer break.The Pomodoro Technique: Stay Focused and Get More DoneMercator projection world map explaining how projecting a curved Earth onto a flat map distorts size, with Greenland appearing much larger than AfricaThe Mercator projectionWhat is the Diderot Effect example explained: showing two people discussing their new sofa and deciding they have to change the room, or even moveThe Diderot EffectWhat is Dunbar's number example explained: a person can't remember the name of the one person outside their circles of closer friends, super family, clan and tribe behind themDunbar’s number: 150The Rashomon Effect illustration: a smashed bottle and its contents lie strewn on the ground. Each individual present recounts how this happened and their stories are not the same. The Rashomon effectConway's law showing how the organisation of a company, as small, distributed teams or large colocated teams can reflect the architecture of the software as modular or monolithicConway’s LawThe Lucretius Problem illustration: examples of the biggest occurrences in history, like a market crash, a volcano eruption, a long drought and a traffic delay tend to be perceived as the biggest there could ever be. The Lucretius problemThe Oxford Comma illustration: in the acknowledgements at the beginning of a book, the oxford comma, used after the penultimate item in a list, clears up any confusion as to whether God is a parent of the author. The Oxford commaWhat is the Streisand Effect explained and its meaning: the attention of two passers by is drawn by a glut of warning and security signs mounted on a high security perimeter wall. The Streisand Effect explainedWhat is Metcalfe's Law diagram the value of a network and its usersMetcalfe’s LawGoodhart's law illustration showing a manager frustrated by 1000's of tiny nails when measuring on number of nails made, and pulling their hair out when presented with giant nails when measuring on weightGoodhart’s Law: when a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.Johari Window model illustrating self-awareness through feedback and disclosure in four quadrants: Open Self, Blind Spot, Hidden Self, and Unknown Self.Johari Window — A Model for Self-Awareness, Feedback, and Personal GrowthThe Gartner Hype Cycle illustration: a line graph shows the typical curvy evolution of expectations from new technologies over time. The Gartner Hype cycleNominative determinism examples — or an aptronym — with 3 books and their nominatively deterministic authorsNominative determinismStrahler Stream Order animation: what looks like the silhouette of a tree with branches but no leaves, is actually a plan view of a large river network. Starting at the outermost, narrowest parts, each time two tributaries of the same order merge together the order of river size increases until it flows out into the sea. Strahler stream order: Streams, rivers, the Amazon and how to organise them.What is the Goldilocks Zone: the range that supports life and distance from a star which supports liquid waterThe Goldilocks ZoneGoldilocks Tasks: a spectrum where the challenge is not too easy, not too hard, but just right for flow and masteryGoldilocks tasksWhat is Muphry's Law example explained: a reviewer of a manuscript makes a spelling mistake in their reviewMuphry’s LawWhat is the IKEA effect example explained - sketch shows a person that put an IKEA table together by themselves, and although it's not a perfect build they still love it, because they put it togetherThe IKEA effectThe Monty Hall problemBortle ScaleWhat is the Rosetta Stone explainedThe Rosetta StoneKoomey's LawKoomey’s LawMoore’s LawFitts’ LawScoville scale: chile heat via capsaicin contentDracula sneeze image: Dracula hooks round his cape to sneeze into his elbow and protect others from the germs of his sneezeDracula sneezeSpoonerismsThe Lake Wobegon EffectIdentify a douglas fir: showing a douglas fir cone with it's 3 pointed mini-leaves named Dougie, Douglas and DougIdentify a Douglas firAn explanation of the plimsoll line, the international load line, for how high a ship sits in the waterThe Plimsoll lineThe Stroop testWhat is the Betty Crocker effect explained with an illustration about adding an eggThe Betty Crocker EffectWhat is The Generalised Peter Principle explained: the example of an overloaded car shows that anything that works will be used in progressively more challenging situations until it failsThe Generalised Peter PrincipleMaslow’s Hierarchy of needsWhat is Hofstadter's Law quote explanation: It always takes longer than you expect, even when you account for Hofstadter’s Law.”Hofstadter’s LawLearn the Kano model

Suggest an idea