# [[Live - How to Sketch Your Mind in Obsidian and more, with Zsolt Viczián]] <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3uIeSIFWx0w" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe> Related:: "[[Zsolt Viczián]], [[Visual Thinking]], [[Visual Thinking Workshop]], [[Sketch Your Mind]]" ## Titles - visual thinking in Obsidian (46) - visual system in obsidian (34) - obsidian excalidraw (39) - thinking visually in obsidian (33) - sketch your mind (80) - sketch your mind in obsidian (47) - visual pkm (55) - how to sketch your mind (90) ## Topics - Introductions - How visual are our PKMs right now? - Me - 1562 Obsidian Excalidraw drawings (700 last year) - Sample notes: [[LogQL]], [[PKM Summit 2024]] - Zsolt - Visual daily notes in Obsidian Excalidraw - - *Why*? When was the first time you started thinking about how to create a visuals-first PKM system? How did you develop that? - What are the problems of traditional PKMs? (3D PKMs) - "Text and visuals are equal partners" - [[Fast Thinking]] vs [[Slow Thinking]] - Expressing an idea helps you clarify it - "When we draw, we're not just representing thought; we're *performing* it." - Cognitive offloading - https://app.excalidraw.com/l/Acz70Lm2z4O/1ZBGNd052xy - Spatial rather than linear connections - Navigation: folders and tags aren't enough - What's a 4D PKM? What are the four dimensions? - How to get started creating a 4D PKM - Create visuals for concepts: Evolve doodles into reusable lego blocks - Use constraints: card forcing function - Standardize sizes and colors - Consistent visual language - Make it modular - Create connections - Iterate - Make stuff - Tools - What tools do you use or recommend for visual PKMs? - [[Hybrid notes]] - What if you can't draw? - Analog vs. digital? - Tips for creating visuals - Clarifying the core concept/message - Experiment with symbols, metaphors, analogies - Pick the best visual framework for your idea (contrast and opposition, metaphors, process-based, scene-based, single-image-based) - Leverage inspiration, but build your own visual system ([[Flaticon]], [[The Noun Project]], Google images) - Create a "curated visual vocabulary" (Zsolt has one of 620 handpicked visuals) - Creating connections - Mind maps - ExcaliBrain? - Idea integration board: a virtual thinking space - Like a [[Map of Content]] but for visuals - Using the same "vocabulary" of icons creates links between them that you can always traverse like you would textual ones - Iterate - Creating landmarks: emojis ([[Supercharged Links plugin]] + [[Style Settings plugin]]?) - [[LATCH approach for PKM metadata]] - [[The Idea Compass]] ([[Vicky Zhao]] and [[Fei-Ling Tseng]]) - North (parent ideas) - South (child ideas) - West (similar ideas) - East (competing ideas) - After action review (AAR) - Reflect - Adjust - Learn - Serendipity Machine - [[Double-bubble Map]] - Publishing. How do you publish your drawings? (Show [Zsolt's blog](https://excalidraw-obsidian.online/)) - [[Learning in public]] with the book itself - [[Observability]] - [[Iterative and incremental work]] ("Think in spirals") - [[Artificial Intelligence|AI]] use in creating this book! - Visual Zettelkasten - based on "main notes" ([[Bob Doto]], [[A System for Writing]]) - How do you create a visual ZK? Are there any differences or special considerations? - Storyboards - like Book on a Page - are like permanent notes - In what ways does your personal PKM deviate from ZK? - Multimodal thinking - What's *one* small thing that people could do to get started with creating a visuals-first PKM today? - Next week... ## Timestamps 00:00:00 Introductions 00:03:17 How visual are our Obsidian vaults? 00:08:27 Why did you get into visual thinking? 00:18:26 High-level overview of Zsolt's book 00:23:48 Demo - hybrid notes 00:28:20 Question - Animation in Obsidian Excalidraw? 00:30:44 Question - Eisenhower Matrix and other visual frameworks 00:37:12 Adding structure to visuals 00:50:00 Question - Choosing the right images 00:53:11 Building a visual Zettelkasten 01:00:28 What's one small step someone can take towards creating a visual Zettelkasten? ## References ## Checklist ### Way before the show - [ ] Create a thumbnail. - [ ] Schedule the broadcast on Streamyard, and select YouTube, LinkedIn, and Twitch as the destinations. - [ ] Get the Streamyard invite link and put it in the "location" of the calendar invite to the guest. - [ ] Get the YouTube link to the show. - [ ] Schedule announcement on Mastodon. - [ ] Schedule a Mastodon post for when the show is live to say "We're live now!". ### Just before the show - [x] How do you pronounce your name? ✅ 2025-06-18 - [ ] What are your pronouns? - [x] We will be using the talking points, but we don't have to be strict about it. ✅ 2025-06-18 - [x] Does anyone want to share their screen? We can do that now, and I can show you how that works. ✅ 2025-06-18 - [x] We'll be streaming to YouTube live. ✅ 2025-06-18 - [x] You'll be able to see comments, but if you have links, I have to paste it into the private chat. ✅ 2025-06-18 - [x] You can also use the private chat if you need to say something, but you can also just say it out loud. ✅ 2025-06-18 - [x] Afterwards, we'll say goodbye to the stream, but please stay on past that. ✅ 2025-06-18 - [x] Just in case I disconnect... stall for a minute and I'll be right back. ✅ 2025-06-18 ### After the show - [ ] Order captions from Rev. - [ ] Add timestamps to the video (at least four). - [ ] Add any links shared to the description of the video. - [ ] Add the video to any relevant playlists. - [ ] Add to [video-database](obsidian://open?vault=obsidian-playbook&file=video-database%2FVideo%20database) or vault as necessary. - [ ] Create a blog post on [site](https://nicolevanderhoeven.com). - [ ] Promote on Discord (NVDH).