Blog - Verbal to Visual

Forest Bathing (Explained Visually)

“Forest Bathing.” Have you heard of it? Before you roll your eyes, hear me out. We all know that spending time in nature is good for us. But you might …

The Purged: Recklessly Abandoning Civil Service Members

Civil service has got a bad rap lately. So much so that the President deemed it necessary to create the Department of Government Efficiency, which took on a campaign that …

Where Will the Money Go? (Overpaid CEO Tax)

If Los Angeles manages to pass the Overpaid CEO Tax, which I explained in my last video, where will the money go? That’s a question that many of you had, …

The Overpaid CEO Tax (Explained Visually)

There’s an interesting showdown happening right now between the city of Los Angeles and mega corporations like Starbucks. It has to do with how much a barista is paid compared …

How Mark Rober is Solving the Science Motivation Gap

In his new TED Talk, Mark Rober outlines the $60 million science experiment he is conducting. Here I’d like to share my visual notes of that talk. A Visceral Opening …

A hand-drawn sketchnote in a spiral-bound notebook titled "How to Evaluate New Technologies." At the top, a stick figure with closed eyes has three connected thought bubbles asking: "Wait, WHY am I doing this?", "What's my desired OUTCOME?", and "What are my OPTIONS for getting there?" Below, a horizontal spectrum runs from "Labor-Saving Devices" on the left to "Capacity-Creating Devices" on the right. Along the spectrum are sketches of a vacuum cleaner, an egg beater, and a robot labeled "AI." Under labor-saving devices: "Reduce time and effort needed" and "Don't impose new tasks." Under capacity-creating devices: "Do something you couldn't before" and "Added overhead tax." A hand holding a pen is visible on the right side of the frame, mid-sketch.

AI Adoption: Wait, why am I doing this?

In a recent episode of her podcast What Works, host Tara McMullin encourages us to ask this question much more often: Wait, why am I doing this? Especially when it …

Why I’m Moving from Subscriptions to Ownership

Two questions have collided in my world recently, related to the work that I do here at Verbal to Visual and the future of this project. The first question: How …

A hand-drawn sketchnote titled 'Movement Breaks' summarizing a TED Talk by Manoush Zomorodi. At the center, a stick figure sits hunched at a desk staring at a computer screen, with labels pointing out the problems: kinked arteries, bad blood flow, shallow breathing, and interoception interrupted. Below the figure is the question 'Where did all my energy go?' Surrounding the central image are sketched solutions: a figure marching in place, a person going for a stroll with a sun overhead and the note 'bonus points if outside,' and a figure dancing labeled 'dance party.' In the upper portion, a figure leaps upward with a list of benefits — mood, energy, focus, productivity — alongside a heart icon and the words 'overall health.' A clock in the lower right shows the recommended cadence: 5 minutes every 30 minutes. The bottom credits the talk to Manoush Zomorodi with 'Sketch by Doug Neill.' The Verbal to Visual website is noted in the upper right corner.

Sitting All Day Is Killing You: Visual Notes of Manoush Zomorodi’s TED Talk

Here’s what the typical workday looks like for most of us, most of the time. As Manoush Zomorodi tells us in her TED Talk, we spend our days typing, swiping, …

Building Bridges in Your Notes

A visual note is more than just a record of what you read or heard. It’s a node in your personal knowledge network. When you’re sketching out ideas from a …

Hand-drawn sketchnote summarizing the TED talk 'Where Joy Hides and How to Find It' by Ingrid Fetell Lee, dated April 2018, sketched by Doug Neill. The layout includes a cluster of colorful balloons labeled with the aesthetics of joy: round, color, symmetry, abundance, lightness, and elevation. In the center, a stick figure jumps with arms raised saying 'Yipee!' next to the label 'Me after filling a page,' with joy defined below as 'an intense momentary experience of positive emotion' highlighted in pink. To the right, a tree full of round fruit illustrates the evolutionary roots of joy — round equals safe, sharp equals danger. Along the bottom, a pink paint can labeled 'Offices' connects to the outcomes more alert, more confident, and friendlier, while an orange paint can labeled 'Schools' connects to improved attendance, graffiti gone, and kids feel safer. In the bottom right corner, the takeaway reads 'Don't chase happiness, embrace joy' highlighted in green, with the URL www.verbaltovisual.com beneath it.

The Aesthetics of Joy: Visual Notes of Ingrid Fetell Lee’s TED Talk

In the video above and article below, I’d like to share my visual notes of Ingrid Fetell Lee’s TED talk titled Where Joy Hides and How to Find It. After …