Blog - Verbal to Visual

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 …

The Art of Visual Thinking (Sustainable Ambition Podcast)

Two years ago I had a conversation with Kathy Oneto on her Sustainable Ambition podcast, and after some recent interactions related to the release of her new book, I’m excited …

Doug Neill standing in front of bookshelves, holding a marker toward the camera with one hand and gesturing openly with the other. Hand-drawn white text surrounds him reading 'Design Your Learning Arena' with playful arrows pointing outward in all directions.

Design Your Learning Arena – Upcoming Visual Thinking Events (May 2026)

In this post I’d like to share with you what’s going on inside of Verbal to Visual throughout May of 2026. I’m trying some new things this month that I’m …

A collection of filled black sketchbooks held up by two hands, each labeled on the cover with white hand-lettered text listing their contents — including Sketchnote Handbook Notes, Buddhism, Hugh MacLeod & Gary Vee, Courage 2 Teach, Sketchnote Skill-Building Notebook, and Tim Ferriss on Fear-Setting.

Fill Your Sketchbooks

There’s a classic study from a college pottery class that I think about often. One group of students was told to make the best pot they could over the course …

A hand-drawn sketchnote titled 'Environment Design for Visual Thinkers' showing a stick figure at the center with arrows pointing outward toward different workstations. On the left, a desk with a flip chart on the wall is labeled 'Think Three-Dimensionally.' Above, a figure sitting cross-legged reading is labeled 'Follow Your Energy.' On the right, a desk with a monitor and camera setup is labeled 'Lower the...' with the sketch still in progress. A marker and lightbulb icon frame the title at the top.

6 Principles for Designing a Visual Thinking Space

Later this year, I’m going to be building a new office from the ground up on our two-acre property just outside of Eugene, Oregon. That has got me thinking about …

The book Sustainable Ambition by Kathy Oneto resting on a large hand-drawn sketchnote featuring visual thinking diagrams from the book, with a black Sakura Permapaque marker beside it.

Sustainable Ambition by Kathy Oneto – A Visual Summary

A visual book summary of Sustainable Ambition by Kathy Oneto. Here’s a sentence I didn’t know I needed to hear: You can be a deeply ambitious person and be done …

A three-panel image of Doug Neill in a gray sweatshirt at a white desk. In the left panel, he holds up a pen and looks at the camera. In the middle panel, he leans over the desk sketching on paper surrounded by hand-drawn visual notes. In the right panel, he holds up a small card with the hand-lettered words "Environment Design for Visual Thinkers.

When Your Brain Has Too Many Tabs Open

Do you ever feel like your mind is running on seven different tracks at once? Multiple thoughts competing for attention, all running in parallel. It’s exhausting. And it’s hard to …

Improving Cornell Notes with Sketchnoting Techniques

Today we’re going to explore how to merge two different note-taking processes — the Cornell Method and sketchnoting. Let’s get into it. The Standard Cornell Method Let’s start with what …

Three of My Favorite Visual Thinking Tools

One of the questions I get asked most often is what tools I use for my visual thinking work. So I thought I’d share three of my favorites — a …