Expanding access to visual thinking

Today, the creative arts industry is not as diverse as it should be. That goes against what we stand for at Ink Factory. Our vision is a world where visuals are the universal language. Achieving this means empowering everyone to better communicate through the awesome tool of drawing.

As part of our Racial Justice Initiative, we want to help people of color and marginalized communities explore their creativity and learn visual communication with as few barriers to entry as possible. One way we’re doing this is by offering free visual learning resources. In this one-hour Visual Thinking Basics workshop, participants learn the basics of drawing visual notes and how to apply them at school, at work, and at home.

This free workshop is a step towards more creative accessibility. Our team will be gathering input from participants in a post-workshop survey to help us determine what our next steps will be. Stay tuned!

We’re committed to making our industry more equitable and diverse. If you like to get involved in this effort, consider volunteering or making a donation to one of the many exceptional non-profits supporting racial justice. Two of our favorites are Embarc and YWCA. Read more about our racial justice initiative here.

About this workshop

Take your first step into the fundamental skills of visual note-taking! This workshop helps you learn how to organize your notes using color, visuals, and text. Co-founder Dusty and visual note-taker Sarah guide you through warm-up exercises culminating in a final exercise that combines everything you’ve learned throughout the hour.

You’ll leave this workshop with some new skills and tricks that you can use for anything from to-do lists, planning your week, homework assignments, and beyond.

Please note: There is an overlap in content between this workshop and our other workshops. We cover visual hierarchy, drawing icons, color, and composition. This is a mini, easier-to-digest version of our Visual Note-Taking 101 workshop.

Materials

We’ll be teaching this workshop with accessible materials in mind.

Something to draw on:

• Can be a sketchbook, or loose paper, but make sure you have a lot of blank pages to work with.
• The bigger, the better, but make sure your page is at least 8.5"x11.”

Something to draw with:

• A standard pencil and eraser
• A smaller, fine tip marker
• A larger, chisel tip marker
• A larger, bullet tip marker

Optional:

• Correction tape

Dry-erase boards will work well in place of paper, but make sure you have enough makers with plenty of ink.

If you have experience with and want to use a drawing tablet, you are welcome to, but know that we won’t be speaking about how to draw with or use a tablet.

Support

If you are experiencing technical difficulties, please email learn@inkfactorystudio.com.

Fill out this form to access the workshop for free: