Create notes that stand out. You need post-its (sticky notes) of any size you like. You need a fine tip black marker that does not smudge. You need a grey marker, preferably brush pen, but any other type would do. And you need an opaque white marker. Acrylic one will be a good choice.

How to create compelling post-it notes

Published in

graphicfacilitation

4 min readJul 17, 2019

Learn this simple technique to create post-it notes that really stand out

This technique is more of a gold-plating nature. You do not apply it when your goal is to capture ideas quickly, then you only use post-its and fine tip black markers. And you scribble things down fast, there is no time for aesthetics. But when you need to create sticky notes that stand out, the ones that will serve as powerful means for communication, then you need a different, more elaborate technique. And the one below is exactly what you need in such cases.

Materials you will need

This is how these markers behave when applied to the colourful paper of post-its.

You will need three types of markers for the technique:

Post-it sticky notes (or any other manufacturer) of various colours and sizes.
Black fine tip marker, preferably waterproof (so that it does not smudge). Sharpie markers are quite a popular choice.
Grey colour brush pen or felt tip marker.
White opaque marker that can create a solid white coating on top of a colourful background.

The markers shown on the photo are of Neuland brand and most often I use them. But you could use any other alternative as long as they provide similar experience.

The technique

The technique itself is quite simple and is applied in three steps.

Step 1. Draw and write the idea down using the black marker with a fine tip. Only use outlines for drawings, there is no need to overcomplicate the drawing, you will use the other two steps to add depth and edge to the visuals, later.

Step 2. Add shading for more depth. I usually pretend that the imaginable rays of light fall down from the top left corner — therefore I add shadows on the right side of drawings and to their bottom.

Step 3. Create glares with the opaque white marker. Do that by adding simple lines of white colour where you think the rays of light hit the drawn object first. There is no need to overdo this. Try to keep glares simple.

The final result might look something like this.

Examples

Let me share a few ideas how sticky notes created this way could be used and why.

Brainstorming session

When you ask people to generate a lot of ideas and capture them on a lot of sticky notes, usually you end up with a huge visual mess on a wall. Then you ask people to cluster similar ideas together to reveal patterns. You as a facilitator could create headline sticky notes for such clusters to help people navigate through the visual clutter. And it also helps if you use sticky notes of a bigger size:

You could create headers for the clusters using sticky notes created this way. It will make it much easier for people to navigate the visual clutter of brainstormed ideas on the wall.

Training situation

If you are delivering your trainings in a fully slide-less format (meaning there are no slides or presentations and you support all of your explanation as you draw things on flipcharts, whiteboards and other things) then you could augment your visual explanation by having certain elements pre-drawn on sticky notes. Later in the process when you need them to support your storytelling, you would just draw them out and map to your bigger picture you are currently explaining to your students:

In this case I used pre-drawn sticky notes with common anti-patterns. During a product ownership training I would first explain an overall product development lief-cycle and then I would show what might go wrong. And while I would be telling the story, I would map each anti-pattern sticky note one by one.

It could be anything

For example, I used this technique when I brainstormed elements of the new explanation video we were discussing with my colleague. I did so because I was not in a rush and I wanted to play-test some of the potential characters for the video:

Brainstorming elements of a new video explanation around complexity and a culture shift experienced by employees.

I used this technique a lot for the hand-drawn video explanation because I needed sticky notes to be clearly visible in the final video material:

I would be interested to know how you used the technique if you liked it.

Thanks for reading this piece. I am an agile coach, product owner and a visual thinker living in Copenhagen, Denmark. I blog on visual thinking and share my random agile thoughts, if you want to read more. You can get in touch with me via my Instagram account or on Twitter. All the best!