Sketch Notes, a Non-traditional Way for User Researchers to Take Notes

Abstract

The User Experience (UX) research team at Liberty Mutual Insurance has implemented a new method of taking notes and sharing notes with the team, Sketch notes. The purpose of Sketch notes is to accurately convey meaning at a glance and facilitate visual memory during collaborative analysis and insight-driven workshop activities. Sketch notes are a condensed visual map of what recruited participants share with the product team in an interview session or a usability test. In the first section, we explain why note-taking is an important part of the work of user researchers. Next, we review the note-taking methods that we use at Liberty Mutual and their advantages and drawbacks. In the third section, we introduce Sketch notes and explain how both the literature and its successful deployment at Liberty Mutual Insurance support this approach.