Make Your Flip-charts Nicer

This is not a vanity post.

This has become a pattern over the last year: at each class I teach I'm approached by several people who say my flip-charts look very good.

To my eyes there are not. I know how I want them to be. And I'm very much off my personal goals. But I'm happy if this makes others happy. The secret is that is very easy and in this post I'd like to share several key advices how to make your flip-chart drawing look 5-x times better.

1. Put everything into boxes

Literally everything. Every statement, word, phrase, part of your drawing - put a simple black box around it. Is it that simple? Yes!

2. Color the background

Yes, color everything. But leave you boxed titles, key phrases and other drawings in white. The background will make the white elements highlighted, jumping off the image.

I use wax crayons for coloring background, I guess any others would work. But not the markers - the background colors should be lighter, so use some kinds of crayons.

You can also logically separate several parts of your image by putting them in different boxes and using different background coloring.

3. Add shadows

I'm using a gray bold marker to add the shadows under the boxes, on the figures and other elements.

I always do it on the right-bottom side, assuming the light is falling from top-left. There is a little trick though:

- for flat objects (like boxes) - add a shadow outside of the elements

- for 3-d objects (like people figures) - add a shadow on the elements.

4. Use markers whose chisel nibs are wedge-shaped

Yes, Sadly 99% of office markers have round edges. So get your own and carry them around.

This makes your font nicer. The same goes for the shadow markers - wedge-shaped edges are the must here.

Well, frankly speaking that's it. Take any of your sad-looking flip-chart drawing - add boxes, background and shadow and it will be 5-x times more attractive. I bet you.