Like all definitions, they can really vary from person to person so I’m going to give what I think they mean.
I see this as what artists do when they create a rough drawing of something that they intend to develop into a final piece of art. This could be a sculture, a painting or something else.
This concept could also apply to what I do with sketchnoting. I create rough notes while watching a talk before adapting them into sketchnotes. These rough notes are like a sketch of a talk. Its rough, incomplete, and not intended to be seen by anyone other than myself.
You didn’t ask for a definition of notes, but I will provide this because I think it will help me explain what sketchnoting is better. Notes are brief ideas written down to help jog someones memory.
A sketchnotes are like notes, brief and designed to jog someones memory. However, they are combined with additional pictures, colours and diagrams (visual sketches). These additions improve the aesthetics of the notes, and makes it easier to recall the original details.
I’ve never really used this term before, however I think in terms of sketchnoting it could be referring to someone writing down information they have gathered from an event.
- Visual Facilitation, Graphic Recording, Visual Recording
I would personally put all these into the same category, and be similar to sketchnoting. However, I’d see them as being more formal, neater and better designed than sketchnotes. They are less brief than notes, more time might be put into the final picture, and they are better targeted to the audience they have been created for and therefore more likely to lead towards a specific goal.
Someone running a meeting or event might use visual facilitation to demonstrate a specific idea.
A person attending that meeting or event will use sketchnotes to demonstrate their interpretation of that idea and help them recall the idea at a later date.