Sketchplanations - The Podcast

So much we didn't know about the wonderful world of plants. In this compilation, double-header episode discussing some of Jono's sketches that cover fascinating elements of botany, we are joined by 2-time gold medal winner at the world famous Chelsea Flower Show, author of 6 best-selling books, and ambassador for Kew Gardens; celebrated botanist, James Wong. Rather than edit out a tonne of insight...

So much we didn't know about the wonderful world of plants. In this compilation, double-header episode discussing some of Jono's sketches that cover fascinating elements of botany, we are joined by 2-time gold medal winner at the world famous Chelsea Flower Show, author of 6 best-selling books, and ambassador for Kew Gardens; celebrated botanist, James Wong. Rather than edit out a tonne of insight...

The three of us are tired of being misunderstood when we've used the words "biweekly", "bimonthly" and "biannually". It's just no fun. And so we're starting the campaign to ditch biweekly and use fortnightly instead. See sketch here. Try it out. You won't regret it. Our discussion turns to the general ambiguity of language and how in many senses it's quite a good thing. It allows for creative writ...

Do you work with data and statistics? Actually, it doesn't matter if you do or not, you're bound to have come across averages of some kind at some point. And, as we discuss in this episode, the average can often hide key information about a data set. We'd love to know your thoughts or experiences with Sneaky Averages. email us: hello@sketchplanations.com There's an old story about the statistician...

It can be uncomfortable to express opinions different from those of a group. Perhaps you remember that feeling when a teacher asked a question in class and if everyone raised their hand to one answer it wasn't always easy to be the only hand up for a different one. That's Groupthink! Do you remember the story of 12 Angry Men? How it took the resilience of one jury member to arrive at a correct ver...

Ah, that satisfying, superior, at once gleeful and slightly sinful feeling when the aggressive driver that overtook you gets their comeuppance and is flashed by a speed camera. Or when you find yourself laughing when a loved one falls over. #EpicFail comes to mind. This human experience can also be described as Schadenfreude, a nifty German word made up of  schaden  for damage, harm or h...

Are you a perfectionist? Do you identify as someone who regularly spends too much time on various projects or endeavours for the quality of output required? Yeah - you're not alone. This week we discuss the Law of Diminishing Returns and explore how prevalent it is across all our lives: professionally, academically, socially - it's everywhere. We try to identify various ways to know when enough is...

Wouldn't it be cool if we had an army of tiny people working together to help us get through the day? It might surprise you to know that Designers and Problem Solvers sometimes imagine this exact scenario to help them overcome creative challenges. "Smart Little People" is one of a number of tools from a design framework called TRIZ. In this episode, we talk about what TRIZ involves, and how Smart...

Why do we no longer get many bugs stuck to our windscreens? Why do police sirens sound different depending on whether they're approaching or moving away from us? And what is the car horn's intended purpose? Find the answer to all these questions and more in this compilation episode about cars, driving and life on the road. Find all the sketches referenced here: Passing on an inside Bend Marchetti'...

Much of something can be great. Too much can be a real burden. This week we talk about the 4 Pillars of Too Much - as explored by simplicity parenting , and it doesn't take us long to reveal that all 3 of us feel like we suffer from too much stuff, too much choice, too much information and things happening around us too fast. Is this the modern world we live in? Or a world we've created ourselves?...

In his research, biological anthropologist Robin Dunbar poses that the typical number of people we can keep meaningful relationships with sits at around 150, and that this number is limited by the size of our brains. We discuss how it applies to us, if social media has impacted it, what it means for businesses and if we should be influenced by it when writing wedding invites or christmas cards...!...

When it comes to holidays, or nights out, or relationships even; it can often be the peak moments of emotional intensity and the very end of an experience that we filter in our memories to form our lasting impressions. It's called The Peak-End Rule. And guess what - Jono's done a sketch on it. The experience or event that we remember through the Peak-End filter can be short or long, it can be good...

This week, we invite expert, Nancy Hey to talk us through the 5 simple, evidence-based ways to actively improve our mental wellbeing. Suggestions for actions we can all integrate into our lives to try and take a holistic approach to improving our mental capacity and wellbeing. Do you have any additional suggestions or things that work for you? Let us know at hello@sketchplanations.com or by leavin...

What's your relationship with language? If you're interested in quirky words, linguistic devices and grammar, then there'll be lots in this week's episode for you. It's another BUMPER PACK QuickFire Round. Every day's a school day! But we promise you won't get told off if you haven't done your homework. In order of appearance: 1/. Kaffikok 2/. Advise vs Advice 3/. Affect vs Effect 4/. Pleonasm 5/....

It’s easy to think “it’s just a few minutes.” But as the number of people that you hold up increases, the true cost of being late scales rapidly. This week we discuss our relationships with time-keeping and explore how the impacts can be much bigger than you might first think. What's your relationship with punctuality? We'd love to hear from you. Let us know at hello@sketchplanations.com or by lea...

It was a surprise to me to learn that our senses interact with each other a lot more than I thought to give our perception of the world around us and in particular the things we eat and drink. So many fascinating examples and intriguing research conducted in this area. See Jono's sketch of Crossmodal Perception here . We also mentioned Jono's proprioception sketch . Here's the YouTube video of the...

When it comes to the crunch, if there's something important at stake we'd all be tempted to consider gaming the system to hit our targets, wouldn't we? We explore the phenomenon of Goodhart's Law; which says that as soon as a measure of something becomes a target determining success or failure, it ceases to be a good measure of performance - because there's a high chance we'll find cheeky ways to...

Are you a fan of fun facts, startling figures and handy life hacks? Then this is the episode for you. This week we try out a new format - The BUMPER PACK QuickFire Round of our favourite Sketches that we've found to be remarkably surprising. In order of appearance: 1/. Moonpool 2/. Twit-Twoo 3/. Better To Be Interested Than Interesting 4/. Ordering Adjectives 5/. Ablaut Reduplication 6/. Bright Li...

Do scenario and surroundings affect the way you behave? We stretch the metaphor of Life As Theatre about as far as we can in this episode to explore just how different we act when the spotlight is either on or off of us. If not already visible as the artwork for this episode, check out Jono's sketch here: https://sketchplanations.com/front-stage-back-stage Let us know how your stories of Front and...

We discuss that in order to be powerful and in control of a situation, it first helps to be accountable. Behaviours like blame, or making excuses only leave you with a victim mindset - which isn't usually very productive. Jono references another of his sketches: Reasons Stop Mattering Have you had experiences of when being accountable, no matter how difficult the situation, have resulted in positi...

We discuss what the term Fungible means and discover that the difference between fungible and non-fungible isn't always black and white. Is there perhaps something you deem fungible that other don't; or vice versa? Let us know by emailing hello@sketchplanations.com or leave us comments and messages for this episode on Instagram or Twitter . You can find all three of us on Social Media here too: Jo...

We discuss how Optimism Bias has allowed us to take chances, grasp opportunities and be bold in life. We also discuss how at times, it's nearly killed us! We'd love to hear your experiences of when being optimistic has really worked out for you, or not... You can send us an email to hello@sketchplanations.com or leave us comments and messages for this episode on Instagram or Twitter . You can find...

When is the best time to start something you know you want to do, but might have been putting off for a while? The best answer to that is possibly; Now. Like, right now! But if you need a bit more of a kick to get going, why not tie it in with the start of something else? Like the start of the day, or the start of the week, or the month or the year? Jono references a different sketch in the podcas...

Are you someone who'll naturally fill a silence in a conversation to avoid feeling awkward? Rob is. Jono & Tommy not so much. We discuss how much more effective and open a conversation can be by not filling a silence. Jono references another of his sketches: Listen with Passion Let us know your thoughts on using silence in your interactions by sending us an email to hello@sketchplanations.com...

Are you guilty of Phubbing? Whether we admit it or not, mobile phones often disrupt our real, face-to-face interactions and in this episode we discuss what that means for society and what we can do to counteract the seduction of our screens. Tom references Mind Over Tech as helping him with his phone habits. Let us know your thoughts on Phubbing by leaving comments and messages for this episode on...