Sketchplanations - A weekly explanation in a sketch

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Explaining the world one sketch at a time

Animals that regenerate

While our bodies will generally make light work of repairing a cut in our skin or even healing a bone, some animals are able to go much further. Deer and moose antlers are grown and shed each year at significant cost—a moose may have antlers that spread six feet and weigh upward of 40 pounds. An axolotl can regenerate entire limbs, and a lizard a whole tail. A flatworm can survive being cut in two, with the back half even regrowing a head and brain. And in one of the most striking examples, sea stars are able, in many cases, to regrow a lost limb, and in some species, a lost limb contains everything it needs to regenerate a new body. Incredible. This sketch appears in my book Big Ideas Little Pictures…While our bodies will generally make light work of repairing a cut in our skin or even healing a bone, some animals are able to go much further. Deer and moose antlers are grown and shed each year at significant cost—a moose may have antlers that spread six feet and weigh upward of 40 pounds. An axolotl can regenerate entire limbs, and a lizard a whole tail. A flatworm can survive being cut in two, with the back half even regrowing a head and brain. And in one of the most striking examples, sea stars are able, in many cases, to regrow a lost limb, and in some species, a lost limb contains everything it needs to regenerate a new body. Incredible. This sketch appears in my book Big Ideas Little Pictures

9 Dec 2015

Homo sapiens. Our place in the order of things

animalia not a plant chordata backbone of sorts mammalia warm blood, fur, milk, birth primates humans, monkeys, apes hominidae great apes homo man sapiens wise…

2 Dec 2015

Bycatch

Bycatch is other stuff you caught when trying to catch something else. Bycatch makes me sad. Any fish or sea creatures can be caught unintentionally during fishing, and it also affects larger animals such as sharks, turtles and of course dolphins. When learning from a whale shark expert on the island of Utila in Honduras he told us one of the simplest ways to help is to give up eating prawns. As London’s Maritime Museum puts it: “For every kilo of tropical prawns you buy, 15 kilos of unwanted sea-life may be thrown back dead as ‘by-catch’. Trawling for prawns can also trap turtles, unless a special device keeps them out of the nets. Farming prawns is often no better, since mangrove swamps may be destroyed to make room for prawn ponds.” Prawns are particularly bad as they are often caught with bottom trawling. I once read a description of it as wanting to catch a cow, and choosing to drag a net by helicopter over the entire farm, and so also catch the tree in the garden, the dog, the pigs and the farmer’s wife in the process. So we gave up prawns. Sadly. Check out the WWF bycatch page for more including a bottom trawler in action.…Bycatch is other stuff you caught when trying to catch something else. Bycatch makes me sad. Any fish or sea creatures can be caught unintentionally during fishing, and it also affects larger animals such as sharks, turtles and of course dolphins. When learning from a whale shark expert on the island of Utila in Honduras he told us one of the simplest ways to help is to give up eating prawns. As London’s Maritime Museum puts it: “For every kilo of tropical prawns you buy, 15 kilos of unwanted sea-life may be thrown back dead as ‘by-catch’. Trawling for prawns can also trap turtles, unless a special device keeps them out of the nets. Farming prawns is often no better, since mangrove swamps may be destroyed to make room for prawn ponds.” Prawns are particularly bad as they are often caught with bottom trawling. I once read a description of it as wanting to catch a cow, and choosing to drag a net by helicopter over the entire farm, and so also catch the tree in the garden, the dog, the pigs and the farmer’s wife in the process. So we gave up prawns. Sadly. Check out the WWF bycatch page for more including a bottom trawler in action.

25 Nov 2015

Ape index

The length of your arms relative to your height. Typically: ape index = arm span / height Da Vinci’s classic Vitruvian man has an arm span equal to his height and therefore an ape index of 1. An ape index greater than 1 (arm span longer than height) seems to be helpful for rock climbers, swimmers (Michael Phelps = 1.06), boxers, professional basketball and goalkeeping. It’s also known as the gorilla index though I couldn’t actually find a measure for gorillas remarkably. A quick calculation shows for an average male gorilla at 1.75m tall and arm span of 2.45m that the gorilla index for a real gorilla would be = 2.45 / 1.75 = 1.4. I’d definitely fancy the gorilla in rock-climbing and boxing… It’s sometimes calculated as arm span minus height, that would give gorillas a ridiculous: +70 I have not been able to figure out if your ape index changes from a child to adult though it seems like it might. Quite fun to measure your own… HT: Si Wannop…The length of your arms relative to your height. Typically: ape index = arm span / height Da Vinci’s classic Vitruvian man has an arm span equal to his height and therefore an ape index of 1. An ape index greater than 1 (arm span longer than height) seems to be helpful for rock climbers, swimmers (Michael Phelps = 1.06), boxers, professional basketball and goalkeeping. It’s also known as the gorilla index though I couldn’t actually find a measure for gorillas remarkably. A quick calculation shows for an average male gorilla at 1.75m tall and arm span of 2.45m that the gorilla index for a real gorilla would be = 2.45 / 1.75 = 1.4. I’d definitely fancy the gorilla in rock-climbing and boxing… It’s sometimes calculated as arm span minus height, that would give gorillas a ridiculous: +70 I have not been able to figure out if your ape index changes from a child to adult though it seems like it might. Quite fun to measure your own… HT: Si Wannop

18 Nov 2015

The Big Ideal ™

A model from Ogilvy and Mather that’s a really interesting way to get to the heart of what could make your brand thrive. The intersection between what people care about (a cultural tension) and what you could be famous as a business (your brand’s best self) is a recipe for doing something good that matters. Try starting from a question: “The world would be a better place if…” and see where you get to. I learned it from Carl Mesner Lyons. Check out The Big IdeaL on Ogilvy and Mather for more.…A model from Ogilvy and Mather that’s a really interesting way to get to the heart of what could make your brand thrive. The intersection between what people care about (a cultural tension) and what you could be famous as a business (your brand’s best self) is a recipe for doing something good that matters. Try starting from a question: “The world would be a better place if…” and see where you get to. I learned it from Carl Mesner Lyons. Check out The Big IdeaL on Ogilvy and Mather for more.

12 Nov 2015

Benefits to you from getting started

Alternatives researched, well qualified, books bought and read, desk clean, no disruptions, sitting comfortably, inbox cleared, coffee in hand, ready to get started? It’s easy to be paralyzed by choices, unsure of our expertise, gnawed by doubt and uncertain if we’re ready to give something a go. For many of us, the threshold is high to get started on the projects in our heads, the actions to improve our finances or the exercise we plan to do. It’s so easy to think we’re not ready. Here’s the actor Hugh Laurie with one of my favourite pieces of advice: “It’s a terrible thing, I think, in life to wait until you’re ready. I have this feeling now that, actually, no one is ever ready to do anything. There is almost no such thing as ready. There is only now. And you may as well do it now. Generally speaking, now is as good a time as any.” — Hugh Laurie Getting started allows us to start learning. Sure, our first steps might be the wrong ones, but in starting, we soon find the right ones. This sketch is in the style of the financial advisor Carl Richards who publishes at behaviorgap.com. His simple, minimalist drawings do a great job of hitting home a point, and he also shares the wise advice: “The only mistake you can make when it comes to financial planning is doing nothing.” When I worked as head of user experience and design at Nutmeg I saw, time and again, that the largest mistake people made with their finances was putting it off and, ultimately, doing nothing. Worried about making a hash of something? Don’t worry. The first draft is always perfect. Here are more of my sketches with my thoughts on getting started. This sketch was revised (see original) for the book Big Ideas Little Pictures.…Alternatives researched, well qualified, books bought and read, desk clean, no disruptions, sitting comfortably, inbox cleared, coffee in hand, ready to get started? It’s easy to be paralyzed by choices, unsure of our expertise, gnawed by doubt and uncertain if we’re ready to give something a go. For many of us, the threshold is high to get started on the projects in our heads, the actions to improve our finances or the exercise we plan to do. It’s so easy to think we’re not ready. Here’s the actor Hugh Laurie with one of my favourite pieces of advice: “It’s a terrible thing, I think, in life to wait until you’re ready. I have this feeling now that, actually, no one is ever ready to do anything. There is almost no such thing as ready. There is only now. And you may as well do it now. Generally speaking, now is as good a time as any.” — Hugh Laurie Getting started allows us to start learning. Sure, our first steps might be the wrong ones, but in starting, we soon find the right ones. This sketch is in the style of the financial advisor Carl Richards who publishes at behaviorgap.com. His simple, minimalist drawings do a great job of hitting home a point, and he also shares the wise advice: “The only mistake you can make when it comes to financial planning is doing nothing.” When I worked as head of user experience and design at Nutmeg I saw, time and again, that the largest mistake people made with their finances was putting it off and, ultimately, doing nothing. Worried about making a hash of something? Don’t worry. The first draft is always perfect. Here are more of my sketches with my thoughts on getting started. This sketch was revised (see original) for the book Big Ideas Little Pictures.

4 Nov 2015

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