A lot of the client illustration work I’ve done this year has been for Lenny’s newsletter, which is “a weekly advice column about product, growth, working with humans, and anything else that stresses you out at the office” with over 65,000 subscribers by Lenny Rachitsky. It’s been a lot of fun to work on.

Getting to draw as part of my research work always feels like a treat. Using visuals to tell a story, gather insights and share information is my happy place.

But it’s easy to forget to bring illustration into my research practice when the common standard is to focus facilitation and documentation around written work. So, I’ve put together a non-exhaustive list of ways that research can be visual.

I’ve enjoyed seeing all of the 2009/2019 side by sides people have been posting on Twitter as a way to welcome in the new year, and the new decade. But, I’m pretty camera shy. So instead, I wanted to try to flex by visual storytelling muscles and try to do my own illustrated versions of a side by side and some of the things I’ve learned in the in between.