Monthly Archives: July 2021

Taking Notes

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Being able to listen, absorb, and process information during a lecture or conference is a valuable skill, one that can be practiced and cultivated by taking notes by hand. These notes can often be augmented with word diagrams and visual imagery that come to mind to reinforce points being made or expressing one’s understanding of what is being said. Here are a few pages of notes I took during a Design Communication Conference in 2018. See also my posts on 10.30.16 and 10.14.20 on the similar subject of taking visual notes. 

12th Anniversary Meet-Up of the Seattle Urban Sketchers

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It has been 12 years since Gabi Campanario, the Seattle Sketcher and founder of the urban sketching movement, organized the very first meet-up of Seattle urban sketchers. To mark this anniversary, the Seattle group met again this past Sunday at Fishermen’s Terminal. It was perhaps the largest gathering we’ve ever had.

Above are two drawings that I did on Sunday, both of which I composed to include the Fishermen’s Terminal sign and tower in the background of the fishing vessels.

Building Codes Illustrated, 7th Edition

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Even with the nice, sunny weather we’ve been having, there hasn’t been enough time to go out and capture scenes in and around Seattle. I’ve been busily working with Steve Winkel and editors from Wiley and the International Code Council on revising Building Codes Illustrated to incorporate the changes effected by the 2021 edition of the International Building Code. For example, the title page above reflects how the development of mass timber construction has led to the creation of new categories of Type IV construction.

This page illustrates the necessary provisions for accessible electric vehicle charging stations (EVCS).

This series of illustrations is an example of how the book attempts to explain in graphical terms the intent of code requirements. In this case, these graphics illuminate the theory underlying horizontal exits.

Note: All of the illustrations in BCI were created in Adobe Illustrator.

Powell’s City of Books

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This is the main entrance to Powell’s City of Books, the venerable bookstore in Portland, Oregon, founded in 1971 by Walter Powell. Billing itself as the world’s largest independent bookstore, it occupies an entire city block and contains over a million volumes of new and used books over 68,000 square feet of floor area.