This document discusses Leonardo da Vinci's journaling process and provides examples from his journals. Some key points: - Da Vinci wrote over 13,000 pages of notes and diagrams in his journals, clustering ideas and observations. He made drawings of topics like the human arm without outlines or lists. - His journal pages were always fully used, with ideas revisited and refined over time. Da Vinci would add detailed text notes and observations to his drawings. - Da Vinci's journaling method resembled an early form of the Cornell note-taking system, with distinct areas for notes, references, and summaries.

1. By: Brian Sullivan
Open Camp Conference

2. Da Vinci’s Journals
• Da Vinci wrote over
13,000 pages of notes
and visual diagrams in
his journals
• Da Vinci clustered his
ideas into drawings and
observations
• This page is Da Vinci’s
observations of the arm

3. Creativity Must Be Unstructured
• Da Vinci’s writings are
idea journals based
on what inspired him,
daily observations
• Ideas were sketched
with notes. No roman
numerals or bulleted
lists (aka this preso)

4. Start from the Inside Out
• Da Vinci scholars
suggest he sketched
his main topic in the
center of the page
• Journal page starts as
pictures without
text

5. Add Text Descriptions to Pictures
• Da Vinci would add
detailed notes and
observations to his
illustrative ideas
• Da Vinci did purposely
use different colors
of text for his notes

6. Cover the Entire Page
• Da Vinci’s journal pages
were always full.
• Scholarship indicates
that he revisited and
refined ideas
• Da Vinci captured
and refreshed ideas

7. Manage Space in a Scalable Manner
• Da Vinci used an early
form of the Cornell
Method of notetaking
• You will frequently see
distinct areas:
1. notetaking
2. quick reference
3. summary footer

8. Example of Cornell Method Page
• In this example, we see
a complicated idea
for military ladder.
• We see the drawing
in a specific area with
notes in another area
and cross-reference
in a footer area

9. Idea Journals are Like Mind Maps
Mind Map of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” (courtesy of Mappio)

10. Da Vinci Foresaw Many Things
• Da Vinci is known as
both an artist and a
scientist.
• He foresaw:
- Helicopter
- Tank
- Parachute
- Solar Power
- Cardiovascular disease
- Airplanes

11. Leonardo’s Bridge to Nowhere
• In 1502, Da Vinci
sketched an idea for
bridge for the Sultan
of Istanbul.
• The bridge was never
built because the
Sultan’s engineers
deemed it unstable.

12. Leonardo’s Bridge Built in
• In 2006, Turkey completed the
Leonardo Da Vinci
Bridge, which is a scaled-
down version with a 300-feet
span and total length of
400 feet.
• Da Vinci was right the classic
keystone arch could be
stretched narrow and
widened without losing
integrity.

13. Imagine the Journals as Blogs

14. Imagine Blogs as Da Vinci Journals

15. Imagine Da Vinci’s Indexing

16. Imagine Da Vinci Storing Pics

17. Imagine Da Vinci’s Videos

18. For Da Vinci—Ideas, Then Journal

19. For You, Ideas, Journal, Then Blog

20. Bravo, Gratzi, QA