Lee LeFever of Common Craft - SE09 / EP01

We kick off season 9 with with Lee LeFever, co-founder of Common Craft, the pioneers of the explainer video and author of 2 great books. Lee and I talk about the process they follow at Common Craft, sharing their philosophy as well as tips and tricks.

We also discuss Lee’s two books: The Art of Explanation and his latest book, Big Enough, with discussion about constraints fueling creativity and building a business to suit your life rather than the other way around.

You’re going to love this episode!

SPONSORED BY

This episode of the Sketchnote Army Podcast is brought to you by The Sketchnote Lettering Live Workshop Replay.

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This session includes a Q&A portion where I answer student questions and downloadable PDF reference and practice sheets so you can follow along.

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RUNNING ORDER

• Intro: Who is Lee?
• Lee’s origin story with explainer videos
• The value of partnering with others
• How Common Craft operates now
• Valuing clear, interesting, surprising information
• Importance of writing in Lee’s creative process
• Using story to share principles in a clear way
• The Common Craft process
• Book: The Art of Explanation
• How embracing constraints liberates you
• Book: Big Enough
• Quality of life defining success
• The importance of sustainability
• Productivity culture
• How the pandemic changed time perceptions
• Time is the new wealth
• Tools
• Handwriting thank you notes
• 3 tips
• Outro

LINKS

• Lee’s website
• Common Craft Website
• About Common Craft
• Common Craft Membership
• Lee on Twitter
• Lee on Instagram
• Lee on LinkedIn
• Book: The Art of Explanation
• Book: Big Enough
• Disinformation Explainer Video
• Feynman Technique

TOOLS

• Autodesk Sketchbook
• Microsoft PowerPoint
• Apple Keynote
• Wacom Cintiq
• Blue Yeti Microphone

3 TIPS

1. Think about learning as a semantic tree: focus on the trunk first
2. Writing an explanation is a great way to start: Feynman Technique
3. Explanation is like subjective comedy: know your audience

CREDITS

• Producer: Alec Pulianas
• Theme music: Jon Schiedermayer

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