We've been huge fans of Mike Rohde's work for a long time (so much so that we asked him to design the art for the 2009 Interactive Big Bag), and are happy to tell you about his Sketchnotes of SXSW Interactive 2009 iPhone App. Developed by Mark Carpenter of Six Voices, the Sketchnotes of SXSW Interactive 2009 iPhone App allows users to view Mike's sketchnotes of the 2009 event. We recently had the chance to interview Mike over email about the app, which you can read below:

Were you thinking about a potential iPhone app when you drew this stuff in March 2009? Does the iPhone interface potentially alter your style of drawing?

As a matter of fact, I wasn't thinking of an iPhone app at all!

My thoughts had been focused on creating a printed book of my sketchnotes, when I was contacted by Mark Carpenter from SixVoices about creating an iPhone app. Mark showed me the Tapstack app catalog and I was sold on the idea. I'm still exploring some kind of book of my entire catalog of sketchnotes — the SXSW iPhone app just happened to get published first.

I created a set of sketchnotes, optimized for iPhone-sized cards and worked with SixVoices to develop and test the application. It has been a long, fascinating and satisfying path, releasing a sketchnotes application for the iPhone.

The reception to the app has been great. People really seem to like having a set of my sketchnotes in their pocket. I'm hoping to share the app with even more people as SXSW 2010 approaches.

Who is your target audience for this app? SXSW veterans or folks who have never been to the event? Or both?

We're interested in a spectrum of people, including hard-core SXSW veterans, folks who may have attended a this year and are pondering a return in 2010 and even those who may not have attended SXSW but are curious.

I love that the SXSW Interactive sketchnotes have relevance to the entire spectrum people we're targeting with the app. Veterans have a handy reference to the ideas presented at this year's festival and those new to SXSW Interactive can find interesting ideas, even if they have never been to the festival.

I was drawn to attend SXSW Interactive by listening to the freely available recorded podcasts, so I think in the same way, the sketchnotes app has potential to show valuable the panels at the festival are and encourage attendance.

What was your favorite drawing / sketch from the stuff you did at SXSW 2009?

My favorite was the opening sketch from "Freelance to Agency" with Jeffrey Zeldman, Roger Black, Whitney Hess and Kristina Halvorson. I'm especially fond of the curvy type on the opening page. For some reason that page always makes me smile.

You can see a photo of that sketchnote in progress, taken by my friend Derek Dysart at djdysart.com on Flickr.

How long does it take you to produce one of these drawings?

I create my sketchnotes live and in real-time, so each page varies in time it might take to create. However, I would estimate a single page of sketchnotes might take about 10-15 minutes on average. It depends greatly upon the speaker or panel and how dense or well communicated the content is.

As a visual artist, do you think you absorb the panel content in a different way than other SXSW attendees?

I think so. As I listen to panel presentations, I often see images in my head and try to capture those on paper, and for me, representing a talk in typography feels like the most natural thing in the world to do. Of course I also write plain ol' text in my sketchnotes, so in some ways what I capture is not that terribly different, but in other ways it is.

Thanks so much for the interview. I really hope this application for the iPhone and iPod touch helps SXSW vets remember what they've learned. For those interested in attending SXSW but unsure, I hope the app gives them a glimpse into how much fun it is to be at the festival in person.

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You can download the Sketchnotes of SXSW Interactive 2009 iPhone app here.