When meeting multiple people at once, I have personally found it useful to mentally alliterate physical features with names. So if I met Susan (below average height), Lisa (above average height), Bob (above average weight), Sam (below average weight) and Angie (high sharp cheek bones and a very tapered face) I might mentally tag them
-Angular Angie
-Buoyant Bob
-Lengthy Lisa
-Short Susan
-Skinny Sam
When possible, I like to look for opposing pairs of features (short v tall etc.) as binaries seem easier to remember. Sometimes picking a descriptor that fits a binary and gives you alliteration forces you to reach for something that would be poor prose (the first choice to describe a tall person wouldn’t be lengthy).
Although not perfect by any means, I have found this to substantially increase my pickup of new names and my ability to match the name to the physical person using it.
Specifically, is there an encoding system one can apply in real time with usable results?
When meeting multiple people at once, I have personally found it useful to mentally alliterate physical features with names. So if I met Susan (below average height), Lisa (above average height), Bob (above average weight), Sam (below average weight) and Angie (high sharp cheek bones and a very tapered face) I might mentally tag them
-Angular Angie
-Buoyant Bob
-Lengthy Lisa
-Short Susan
-Skinny Sam
When possible, I like to look for opposing pairs of features (short v tall etc.) as binaries seem easier to remember. Sometimes picking a descriptor that fits a binary and gives you alliteration forces you to reach for something that would be poor prose (the first choice to describe a tall person wouldn’t be lengthy). Although not perfect by any means, I have found this to substantially increase my pickup of new names and my ability to match the name to the physical person using it.