Visual Thinking & Graphic Recording: One Main Image

Graphic recording involves taking notes with a lot of pictures. Sometimes, especially with shorter presentations, there's simply no time for a lot of pictures. A lot of pictures may not be needed, either. One large central image can be mighty powerful. And it may be all you need.

There's more than one picture in the graphic recording above. There are some musical notes, a couple of light bulbs, and some simple people at the bottom. Then there's a big face in the center, towards the top. Notice how that face really grabs your eye?

If you're pressed for time, pick one thing to draw. Draw it big and bold. That alone will make your notes or poster much more visual. That one drawing will catch people's eye and bring them into the content more than just words alone.

Visual Thinking & Drawing: Label It!

There's a huge difference between drawing to create great art and drawing to think or communicate better. But there's a lot of overlap, too.

Some of those overlaps have to do with the way the brain works. Like when it comes to labels and titles of things. Your brain likes to keep things neat and tidy, so it matches up new information with something similar it's already seen. That helps your brain to keep track of things better.

When abstract things are labeled, your brain has a better idea what to do with them. Take the drawing above. Right now, it's untitled. It's ambiguous. But what if I told you it's a picture of 2 chairs? Then your brain immediately sees the chairs. But if it was titled something like "My Sleeping Cat" or "Flowers at Sunset", your brain would wonder why. The image looks nothing like those things, so your brain will search the image for clues, trying to believe it really is a picture of a cat or flowers.

So when drawing to think or communicate, labels can be very helpful. If you draw something that doesn't quite look like what you were trying to draw, just label it. Then there's no doubt people will know exactly what it is.

The picture above was created in a college drawing class. It's an abstract representation of two chairs.

Graphic Recording: What to Do With Your Boards After Your Event

One of the great things about graphic recording is that it's big. Really big. Often 8 feet long by 4 feet high. To put that in perspective, a Smart Car is almost 9 feet long and about 5 feet wide. That's just about a foot bigger than a lot of graphic recording work!

Graphic recording literally gives you the big picture. So why not make the most of it! Like the creative folks at Tech Liminal in downtown Oakland, CA. As you can see in the photo above, they hung their boards right on the wall. That way, every one who comes in can seen what they've been up to. And for those working there, creative inspiration is just a glance away.

The two graphic recording boards above were created live at The Product Summit a few months ago. Each board is 8 feet long by 4 feet high.

Visual Thinking: Graphic Recording

There's more than one school of thought when it comes to graphic recording. Some say to use as many pictures as you can. Others say to capture as many words as you can. I tend to fall somewhere in the middle, I think. Well, really, I don't think about it too much. I just do what makes the most sense. Whatever captures the idea best. And visually makes the most sense.

This is a graphic recording I did for practice quite a while ago. It's pretty heavy on the words. Not so many pictures. How the words are arranged on the page and the different colors and sizes make it much more visually interesting than regular writing.

As you can see, amazing drawing skills aren't needed to create visuals with impact!

Visual Thinking Supplies: Prismacolor Markers

When choosing the best drawing supplies, you've gotta keep the end goal in mind. If you're drawing to think, you can use pretty much anything. If you're drawing to create great art, you've gotta use something that will last.

I've been using Prismacolor markers since high school. I never use them for live graphic recording, though. I have a special set of supplies set aside just for live graphic recording work. But I do use Prismacolor markers for studio work sometimes.

Prismacolor markers are art markers. You'll need to go to an art store to get them or order online. So they're more expensive than Crayola or Mr. Sketch markers. Way more expensive. But they do go on sale sometimes, usually around the start of the school year.  They occasionally offer pretty big rebates, too. And Prismacolor markers do last a long time.

I like the broad range of colors offered. Also, because they're permanent, they don't smear. You can color over things drawn with non-permament markers without smearing. And there's nothing worse than outlining a drawing only to have it smear when you color it in!

Unfortunately, they do bleed through paper. And they do smell a little. But they are nontoxic, so they're safe. 

To see a sample of some work done with Prismacolor markers, go to this blog post.

Graphic Recording: Great Drawing is not the Secret!

Graphic Recording is all about communication. There's definitely an art to it. But it's so not about art! Knowing a few things from the art world can certainly help, though.

Look at the graphic recording above. There's barely any drawing in it - some generic buildings, a few arrows, and a star. That's it! This image is mainly text. And some of that text is even a bit sloppy.

Yet, the image has impact. The impact comes from a few bold words and the bright orange color. Even with a lot of text, there's a sense of movement and balance. Thanks to how things are arranged on the page (the composition).

Bad composition makes people uncomfortable. Good composition draws them in. That's why great drawing is not the secret to creating great visuals. Great composition is really where it's at.

This graphic recording was created while listening to a pre-recorded TED talk, using one black and one orange marker.

Graphic Recording: Color & Lines Create Movement

People will often come up to me on live Graphic Recording jobs and say, "Wow, I sure wish I could draw like you!" That's a really nice compliment. But the truth is, most people really can draw most of the things they're looking at. The "wow" factor comes from the design.

Take the graphic recording above. There aren't many pictures here - some simple faces, a few dollar bills (rectangles with dollar signs on them), and a bunch of mosquito type things that could be any kind of flying insect. Nothing fancy!

What grabs people's eye and draws them in is the design itself. In between the bold lettering on the top and bottom are a bunch of powerful lines and strong colors. The bold lettering frames the page and keeps it grounded. The powerful lines direct your eye around the page so you're sure to look at everything. The strong colors direct your eye, too. They also organize the information so you can more quickly understand how it's related.

If you only look at the pictures, you know the talk had something to do with bugs, people, and money. The design itself is what invited you to dig a little deeper and make sense of it all.

This graphic recording was done as an experiment, using only a black marker and crayons. I discovered crayons tend to disappear when you make the background white. That's why I left the image as is - with a blotchy gray background. That doesn't happen with markers!

Graphic Recording: Mr. Sketch Markers

There's no denying it, Mr. Sketch Markers are just plain fun to use!

Each marker smells like either a fruit or spice. They're pretty easy to get your hands on, too. Most office supply stores carry them, as well as places like Walmart or Target. And they're a lot less expensive than fancy art markers.

They have a chisel tip that lets you draw thin or think lines, depending on how you hold the marker. Bold lines are great because people can see them from across the room. Thin lines are great, too, because they let you add some details for people to see when they're closer.

Back to the bold lines for a minute...

Working with big, bold lines is a great habit to get into. Whether you're working alone or with a group, bold lines make it much easier to see things. If you're planning to send pictures of any sketches electronically, bold lines will actually let people see what you've drawn. And that's the whole point, right?

Visual Thinking: Make 'em Look!

Like a green leaf on a bunch of red bricks, hand-drawn visuals are hard to ignore. There's something warm and inviting about them. They really draw you in. And make you really look.

No matter how boring and monotonous those bricks may be, that lonely leaf somehow makes them all a tad more interesting. It makes you look. When you do look, you actually see what you're looking at instead of breezing right by.

Now imagine you watched that leaf fall on the bricks. It caught your eye as it danced around in the air. You may not have been sure exactly what it was or what it was doing, but it looked interesting. You wanted to get closer. When you did, you really looked at it. And noticed things you may have otherwise missed.

Even from the back of a huge auditorium, a live graphic recorder catches people's attention. People want to get closer to see what it is. When they do, they really look. Not just at the drawing, but at your great content. They think more deeply about it. They make connections and get new insights. They're engaged. You stopped talking long ago, but they gladly keep the conversation going.

Like a green leaf on a bunch of red bricks, hand-drawn visuals are hard to ignore. They really draw you in. And make you really look.

Graphic Recording: Experiment!

Most of my work is done with markers. I thought it would be fun for a change to try something new, so I used crayons to add some color to this graphic recording. This was an experiment done with a Ted Talk, not live with a client! And I'm very glad I experimented first.

Crayons look great in person and they're easy to use, but as you can see, they don't photograph as well as markers. This image is not "cleaned up", meaning the background is evenly white. With the background evenly white, a lot of the crayon disappears. This doesn't happen so much with markers. If you just want the actual physical graphic recording and no digital images of it, then crayons might work for you.