Work at CSI for the day with our new Lounge Pass!

Lunch & Learn: How to Graphic Record

Nikky Manfredi

Nikky Manfredi

Communications & Content Specialist

Put away your excel spreadsheets and get out your pencil crayons. This week, we’re learning how to translate those stuffy meeting notes into beautiful animations you’ll actually want to review six months from now. 

CSI Member Laura Hanek of Swoop Media is a freelance graphic recorder, visual designer, and illustrator. She deep dived on her craft, giving a beginner’s level guide to graphic recording. If you couldn’t make our online Lunch and Learn, here’s a peek into some of what she taught us. 

Laura standing beside a large graphic recording

What is Graphic Recording? 

Graphic recording (also known as scribing or visual note taking) is “the use of large scale imagery to lead groups and individuals towards a goal. The method is used in meetings, workshops and conferences.” (Think mind maps but better). The practice has its roots in 1970’s San Francisco. Since then, the practice has only increased in popularity. Organizations often hire Laura to live record conferences or meetings as a way to visualize key concepts, ideas, and conversations. 

laura drawing on poster boardThe Benefits of Graphic Recording 

Visualizing key concepts helps us remember them better. It’s also great for connecting the dots. Seeing ideas on a page in a non-linear fashion can help people relate concepts and goals together in a way they may not have before. That’s why so many researchers, educators, and organizers incorporate graphic recording into their work. The recording captures the process as much as it captures the results of, say, a strategy meeting. Laura says a live recording also improves collaboration and decision-making. Coworkers can refer to the board in real time when talking about next steps. 

How to Start Graphic Recording 

Laura broke graphic recording down into three major steps. 

1. Actively listen

Laura says this is the most difficult part. What are they saying? What is the context of what you need to put on your page? Really listen to what matters to the group.

2. Think (and analyze) 

Practice discernment. How can you best translate the information? Why are you choosing to make the dog yellow? Think about your choices! “There’s a lot of brainwork before you even get to paper. It is exhausting and that’s why I have spelled my name wrong after graphic recordings,” Laura said, laughing. 

Laura’s advice for beginners: Start slow. You don’t have to live record a meeting to be a graphic recorder. Write notes first and then sit down, read through your notes, and plan out your drawing. 

3. Draw (or distill) 

Remember: Functionality is key. Beauty comes second and perfection is not the point. Anyone can draw! Basic elements get the point across (stick figures will do!) and getting the point across IS the point. 

Laura’s advice: Join a Graphic Jam! Graphic jams are informal drawing sessions. Grab a few friends, a piece of paper, and something to draw with and then, almost like charades, decide on a subject for everyone to draw. A couple rounds of jammin’ will get the wheels turning on how many ways information can be represented on the page. 

Elements of Graphic Recording 

Title 

Laura says, “it can be super fancy or just the biggest words on the page.”

Flow 

Flow lines, like arrows or borders, help direct the eye along the graphic recording. Laura mentioned other attributes like lettering, people, shadows and colour can help structure the narrative of a piece. 

Colour 

“Colour can bring attention to certain things on a document,” Laura explained. In the example she gave, she had coloured in one of three drawn houses because the topic it represented was most important of the three.  

Hierarchy 

Visual hierarchy, such as having some text be larger than others, can provide clarity and order to the piece. Laura also mentioned the importance of creating relationships between concepts through symbols, such as a heart to indicate support or side by side comparisons to show growth over time.  

Thank you to Laura for sharing her expertise! If you want to check out more of her work, including her graphic recording, design and illustration services, head here. With that, it’s time to draw!

Interested in CSI’s Bi-weekly lunch and Learns? 

The next Lunch and Learn is September 27, 2021. CSI Member Marc Goldgrub of Green Economy Law will explore both the history and recent developments in Canadian psychedelic law. 

Keep Reading
CSI Spadina in the ground floor kitchen, looking out towards the lounge and meeting rooms. In the foreground is a kitchen counter, with waffles, toppings, and glasses of coffees and teas. In the background, CSI CEO Tonya Surman is speaking into a microphone on the left. In the middle and on the right, a variety of people stand and sit, listening to her speak.
One of the keys to CSI's magic is our Community Animator Program (CAP) and, specifically, the Community Animators themselves! Through this program, we've worked with more than 1,000 exceptional individuals who have each brought a little something different, and a little sparkle, to our spaces. And we're so glad to have had them in our community, because we've learned that each and every one of them has some exceptional talents, skills, and experiences to offer the world!  
Third floor lounge of CSI Spadina. In the foreground is a light blue loveseat sofa. In the background, we see two people working separately at coworking desks and tables. On the ceiling is a chandelier; to the right, a progress Pride flag.
The CSI staff team includes Pride veterans, newcomers, and everywhere in between! This year, as we celebrated Pride in our spaces and with our member community, we turned to our staff team to learn what Pride means to them. Some experienced it for the first time this year and were awash in the joy; others delighted in the fact that Pride remains such a fun celebration decades later. Others noted the increasing corporatization, which draws our attention away from the central premise of Pride - a protest.
whai header
CSI is many things - a coworking space, a non-profit organization, and a launchpad - but, first and foremost, we are a community. A community of innovators, of changemakers, of neighbours, of people putting people and planet first. And the awesome work that our members do, each and every day, never ceases to amaze us! So of course, we do our best to highlight our members whenever possible. Recently, we had the pleasure of sitting down with Molly Bannerman, Director of Women HIV/Aids Initiative (WHAI), a community-based response to HIV and AIDS among cis and trans women in Ontario. Below is an edited summary of our chat, where we discussed the work of WHAI and their latest Collective Action Community Change report.
Become A Member