“Oh, yes. Thank you. It’s absolutely my pleasure.” I hadn’t heard the term before, but I got the gist. Not to brag but I took Year 9 French, sooo….

I almost allowed my ego and obvious natural linguistic prowess to let the phrase flow past us in conversation, but instead I paused.

“Sorry, I haven’t actually heard that term before – I mean, I can take a pretty good stab at what it means (PROWESS!)… But I’ve never heard it used.”

“Oh you haven’t? It’s an historic term used in diplomacy. It refers to an informal way of capturing and circulating a diplomatic message.”

Well hot damn gal, you’ve hit the nail on the head – an Aide-Memoire is precisely what I’m doing here.

———

Since 2017, I’ve been lucky enough to periodically spend time working with groups of politicians, diplomats, legislators, lawyers, academics, law enforcement and other experts from across the Pacific Islands looking to address concerns and opportunities of regional significance.

This work has also taken me across the world to the Council of Europe in Strasbourg to support their International Conference on Cybercrime.

This has been some of the most interesting and rewarding work of my career, and the most valuable to my clients.

Why?

1. Dialogue across cultures – Diplomatic negotiations often involve people from different linguistic, cultural, and political backgrounds. Visuals can act as a “universal language,” bridging gaps where words alone might be misunderstood. At a conference like this English may be the common language, but it’ll be almost no one’s first language, so visuals act as an important context and comprehension tool.
2. Neutrality – A graphic recorder is a neutral party, capturing a transparent account of the conversation. One that is non-verbatim but captures essence, emotion, and intent. This can help reduce misinterpretation and demonstrate fairness in documenting what was said, which helps to build trust.
3. Supporting complexity – A visual record can help make complex systems, shared goals and differences visible, and provide a “big picture” reference point during long, multi-day engagements.
4. Memory & Legacy – Diplomacy often creates documents of record – treaties, reports, communiqués, resolutions. Graphic recordings can supplement these with more human, memorable visuals. For example, capturing the spirit of a peace dialogue through images can later serve as a cultural artifact or educational resource, reminding participants of the why, not just the what.
5. Public & Community Engagement – In contexts where diplomacy is shared with the public, graphic recording can make the outcomes more accessible, engaging, and shareable. It transforms “dry” policy discussions into something people can connect with emotionally (and actually want to read). It provides artifacts that use plain language along with the additional context and storytelling through images, making it easier for individual representatives to share outcomes with the public in their home nations.

In short: graphic recording can serve as a bridge, a mirror, and a memory in diplomacy — helping people see not only the words spoken but also the shared humanity behind them.

Jessamy Gee is the Director of Think in Colour, Founder & Founding President of Graphic Recorders Australia (2019 – 2022), and Australia’s first and only IFVP Institute Certified Master Visual Practitioner.

Jessamy Gee being presented with a gift by the Attorney-General of Tonga, 2018

The post The Role of Graphic Recording in Diplomacy & International Cooperation appeared first on Think in Colour.

This could be dreaming up the future with local councils, deciding how buildings or spaces should be used, gathering feedback on the efficacy of existing programs, or working with young people to improve the system that’s meant to support them… and infinite things in between!

So, why is it so effective in a community engagement setting, and how might you use it?

1. It allows people to see they’ve been heard. When asking for input from a community, you can bet your bottom dollar participants are coming with an agenda. As they should! When there are multiple, potentially conflicting agendas or opinions, it’s really important that participants can see they’ve been heard and that their input has been recorded – front and centre, in real time.
2. It helps the flow of conversation. By providing this immediate visual confirmation that participants’ ideas have been heard and captured, it allows for conversation to continue flowing without getting stuck in loops with participants who are particularly vocal or passionate and concerned their input will be lost. It also encourages participants to build on each other’s ideas rather than duplicate them.
3. It creates a common understanding. Seeing the collated ideas of all participants on one page gives the group a clear and common understanding of the landscape they’re working in, and seeing it unfold in real-time creates a sense of collective ownership over the final output.
4. It can be built on over multiple sessions. If you are running sessions with multiple groups, you may choose to build on the graphic recording with each session, rather than starting from a blank sheet. This can provide richer conversation with each subsequent session, encourages participation and evaluation of existing ideas, and creates space for new ones.
5. It helps compare perspectives from multiple stakeholders. When working with multiple groups of different stakeholders (e.g. young people, residents, local business, policy makers, etc), graphic recording creates a visual snapshot that allows you to quickly identify patterns and contrasts between different community groups.
6. It creates instant, engaging outputs. When we’re asking people to give us their time, they want to be sure that it’s been valuable. They want to see tangible outputs, and to know what’s happening next. Graphic recording creates beautiful artifacts to communicate results back to the community, stakeholders or funders in a really accessible and engaging way.

Interested in learning more about how graphic recording can help support your next community engagement project? Have a sticky beak around our website or shoot me an email any time.

The post Is Graphic Recording your secret weapon for Community Engagement projects? appeared first on Think in Colour.

In the industry of Graphic Recording, as in so many other design industries, there is a constant need to find balance between process and product – form and function.

We talk a lot about the importance of content. Indeed, one of the catch-cries of the fabulous Brandy Agerbeck (Author of The Graphic Facilitators’ Guide) is “Content is King!”. This is irrefutably true. As Graphic Recorders we are content-capturers, synthesisers, and sense makers. Our role is first and foremost to reflect your ideas.

What we don’t talk about enough though, is the importance of beauty in our work. Without doubt, there is still significant value in using visual language that isn’t “beautiful” – this speaks to the process or function side of coin. Even the simplest of images will still help us to better engage in, understand and remember content.

But what additional value are we missing out on if we don’t also pay attention to the product as we do to the process?

Here’s a little diagram that illustrates the value and the balance between the two:

There seems to be a misconception that paying attention to the artistry in Graphic Recording somehow distracts us from the content, but it’s quite the contrary. Having a final product that’s sweet on the eye will only serve to deepen and broaden the expression of your content. Here are some reasons why:

1. Eliminate Distraction
A poorly executed graphic recording or illustration has the potential to frustrate rather than engage its audience. If text is messy and hard to read, or icons and drawings are unclear, this can be a cause of distraction. A clean, practised and well-executed style will ensure the illustration is clean, clear, easy to navigate and enjoyable to look at.

2. Engaging & sharing
A beautiful illustration will capture the imagination and excitement of the audience. This will often lead to the piece of work (and most importantly – the content within it) to be talked about (at the time and long after), photographed and shared within teams and communities. This creates a buzz around the event and subject matter, and spreads your message further.

If you are sending digital files to your audience and broader network via email or online gallery, the chance of people engaging in and reading through your content is much higher if the final product looks attractive.

3. Longevity
At this year’s IFVP (International Forum of Visual Practitioners) Conference in Washington DC, the amazing comic book king and author Scott McCloud asked how many Apple users in the audience still had their original packaging… just about all of us did. It’s just so goddamn lovely to look at! This is the power of good design.

If people love to look at the artefacts you create, they will live on much longer than their less-attractive counterparts. I am often thrilled to receive feedback that outputs from sessions I’ve worked on are hanging in offices and tea rooms around the country.

If the output from events is framed / printed / hung / wallpapered… The message is on display and your content lives on. It will continue to give it’s gifts by engaging and re-engaging all those that see it.

4. Emotion
I have spoken a number of times about the power of imagery – in particular humans and facial expressions – to increase the emotional and personal connection to content. If this is not done correctly however, it’s possible to inject the wrong emotion into your product, confuse, or even alienate your audience. When done well, it creates a powerful relationship between the viewer and the message.

5. Ownership
In a workshop-style situation, working with smaller groups and capturing lots of voices, one of the great benefits of Graphic Recording is that’s it’s a visual way of creating shared ownership in the group.

Reflecting the ideas of your participants in an attractive and inviting way can be a very empowering experience for them. Bringing life to their ideas and vision can help them to take pride in their own thoughts and contribution, and start to imagine what that idea might look like. A well-illustrated idea may also assist your participants to find the confidence and language they need to further express themselves.

So what should you do?

If you’re a Graphic Recorder… Put aside some time to work on your skills in drawing and lettering. Get acquainted with design elements and principles, and consider how they might serve your work. Do some short courses in calligraphy and lettering. Practise drawing facial expressions (a great resource for this is the Grimace Project, or just look at your emoji keyboard for inspo!). Ask your peers and clients for constructive feedback, and work on your weaknesses. Take Think in Colour’s Online Course, Listen-Think-Draw to develop and refine your skills.

If you’re looking for a Graphic Recorder… Consider what you would like to do with the outputs from your event, and find a Visual Practitioner with a style that you and your audience like and relate to. Make a plan about how you’ll use the outputs after the event and let your GR know.

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