Why do this stuff anyway?

If you're new to the idea of graphic recording, you might wonder what the point of it is. Sure, it looks pretty and colourful – but is there really anything to be gained by recording information and ideas this way, rather than just jotting notes down in bulleted lists on a good old flip chart?

Well, yes, actually, there is.

For one thing, in graphic recording, information is organized differently. Instead of the standard list format, which sets up the appearance of linear relationships between ideas, this process organizes ideas in a more organic way. Which is how ideas relate to each other in real life, if you think about it. Far from lining up one, two, three, four, they arrive in clouds…or branch out from each other…or veer off on tangents…or orbit around each other…and so on. With graphic recording, all this is depicted on the page, so you get a more accurate representation of how ideas actually relate to each other than you'd get from

• the usual
• bulleted
• list
• (yawn)
  

...and you can SEE those relationships on the page. It also seems to more closely resemble how people actually think; one person, seeing this process for the first time, said: "Your drawing looks like how the thoughts look in my head!" I thought that was pretty cool.

Then, of course, there's the old saw about one picture being worth a thousand words. Now, I happen to be just as verbal as I am visual (as anyone who knows me will attest!), but it's really true that you can often capture in a single image something that would take a couple of pages to describe in writing. And there's nothing to stop you from combining images from a graphic recording session with a "wordy" report of the proceedings, like a book with illustrations. Double your pleasure, double your fun, I say.

Another thing about graphic recording is that the visuals help people remember details of a meeting much better than a written report alone can do. And certainly better than those cryptic flip chart notes that are often almost unintelligible later…

And last but not least, graphic recording is dynamic, energizing and fun! Not just for the person doing it, but for everyone present. I've found that creating a real-time visual representation of people's ideas generates a level of involvement and interaction that I haven't seen in other settings, and unleashes people's own creativity and imagination. Plus it seems to loosen folks up and put them in a good mood. Because, along with everything else, graphic recording is pretty darn entertaining.

OK, disclaimer time. Not everyone twigs to this stuff. Some people just think better in words and think pictures, like Trix, are for kids. That's OK too. There is really no one method or process that works equally well for everyone. But sticking to just one way of capturing info and ideas is like living in black & white when you could have access to a full range of colour. The more senses you can engage, the richer your experience of the world - and the more likely you are to retain, enjoy, and learn from that experience.

That's how I see it, anyway. And I guess I would, eh - otherwise I wouldn't be doing this work!