My passion revolves around three key areas: Digital Illustration, Graphic Recording, and Visual Facilitation. Below, I’ll dive deeper into each service, explaining how they can benefit you and providing examples along the way.
To make navigation easier, you’ll find buttons below that let you jump directly to the section that interests you most. I hope you enjoy exploring my work!
Digital Illustration
I specialise in turning complex information or wordy documents into easily understood images that people will love. My freehand drawings provide high resolution digital images to help you engage your audience and tell your story. Whether you call them infographics, sketch notes, mind maps, rich pictures, story pictures or vision pictures there is no doubt a picture is worth a thousand words and whatever your organisation I will work with you to create a unique eye catching image that fits your brand and culture.
Explainer graphics tell a story in a drawing – a one page visual to summarise and explain a business, concept, project, activity or idea.
I’ve created explainer graphics to summarise university research projects, to reduce the stigma of obesity, to explain the concept of Baby Watching, to share ideas around creating a greener city, the importance of a performance framework and many more.
I love getting to know a business, team, individual or school and drawing them a unique digital illustration to tell their story and share their purpose, vision and values with colleagues, customers and stakeholders. They capture dreams and plans on one page so everyone can see the big picture.
Learning resources enhance understanding, engage students and help embed learning. These can include presentation materials, workbooks and worksheets, illustrated quotes and lesson summaries.
Past projects include workbooks for young people who hear voices, mental health and wellbeing workbooks, a cycling proficiency guide and more.
Some of the other fabulous projects I’ve been involved in include illustrated maps, presentation materials, business book covers and internal illustrations, website icons and even a board game design! I’m always up for a challenge so if you have an idea let’s chat!
The Process
The process is quite simple, we have a chat about the brief, you provide logos and any brand guidelines, I create a pencil sketch for comment/approval and then I work up a digital image. I provide this as a high and low resolution image which can be printed from postcard to 2xA0 and used online. I can also create a build version for presentations and pull out smaller thumbnail images which can be useful for your website, presentations, reports and more.
All images are created just for you – if you would like to commission an illustration are a few things to think about. Check out the image above which should help you develop your ideas and guide our conversation.
Graphic Recording
Capturing conversations so everyone can see the big picture! Graphic Recording is created live and in real-time and captures the key ideas and messages as they emerge during a meeting or conference. Watching the drawing progress engages the participants and helps make the information more memorable – ideas are connected and creativity stimulated. The graphic recording documents the meeting and acts as a collective memory bank for the participants and of course you get a unique visual artefact which can be displayed and shared after the event.
The Benefits of Graphic Recording
Your events are more engaging – everyone can see the meeting unfold, follow the flow of ideas as they progress, see the big picture and make connections between ideas.
The information is more memorable – Many of us are visual learners who find it easier to store and recall information when it’s presented visually.
You get a unique visual record of your meeting – display the original images in your o ce and share the photographs with a wider audience. Great for social media!
Frequently Asked Questions
When can Graphic Recording be used?
Graphic Recording works any time a group of people are gathered together for a discussion or presentation – both online and at live events.
How do you prepare?
I always arrange a briefing call with a client to discuss your event and the output you are looking for. Then, once I have the full agenda, logos and branding info I will create a very drafty plan for the graphic which I can share with you before the event. I don’t need huge amounts of background information as my job is to capture what happens on the day but it can be useful to see any slides that are going to be used on the day.
What do you draw on?
I usually draw on heavy weight paper – any size from A3 to 3 metres depending on the event. However I can also draw on foam board, cardboard and even cardboard boxes which all look great stacked up for display.
I also draw on my iPad – both for online and live events when the screen can be projected.
How does it work online?
Basically, I join the call and draw what I hear on my iPad instead of on paper. On Zoom it’s possible to share my screen instead of me so people can see the drawing as it develops. Some clients like to share my screen alongside the speaker. This works well for an online event where people at home can be easily distracted.
What do you need at the venue?
Wherever possible I bring my graphic wall and all my kit – all I need is a small table and chair. When it’s not possible to bring my boards I can either tape the paper to the wall or hire a graphic wall to be delivered to the venue.
Won't this distract the audience?
Maybe a little but in a good way! I find that people who ‘drift off’ from the presentation turn to watch the graphic recording instead – so they are staying tuned in, just in a different way. Visual learners love to watch the graphic as it develops and it helps them remember the content and aids recall when they see it afterwards.
Can we take photos during the day?
Yes of course! That’s why I’m here, please feel free to take photos. Depending on the topic you might want to encourage your delegates to share them on social media during the day.
Can you include our logo?
Absolutely, just send me any logos in advance. I usually print them so they look as good as possible. I can also add a hashtag, date and venue if appropriate to the event.
Can you use our brand colours?
I will do my very best to match my pens to your branding.
What happens to the graphics afterwards?
The graphic is yours to keep! I always provide a cleaned-up digital photo of the graphic which is ideal for sharing online or printing up to A3 but if you want a really high-quality image to reproduce on a large scale then I can get the graphic scanned for you. What you do next is up to you! Show on office screens, print out posters, use it as a screen saver, print it on mouse mats.
Other Visuals & Graphics for Your Event
In addition to graphic recording at your event I can also help in advance by creating bespoke event materials for the day.
These can include:
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Slide decks
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Question cards
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Evaluation cards
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Signage
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Visual agenda
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Handouts and note pages
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Action plans
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Templates for group work
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Welcome walls
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Sign up sheets
Visual Facilitation
I also facilitate events using visual meeting techniques, guiding your group through a process to get them from A to B. Visual meetings are fun and they get results – and they can be more productive, participative, and powerful than conventional meetings.
Participative
because everyone contributes their thoughts, ideas and opinions and takes part in the decision making process.
Productive
because your meeting is planned and managed so you get more quality work done in less time.
Powerful
because the results they generate can be the catalyst for radical change and improvement in your business.
The agenda is designed around your objectives so you get the results you need, the unique system of visualisation means that everyone contributes to the discussion and the decision making and you get twice as much done in half the time!
Groups that have used visual facilitation are often amazed at the results, finding that they get more quality work done in less time, with little or no conflict. They also find that everyone is able to take part with no one able to dominate the group or control the conversation. Decision making is also much easier and at the end of the meeting everyone leaves feeling energised and engaged and ready to take ideas forward.
There are many benefits of having an experienced facilitator for your meeting.
- Your facilitator is completely impartial, they focus on the process, the environment and the outcomes – not the politics or relationships
- You get to take part and contribute rather than hosting the meeting yourself
- Your meeting is planned to ensure your objectives are met
You can use visual facilitation techniques whenever a group needs to get together and outcomes are required. They are great for idea generation, staff engagement, focus groups, stakeholder or community consultation, business and project planning and review and evaluation.
There are lots of ways to include some visual facilitation in your meetings and events. It’s a good way to get people moving around and talking to different people, groups can work on pre-prepared templates to guide them through a topic and I can capture the feedback on a graphic recording.
Testimonials
Here are a few testimonials from some of my lovely clients...
Pennine Care
We approached Emma because of her exceptional talent for translating complex clinical research discussions into visually engaging and meaningful artwork. Her ability to...
TSE Productions
We used Emma for her sheer skill in creating a visually drawn media wall and her openness to use paint not typically used by artists. Emma, in my opinion, was chosen as...
West Sussex County Council
West Sussex County Council embarked on a major improvement journey in 2020. At the heart of that was the development of a Children First Vision to put children at the...
Let's Get Started
Ready to elevate your visual storytelling with creativity and fun? Let’s bring your ideas to life with engaging illustrations and graphic recordings! Get in touch today for a chat!
