I thought it would be beneficial to write a post documenting the initial step(s) as to what might goes into a graphic recording for one of my clients. There are a lot of people who don't know what a graphic recorder does exactly and there are a few terms out there that get lumped together like a graphic facilitator, scriber, wall doodler etc. and sometimes don't exactly mean the same thing.
What is the difference between a Graphic Recorder and a Graphic Facilitator?
Graphic Recorder is listening, synthesizing, and live capturing on large format mural paper what it is being said in the room.
Graphic (Visual Process) Facilitator is guiding/facilitating the conversation in the room while capturing what is being said on pre-drawn templates.
As I mention in my services the first steps would be to find out what my client's needs are through a phone call, face-to-face meeting, or online video conference. For example, Red Hawk Healing needed a graphic recorder to live capture an event presented to an outdoor environmental school in Maple Ridge, BC, Canada. I was lucky to be given a rough agenda for the presentation and what the key topics that were going to be covered. Also, having an interest myself in Wild Crafting and being able to identify certain native plants in the Fraser Valley helped get a mental picture of what the graphic recording might look like.
Preparing (pre-event time) is very helpful for my creative process. The overall big picture along with the small details like; research, notes, sketchnotes, and rough mockups help myself and the client to visualize more or less the final outcome.
See below a rough mockup along with a few sketches of my recent Benefits of Wildcrafting live graphic recording:
Benefits of Wildcrafting final piece can be seen in my recent works portfolio
Benefits of Wildcrafting pre-event mockup.
