About three or four years ago I wrote an article on the History and Evolution of the Graphic Facilitation and Graphic Recording Fields.
In May, at the last Meeting Graphics 101 workshop, I finally got around to creating a visual to accompany the article. It’s a large, 12 foot mural, the sketches out the main points of the article. Participants at the workshop really enjoyed hearing the story of this field and how it has emerged (as best as I know from my research and personal contacts in the graphic facilitation field). And I really enjoyed having a map to finally tell the story with.
Here is the map, in two parts for better viewing.
Also the article is below too, if you care to learn more about how graphic recording and graphic facilitation (and now, graphic coaching) got started and how these unique skills have emerged into the niche fields they now are.
For a larger view, click here.
For larger view, click here.
A shout out to Landau Chartworks, my friends and vendor, who do the large size scanning of these charts that results in such excellent reproduction quality – they do great work!
Article: The History and Evolution of the Graphic Recording / Graphic Facilitation Field.
Where DID This Way of Working Come From?
What ARE the Historical Roots of This Field?
At the dawn of this new millennium, there is a growing field of ‘visual practitioners’ moving steadily across the international landscape. Comprised of people calling themselves graphic facilitators, graphic recorders, visual synthesizers, mapmakers and the like … these people are all using visual approaches with varying levels of interaction to assist groups and individuals in thinking, communicating, sharing and making decisions.
This article is an attempt to answer the question of “Where DID this way of working come from? What ARE the historical roots of your field?” Questions that I get asked as I go about my work in my own graphic facilitation and graphic coaching practice. I’ve pulled my answers from the literature that exists in the field as well as from personal contacts and interviews I’ve had with various colleagues and some of the early innovators. This is one person’s admittedly North American-centric view, not to be taken as gospel, but hopefully a useful orientation and context tool nonetheless. … Read full article.
