Learning the Lingo
As visual practices such as sketch noting, graphic recording, and graphic facilitation become more… well, visible to the public, so does the confusion around the terms we visual practitioners use to describe our work. This confusion is understandable. Heck, folks in the industry don’t always use these terms consistently! Plus, they don’t always agree to what the terms mean… especially when it comes to graphic recording and graphic facilitation.
So, in an attempt to standardize our language – and to help you look super-intelligent in front of your friends and colleagues – here’s a handy-dandy (and assuredly imperfect) chart that lays out the basic differences amongst three increasingly-common terms:
| Sketch Notes | Graphic Recording | Graphic Facilitation | |||||
| Small-scale output | X | ||||||
| Large-scale output | X | X | |||||
| Output created in real-time | X | X | |||||
| Services provided in front of the group | X | X | |||||
| Partners with your primary facilitator | X | X | |||||
| Serves as your primary facilitator | X | ||||||
| Responsible for designing and facilitating your event flow/processes | X | ||||||
| Actively interacts with your group | X |
A Bit More Information On Each
Sketch Notes
If you want someone in the audience to visually capture the content and insights from your event, then you’re looking for someone to create sketch notes. These are often considered someone’s personal notes – they bring more of a subjective view to the content. They are often drawn in small notebooks or sketchbooks, so the images are small-scale. Typically, sketch notes aren’t visible to everyone in the audience… unless they get Tweeted out or otherwise shared.
Graphic Recording
If you have a primary facilitator for your event, and want someone to visually capture the content and insights from your event to support and compliment the overall facilitation process, then you’re looking for a graphic recorder. True, the graphic recording process facilitates the best thinking of the group… but it’s a one-way, passive form of facilitation.
This person serves the group as recorder first, facilitator second. Because graphic recordings are create in large-scale and in real-time, the graphic recorder’s work is usually on view to the entire audience throughout the event. And unlike sketch notes, which can be more subjective and personal, a graphic recording is objective and reflects the group’s experience of the event.
Graphic Facilitation
If you need a primary facilitator for your event, and want one who works with your group in a primarily-visual way, then you’re looking for a graphic facilitator. We design and facilitate processes to support your group’s best thinking and work during your meeting, retreat, or event. Now, a graphic facilitator may incorporate graphic recording as one of the facilitation processes in her tool-kit… but it’s not the only one. This person serves the group first and foremost as its facilitator. Because a graphic facilitator may incorporate a variety of visual tools and activities in her design, some of her work may be drawn as templates in advance, some of her work may be drawn in real time with the group, and some of the work may be drawn by the group during your event!
Join the Conversation
The best way for us to agree on what we mean when we talk about these three services is to talk about them. After all, this is how I happen to work with these three terms. As I mentioned before, other people may attribute other meanings to them.
What do YOU think? Post your comments below, and let’s get a conversation started!
Im writing my own article on what Visual Thinking is for my Polish readers, and im having some difficulties in creating clearly set definitions with good boundaries. I have read your other articles about GR/GF differences and while i agree on your take against Brandy on those diferences i have one BIG argument on your definition of sketchnotes. I do a lot of off-line sketchnotes from books. Thats not a sketchnote in your definiton, but for me its still sketchnote. Or is there another name for my off-line sketchnotes done from books?
Hi Piotr,
If they are created in small-scale, I’d call those book-related ones sketch notes as well. While this article focused on calling the distinction among these three forms during a live event, sketch notes often are created outside of a live meeting or event. For example, I can take sketch notes of a book I’m reading, or a show I’m watching. I can take sketch notes of a travel experience or a class I’m taking.
To me, the main qualifiers for sketch notes are: created in small-scale, created in real-time (while watching the show, while reading the book, while taking the class, etc.) and created primarily for my own personal use (MY class notes capturing what’s important to me, for example.)
There are folks who create sketch notes on behalf of a client during an event, and these resulting images cross more over into the realm of graphic recording. I think of them as small-scale graphic recordings, because they are no longer being created for my personal use, which also means that they are no longer being created through my own filters (reflecting what I want to remember) but rather being created through a group-service filter (capturing what the group will want/need to remember).
When I share sketch notes, it means that they are personal, small-scale images I created for my own purposes. When I share small-scale graphic recordings, it means that they are group-oriented, small-scale images I created in service of the larger group. Both of these are typically created in real time.
Hoping these distinctions and clarifications are helpful!
Jeannel
Jeannel King – thank you for the exmplanation! I will be more careful while using ## on my Instagram profile 🙂