Tanya Hankinson creating a traditional graphic recording of a podcast using brush pen and watercolour
Text in a handwritten style that reads 'Make your Message JOTFUL with Visual Notes!'

Make your Message Joyful with Visual Notes


What are visual notes, and how can they help you get your message out into the world in a way that stands out?

Take me to live illustration!
want to communicate your message loud and clear hand drawn image with megaphone
A cartoon illustration of a pencil character with a smiling face and arms, next to a speech bubble explaining visual notes, sketchnotes, and graphic note-taking for summarizing key information in an engaging way.
Photo of Tanya Hankinson creating a live illustration of a podcast using brush pen and watercolour

Live Event Illustration Brings That Extra Magic

You can use live event illustration to turn information into joyful visuals which:

  • Inspire discussion;

  • Help key ideas stick;

  • Engage audiences;

  • Can be used time and time again.

digital drawing of hand drawn digital live event illustration in front of an audience
hand drawn icon of illustrated how to step-by-step guide
digital drawing of hand drawn analogue live event illustration

Live illustration is also known as:

  • Live scribing

  • Graphic recording

  • Graphic facilitation

  • Sketch notes

  • Visual notes

  • Visual minutes

  • Visual scribing

All of these can be created digitally or with traditional materials:

  • Group ideas generation

  • Live meetings

  • Step-by-step guides

  • Educational resources

  • Revision guides

Is Live Event Illustration For You?

Are you delivering online webinars or tutorials? Running a workshop? Holding team meetings to come up with new ideas? Delivering a conference, training or CPD session? Looking for new ways to inject some joy and engagement into your meetings? Perhaps you’re about to deliver a one off session that you’ve put your heart and soul into preparing and you want that extra bit of magic?

Hand drawn icon for 'live event illustration may just be the ticket' including drawing of a ticket

Or are you interested in creating more engaging resources or newsletters? Are you delivering the same training again and again, such as induction days? Maybe you are in need of simple visual reminders or prompts for neurodivergent clients? Perhaps your pupils are struggling to grasp a specific concept for their upcoming exams? Or it could be that the school trip you’re organising needs something more accessible and distilled than an 11 page itinerary?

Hand drawn infographic icon with hand lettering

Do Visual Notes Have to be ‘Live’?

Not at all! The skills which are needed for visual note taking lend themselves to the visual synthesis of information in general, in whichever form that may take. This absolutely does not have to be live!

Check out this example. It’s a resource created to provide a checklist and instructions to Key Stage 3 pupils for a drawing assessment. It includes a visual list of everything they need and some top tips. It is much easier on the eye than printed text and therefore much more accessible.

Synthesising information into a distilled combination of hand written text and image makes it STAND OUT.

AND we know that distilling key information into its essential essence helps you to absorb that information more deeply. So in a world where 90% of the information transmitted to the human brain is visual, if we add the power of illustration to this summarised information, we’re on to a winner!

Hand drawn key stage 3 handout for Lucinda Rogers mark making assessment.
SAY HELLO
GCSE Art and Design resource for artist pages. Hand drawn infographic in the school corporate branding colours. A combination of hand lettering and hand drawn icons.
An image with the words 'Before, During & After' written in a casual, handwritten style.

How Visual Notes Can Help:

  • Before

    Invites

    Illustrations for presentation slides

    Itineraries

    Holding presentation slide

    Event programme

  • During

    In-person live illustration (digital or traditional)

    Online, virtual live illustration (even if your event is in person)

  • After

    Illustration of a recording of the event

    Infographics/flyers for attendees to take home

    Illustrated reports

    Illustrated FAQs

Text that reads 'School Trips' in a playful, outlined font.
A colorful illustrated travel itinerary for a trip to Barcelona, 2025, detailing daily plans including departure times, visits to museums and landmarks, and transportation arrangements for July 1st to July 4th, featuring drawings of landmarks, transportation, and decorative icons.
Open travel journal with cityscape drawing and notes about a trip to Barcelona, including drawing activities, hostel details, eating out tips, and top tips for travel.
Gray T-shirts with white graphic designs and text promoting Barcelona 2025.
Black and white graphic logo for Barcelona highlighting the Sagrada Familia cathedral, with the text 'HihVCs Art' and 'Barcelona 2023', a pencil drawing part of the design.
Travel itinerary for a trip to Barcelona, Spain, in July 2025, including daily schedules with departure times, destinations, and activities, along with drawings of landmarks, maps, and travel-related icons.
A colorful illustrated travel journal page titled "Drawing Activities - Journey Journal" for a trip to Barcelona in 2025. It contains sections for drawing at the airport, on the plane, in the hostel, and eating out, with prompts and icons related to each activity. Tips for collecting souvenirs and journaling are also included.
A colorful visual notes summary of a creative art activity plan. It covers daily tasks including abstract symbol composition inspired by Joan Miró, drawing colorful blobs with a graphic style, creating a line portrait of Picasso without a pen, and studying Gaudí’s organic architecture. The notes feature text in purple, blue, and black, with illustrations of a lizard, a portrait, and art tools, all set against a white background.

Visual notes can enhance both parents’ and pupils’ ability to understand what is involved in the run up to a busy school trip. Here a 10+ page itinerary provided by the tour company was condensed into an A4 page, combining hand drawn text and illustrations. Since this was an art trip, I also provided the department with a drawing activities guide for their drawing journal. Each pupil was given an A5 sketchbook containing the itinerary and the drawing activities guide, and a screen printed t-shirt with a hand drawn logo on the front and back.

get in touch illustrated hand lettered icon witth letter motif