Little Somethin' I'm Working On...

People I'm Lucky to Work With this Week

YES! Global Collaborative Day of Engagement

I just had a great conversation with Julie Pennington of YES! about how we can bring Visual Recording to YES!'s Global Collaborative Day of Engagement on June 28th in Berkeley. I took some initial notes about how I might be of service, and then I turned my ideas into the Visual Record you see above (click on the image to see a larger view). Julie will be presenting this map to her co-workers as a way to communicate how Visual Recording can contribute to the conversations being generated by participants of the Day of Engagement - which is going to be a great event, and is free of charge. Click here to learn more about YES!

Terra Verde Visual Facilitation Session

Last week I co-created this image in a Visual Facilitation session with the very talented and altruistic David Hodgson at a cafe in San Francisco. He is beginning a new business endeavour called Terra Verde, and he felt it would be helpful to create a Visual Record of the structure of this business as it currently exists. I tailored some questions for David to consider before our meeting, an initial process that he found helpful and clarifying. At our face-to-face meeting we discussed his responses and I began to draw what emerged in our conversation. Here's what David said about the Visual Facilitation session:

"You helped me reach a much clearer understanding of the complex ideas I was working with. By being able to translate these concepts into visual form, with images that spoke to the richness of the ideas, it really helped them come alive, and allowed me to understand much more clearly how the different parts interrelate with one another in an organic way. I find your ability to intuitively help draw out and enrich the separate pieces and then help weave them into a coherent artistic whole to be absolutely invaluable. I keep the image created next to me on my desk as a I work so as to continually be inspired in what I am doing, and to help me maintain my focus on what I am creating. I also use it to help communicate the idea much more clearly + quickly to others. For me, collaborating with Mariah greatly accelerates the process of manifesting new ideas in the world - and I wish I could work with her more frequently."

When I ASK questions and DRAW your ideas so you can literally SEE what you mean, you'll have greater clarity about your vision and your next steps. Not only will your vision be elucidated, you'll also know more about which areas of your project are unclear or uncertain, so you can have a more defined sense of where to explore further and focus your attention. All this content in one unique image that you can share with people who want to contribute to your project or plan. Please get in touch with your current or emerging projects and we can create a Visual Facilitation session to catered to your needs.

A New Type of Greeting Card

Nowadays there are many beautiful, hi-touch, hand made greeting cards available, yet I noticed that when I wanted to give a card that really honored the transition that someone is experiencing, I couldn't find one. I think that a birthday is more than just a day to notice that you're getting older - it's the end of one cycle and the beginning of a new one - it's a passage where we recognizeversion of the 'New Greeting Card' in hopes that the images would mirror the beauty of the recipient, and reflect how they are a rare and essential gift to the world. That's the impact I hope to have with these cards, and so far, I'm happy to report that it's worked as I've intended. I'd love to create a card for you, or your friends who you want to honor and appreciate, so please get in touch if I can be of service.

A Record of a Story

Click on the image to get a better view.


This map was created live in Austin Texas and it signifies new and exciting way of Recording for me: instead of capturing each word or idea, I only record the STORIES that the speaker shares. The woman who spoke at this particular event is a master storyteller, so the job of Recording her was easy and joyful. Regardless of the expertise of the teller, I believe that our stories contain the essence of our hopes and ideas, so, in focusing in on a story, we connect with the core of what we want to share or communicate. I'd love to keep Visually Recording in this way because we all love to hear a good story!

Childhood Obesity: Mapping the System

I am so happy to be working with the very talented Linda Booth Sweeney again - and this time - we're collaborating to develop what Linda calls 'system maps' that will visually describe and further a childhood obesity prevention program. Below are two images I created that depict the influences and that contribute to the alarming rates of obesity in American children. I am so grateful to work on this project, as Linda's work is so critical, and the system maps we create together have the potential to help people shift their thinking about how we can prevent obesity in future generations. Here's a excerpt from Linda's website where she describes systems thinking: "When we look closely, we see living systems on all scales, from the smallest plankton, to our own body, to the planet as a whole. When we understand what constitutes a living system, we also see that our watersheds, families, communities, organizations, and nations are all living systems." Check out Linda's informative and beautiful website to learn more: http://www.lindaboothsweeney.net/

I'm very happy to report that the Visual Records Nancy White and I created in response to the Inaugural National Symposium on Food Systems and Sustainability on March 24 and the follow-up Policy Round table on the March 25th, are featured on the current home page of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at UC Davis: http://www.caes.ucdavis.edu/

Envisioning Sustainability

Since my work at UC Davis, I've become very interested in exploring the intersection between the field of Sustainability and my work in Visual Recording/Visual Thinking. I'm curious about how we as individuals, communities, families, and organizations might envision Sustainability: What does Sustainability look like? How can it be mapped and charted? What needs do people have when they try to run their businesses and homes in more Sustainable ways? Said another way, are there visuals that could assist people as they strive to integrate the principles and practices of Sustainability into their lives and work? It's my belief that co-creating Visual Records, icons, maps and templates could serve as another tool to help Visual Thinkers align with the very complex and urgent need for action on the behalf of the environment. Visual Records can help people see both the practical day-to-day steps we can take as individuals, and see how to shift to or adopt a Systems Thinking view of Sustainability. I've started my exploration of envisioning Sustainability, so I wanted to share my first few images above. If you have ideas about how to visualize Sustainability, or know of books on this subject, or better yet, if you know people I could talk with about the alignment between Visuals & Sustainability, please get in touch!

Visual Recording at UC Davis

Here are the Visual Records Nancy White and I created during the Inaugural National Symposium on Food Systems & Sustainability: http://www.asi.ucdavis.edu/conferences/fss2009/graphic_recordings/