Sherrill Knezel’s graphic recording of Parker Palmer and Carrie Newcomer’s recent podcast episode about living in uncertain times.
In April 2019, I had the opportunity to attend a Growing Edge retreat with Parker J. Palmer and Carrie Newcomer. For three days, I sat with Parker and Carrie and 29 other thoughtful and compassionate folks while we reflected on the growing edge questions in our lives.
One of the people I met was Sherrill Knezel. Sherrill is a graphic recorder and art educator from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I had never heard of graphic recording. Sherrill spent the weekend capturing our conversations in a visual form, and by the end of the weekend, she had created a graphic record of the incredibly rich conversations we had shared. I’ve been following Sherrill’s work on LinkedIn since we met, and I thought my readers might like to learn more about it.
Sherrill uses her expertise in visual literacy, visual expression, and graphic recording to help students, educators, and organizations tell the heart of their story through images and text. She leads visual literacy workshops that empower people to use visuals to increase connection, clarity, and collaboration. Sherrill is a contributing author to Stories in EDU: Sail With A Fleet, Edweek, and the Milwaukee Independent. She was a 2018 & 2019 Excellence in Visual Journalism Award Winner, receiving Silver and Gold Awards respectively for Best Illustration or Cartoon. Sherrill is founder of Meaningful Marks LLC, where she focuses on using visuals and graphic recording to support nonprofits, educators, and healthcare organizations in conversations around racism, inclusion, and creating generative change in their communities.
As a life coach, I’m particularly fascinated by the ways people harness their gifts to carve out unique and meaningful careers. Sherrill is one example of that. I also thought that many of you would be interested in knowing more about graphic recording whether you’re interested in trying it out or in bringing a graphic recorder into an organization where you work. I asked Sherrill to share a bit about her work.
Heyday Coaching: What is graphic recording?
Sherrill: Graphic recording is the process of using images and text to capture the essence of a conversation, meeting, strategic planning session, or webinar with the goal of creating clarity, connection, and collaboration. When people see their words drawn live, whether it is done on paper in a room or digitally on a virtual platform, it it a powerful way to be seen and heard. I listen to the conversation, synthesize the information, and draw out the big ideas. Graphic recording is an impactful way to amplify the impact of content because it allows people to revisit the conversation at their own pace. There is compelling brain science around how we process visuals up to 60,000 times faster than text and images help us remember up to 60% more information if a simple picture is added to information.
HC: How does it get used?
Sherrill: Graphic recording can me used anywhere conversation happens...conferences, webinars, keynotes, strategic planning sessions, brainstorming meetings, board retreats, and lectures. It can be done live in person using paper and markers, or digitally using a tablet and pencil or stylus. The completed images become an artifact of a group's time together and can be used in internal or external communication, for marketing, on social media platforms, in annual reports as narrative data, as a means to increase community engagement, or as an accountability tool to revisit ideas and plans laid out in a previous convening. The value goes beyond the initial live or studio capture of the content to serve as a means to amplify an organization’s impact weeks and months after an event or meeting.
HC: How did you get into it?
Sherrill: I discovered graphic recording by way of a book that popped up on my Amazon feed in 2014. Mike Rohde's book, The Sketchnote Handbook, essentially changed my life. I clicked and ordered the book because I was intrigued by the implications that sketchnoting (the small version of graphic recording) had as a literacy tool for learners. It increased engagement, memory, and personal relevance. All things we want students to learn! As an elementary art educator I began teaching my students to do it and researched the process more. That's when I found graphic recording and remember thinking, "People get paid to do this?! I'm going to do this when I grow up!" I practiced whenever I could and found a mentor in the field who let me tag along to learn from her. I started graphic recording at my faculty meetings at the back of the room or anywhere I could tape paper up and bring my markers along. I started my business, Meaningful Marks LLC 5 years ago and have LOVED the journey.
HC: I know you are an artist by training. Have you done additional training in graphic recording?
Sherrill: There are no degrees currently, but I have benefitted greatly from becoming a member of IFVP (International Forum of Visual Practitioners) and attending annual conferences with so many creative and generous practitioners in the field. I have done several trainings through IFVP on everything from using visual templates and color theory, to working visual in a digital world. Most recently I have done training in digital animation, using online drawing platforms, and different technology combinations for working remotely and sharing visually.
HC: What do you think graphic recording brings to meetings and public gatherings?
Sherrill: I think graphic recording is a powerful way to increase engagement, clarity, communication, and connection in an in person or virtual meeting. It is a unique way to help attendees feel heard, it encourages new ways of seeing the information, and allows people to process content at their own pace or revisit it after the meeting.
HC: Can you give us an example of a time when you saw that power in operation?
Sherrill: I have recently worked with a consultant who does trainings on hard history and unconscious bias. He was sharing the history of Thomas Jefferson, slavery, and lynching. I make sure to listen intently when I record and with a generative filter so as to make sure that what I write and draw will move a group forward. I kept asking myself if I needed to draw a lynching on the chart and I realized that it was a powerful truth that could help the group face the truth of what had happened. After the talk I watched as many people came up to read and take in the visuals. Many took pictures and said that it was the first time they had really processed the content.
HC: In this time of pandemic, sheltering at home, working and meeting virtually, how can graphic recording help us?
Sherrill: I have talked to several people lately who have started drawing out their notes during the multitude of Zoom meetings. Sketchnoting or graphic recording are creative ways to not just take notes but to journal, process your day, or even make a gratitude list using pictures. Sometimes drawing allows us to connect more immediately to our emotions and words and thoughts may flow more freely. One fellow sketchnoter I know draws out her recipes and calls them sketchipes! Anytime you want to remember information or make sense of it for yourself, using images and text together can help.
HC: What else do readers need to know about graphic recording?
Sherrill: The very first thing I learned about graphic recording and sketchnoting is that it is about IDEAS, not ART. We draw before we write and you can draw most anything using basic shapes...kind of like building something out of Legos. In fact, if you spend too much time trying to make your drawings look perfect, you miss the important content! It is so much more about process than pretty. If you are considering using graphic recording for a meeting in your organization and need the research and reason to advocate for it, please reach out! I'd love to talk.
HC: Thanks, Sherrill, for sharing your work with my readers. These days, we are engaged in lots of hard conversations in our communities and our world, and it strikes me that sketchnoting and graphic recording can be vehicles to help all of us attend to these conversations in a deeper and more meaningful way.
If you’d like to see more of Sherrill’s work, check out her Flickr page or see her website at Meaningful Marks LLC.
