Visual Minutes for Thames Valley Police

Yesterday I was working for the police in Reading, they held a world cafe for women from BME backgrounds. Questions were asked of the group and I was there to reflect the hopes and needs of the people in the room.

There was lots of discussion and ideas and hopefully from the seeds planted here, stronger bonds and relationships will grow. 

In the light of recent events these kinds of meetings are more important than ever.

Graphic Recording at a Wedding, London

I was recently commissioned to sketch live at a wedding, creating a visual narrative from the ceremony, to the reception and then into the evening speeches and party. 

It was an emotional and fun day, here's the full image (about 1 metre square) with some close-ups below.

Photo's by https://www.wearetheclarkes.com/

Lovely venue for the ceremony on the roof garden of Ham Yard Hotel:

https://www.firmdalehotels.com/hotels/london/ham-yard-hotel/private-events-meetings/roof-terrace/

Wishing Kate and Peppy many more years of happiness together!

Illustrations for Leeds University

Some continuing experiments in the virtual world using my new Ipad Pro (whoop!).

As the subject is all about performance and scoping audiences, I felt compelled to get a David Bowie reference in there, see if you can spot it...

hard to miss really...

This has been fun - I'd recommend it for honing down your ideas and sharing them post-event, or if you're trying to spice up a report or research project - anything where you're trying to engage people and share your ideas!

Audience Research Project - Leeds Uni

I suggested that I illustrate this conference post-event because there was a limited budget, so have been sent a list of bright ideas that I'm working through and sketching 'remotely'.

I've been taking my time and using this project to learn how to use my new iPad Pro, have to say it's a revelation!

Anatomy of an NHS poster

I'm showing this as an example of how the creative process becomes more of a collaboration when there is the time and energy to do it!

This story stared in February when I was asked to draw an image as part of this inaugural award:

http://clahrc-northwestlondon.nihr.ac.uk/getting-involved/brian-turley-award

I started sketching out ideas from a written and spoken brief. The theme of 'patient as partner' was very much central to the winning team's working methods. 

 After further conversations about the sketch, I then work it up into a more 'understandable' version, using the idea of the marathon and three peaks as part of the journey as well as various touch points throughout the patient journey, as well as the two converging paths of hospital staff and patients:

We then discussed this further, the team discussed it both internally and then also showed it to patients to get their input. This was integral to their project which is all about patient participation. Quite a lot was removed and colour was added, there were logos that needed space and certain images were replaced.

After this feedback had been digested, a final version was created, and tweaked, and this was the end result:

The A3 poster and A5 flyers will now be used to spread the word about the efficacy of the 'Prepare for Surgery' project and the positive outcomes for patients as a result of them being fully involved in their cancer treatment.

I was very glad to have been able to work on such a meaningful and worthwhile project. Thanks to Eleanor Beer for the referral and to Rachel Matthews at Imperial College and the Prepare team at St Mary's Hospital, London.

For more on the project please watch this short film:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zD6CatlI_68

Graphic Recording in London

This week a client invited me back to draw live at an IT conference. I was there to capture the stories of the speakers and highlight key themes.

A photograph of me scribing from a previous event had been included in their brochure to (hopefully) lure the punters, and explain the term 'graphic recording':

It was an intense couple of days but most of the conference focussed on organisational culture and working well together as multifunctional 'DevOps' teams.

This is one of the rare times I can show what I've been up to as recently I've been having to sign NDA's and swear an oath of secrecy!

Posters for Moorfields Eye Hospital, London

Moorfields Eye Hospital asked me to come up with some ideas for a poster campaign with the theme 'Courage to Challenge', to give nurses and technicians, and people lower down the hospital hierarchy the support to challenge behaviours within the hospital by those higher up in staff ranks, e.g. doctors and consultants.

This was quite a tricky brief, as people find it very difficult to challenge their peers and 'superiors', and the client wanted to tread the fine line between being humorous but not belittling the subject or patronising the healthcare professionals involved.

My first attempt was not used as I tried involving animals and the metaphor of an elephant that always forgets to do things the right way - unfortunately deemed too childish for senior consultants!

So here are the ideas we arrived at: