MORTAR graduate Brandon Black doesn’t believe we have to communicate with words.
“Words are a useful tool but they’re not the only tool,” says Black, who last year was awarded one of two prestigious Haile Fellowships by People’s Liberty. “Drawnversation means to have conversations through images and pictures.”
Drawnversation provides graphic facilitation and graphic recording for people and businesses looking for new ways to communicate ideas. Black defined graphic facilitation as utilizing drawn imagery and words to enhance a process or communicate an idea, so that people are able to see the ideas in front of them. Graphic recording is the art of capturing communication in a visual format.
By creating the most relevant visual representation of the presented concepts, Black believes everyone can get on the same page.
“Drawnversation is a way of thinking and doing things differently and processing information and creating an equal playing field for people,” says Black. “Even when people use the same words or terms, those words can still be interpreted differently by everyone in the room.”
Using pastels, markers and a giant sheet of paper, Black records and facilitates meetings and presentations for people and organizations around the city.
Interact for Health uses Drawnversation’s unique approach to communication to visually capture their meetings. Program manager Jaime Love says Black’s graphics not only captures the content of the meetings but shows the dynamic of the conversation.
“People are just amazed at what he’s able to capture in the picture,” she says.
Love says there are a variety of different uses for Black’s drawings. Interact for Health displays Black’s drawings in their lobby as a way to encourage and continue conversations around important topics.
“The graphics stand out versus reading something on paper,” says Love. “Brandon does such an excellent job.”
Black hopes graphic recording and facilitation will become a more accepted form of communication.
“If we continue to focus on the model of printed word as the only way to gauge intelligence, we are missing out on a lot of great ideas and brilliant minds.”
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