So Long and Thanks for All the Doodles! We were lucky to bring Coté Soerens out to Los Angeles to work with James Rojas in the Pico-Union neighborhood with The Pico Union Project an United Way of Greater Los Angeles. #placemaking
I never get tired to witness how powerful doodles can be in a process of social change. Last Saturday my friend Madeleine Spencer from PlacemakingUS invited me and others to take part in this community-led workshop imagining an ideal neighborhood in Pico Union. I went as a visual facilitator. Instead of charts and surveys, we used doodles and blocks to help folks draw from their childhood memories to imagine their ideal neighborhood and get dreaming. If we are living through turbulent times, visual notetaking continues to be my weapon of choice in building better futures. Here is why: ??? 1. It builds a larger table. Visual notetaking brings people with different education levels, language ability, or learning styles into the conversation. Research shows that incorporating visual elements improves engagement and comprehension among diverse learners, making complex ideas more accessible and equipping more people to contribute meaningfully. Suddenly, the table becomes larger. ???? 2. It unlocks empathy. We show up at meetings prepared to use our frontal cortex, ready to talk logic, data, and strategy. Visuals open up the emotional and social areas of the brain fostering empathy and deeper connections. The result? More fun. More connection. More human conversations. ?? 3. It makes all voices visible. In community discussions, some perspectives naturally get more airtime. Visual notetaking subverts this by giving visual weight to every comment. When participants see their ideas reflected visually, it communicates that they matter, invreasing participation, mutual accountability, and trust. Visual notetaking doesn’t just record conversations; it reshapes them. It democratizes ideas. It builds trust. It transforms dialogue into shared understanding. ?? Have you experienced a moment where a visual changed the conversation? I’d love to hear how visual storytelling has impacted your work. #VisualThinking #SocialChange #GraphicRecording #Inclusion #CommunityEngagement #EmpathyInDesign #VisualStorytelling
