Graphic Recording, Scribing, and Live-Illustration
Graphic recording (or scribing) is one of the most direct ways to capture complex thinking and make it instantly visible. As your meeting, workshop, or conference unfolds, our scribes draw the conversation in real time: ideas, connections, tensions, breakthroughs. All of it, in one coherent visual picture.
What is graphic recording?
Graphic recording (also known as live scribing or graphic facilitation) is the practice of listening to a conversation and translating it into a hand-drawn, visual summary - live, in the room. It's not just note-taking. It's sense-making. The act of drawing a conversation forces clarity: ideas that were vague become concrete, and connections that were invisible become obvious.
At Burograph, we've been delivering graphic recording across the UK for organisations navigating complexity - from leadership conferences to large-scale transformation programmes.
“You see every nuance of the discussion, the challenge to be tackled. It laid bare the dilemmas to be collectively faced and how convergent decisions were reached.”
(Iain McAndrew MInstF, Director of Fundraising and Communications)
What does a scribe actually do?
Our scribes arrive early, brief themselves on your content, and take their position at their boards, wall or on a digital set-up. As the conversation unfolds, they listen actively, capturing key themes, quotes, decisions, and questions in real time. By the end of your session, you have a high-resolution visual record of everything that was said.
It's one of the most effective ways to create alignment in a room. When people see their words reflected back at them as part of a coherent visual narrative, something shifts. They feel heard. And they remember it.
In-person and digital
Our team works with good old-fashioned pens and the latest digital tools, both onsite and remotely. In person, we draw at scale: the kind of image that fills a wall and draws people in. Digitally, we work on iPad in real time, sharing a live view with your audience via screen or presentation tool.
You receive your artwork in high resolution, ready to share, print, or animate.
If your meeting is important enough that you'd regret not capturing it properly - it's probably worth having a scribe there.
“Having a visual interpretation of all the content was a hugely valuable addition to the training. It broke down the complexity and reinforced the learning.”
(Participant, Leadership Development workshop)
When does live scribing work best?
Graphic recording works best when the conversation matters - when you need people engaged, aligned, and remembering what was agreed. We're most often in the room for leadership summits and all-hands events, strategic planning workshops, large-scale change and transformation programmes, conferences and panel discussions, and client or stakeholder engagement sessions.
