Digital or On-Paper? What approach should I use for my upcoming engagement?
Choosing the Right Graphic Recording Option for Your Next Project
Graphic recording is an incredible tool that helps organizations and communities visually capture ideas, insights, and discussions in real-time. Whether you're planning a conference, hosting a community engagement session, facilitating a team-building event, or conducting decision-making meetings, graphic recording can take your gathering to the next level.
At Elkplan, we provide both digital and on-paper graphic recording, and we understand that it can sometimes be challenging to choose which approach is right for your event. Each method has its unique benefits depending on the type of session, your audience, and the results you're hoping to achieve. In this post, we’ll walk you through when to choose paper versus digital, and how each option can benefit your next meeting or project.
Paper Graphic Recording: Tangible, Immersive, and Impactful
Graphic recording on paper is a fantastic choice for those who want to create a dynamic, physical representation of ideas that can be shared and displayed. Here’s when it might be the best option for your session:
In-person meetings: If you're gathering people in a physical space, nothing beats the impact of large-scale paper graphic recording.
Hybrid meetings: For events with both in-person and virtual participants, we recommend pairing on-paper graphic recording with a live video feed or sharing progress photos of the visual capture. This ensures online participants feel involved, while in-person attendees can appreciate the growing art in the room.
About Working on Paper: Our paper graphic recording sessions are typically done on large (8x4 feet) sheets of paper, though the size can be adjusted based on your space and event duration. The large paper is often affixed to a wall or board, creating a visually stunning focal point for discussions.
We take great care to capture the essence of your meeting – be it a team brainstorm, public consultation, or community forum – using a combination of text, imagery, and symbols that help convey your ideas in an engaging way.
Requirements for Paper Recording:
Large flat wall or area (about 10 feet of space, with at least 8 feet of floor space away from furniture)
Chairs for the graphic recorder to work from
Lighting and a clear view of the speakers/participants
Other Considerations:
The tangible nature of paper provides a physical artifact that participants can interact with during and after the session.
We can choose a color palette to suit your brand or project/event (i.e., incorporating blues and greens, or avoiding red).
At the end of the session, the visual is yours to keep, and you can display it at future engagements or in your office as a reminder of the collaboration.
After the session, we take photos of the graphic recording and then edit it in photoshop so that you end up with a clean, digitalized image for use in reports, presentations, or simply as a visual keepsake.
Typically, we will create 1 on-paper graphic recording per day.
Digital Graphic Recording: Flexible, Interactive, and Scalable
For those who prefer digital recordings, or for online meetings where participants are remote, digital graphic recording offers unmatched flexibility and scalability. Here’s when you should consider going digital:
In-person meetings: If you want a seamless and clean digital output without the logistics of large paper, digital is a great option.
Hybrid meetings: Digital recordings can be shared instantly with online participants via Zoom/Teams or other platforms, allowing for real-time updates to be seen by everyone.
Online meetings: This approach is ideal for fully virtual sessions, where the recording can be projected or displayed on an online collaboration platform.
About Working Digitally: The dimensions of the graphic recording varies, although we typically set our drawings to fit on an 11x17 inch page. Digital recordings are created using a tablet (typically an iPad) and a program called Procreate, and then projected on a screen or shared in an online video call. This allows for a hand-drawn, organic feel that captures the energy and flow of a conversation, just like with paper. However, the advantages of working digitally include the ability to easily adjust and edit the drawing as the meeting progresses. Whether it's adding details or adjusting elements to better fit the flow of conversation, digital allows for smooth changes without the limitations of physical materials.
Requirements for Digital Recording:
A way to display the graphic recording, such as a projector with HDMI connection or an online video platform
For in-person sessions, we’ll need a table, chair, power supply to ensure the tablet stays charged and ready to go, and a good view of all speakers or participants
Other Benefits:
Digital graphic recording allows for even more color options. We can match specific color palettes, have full colour backgrounds and adjust canvas sizes/ratios.
Digital reference images can be incorporated into the graphic recording.
With in-person digital drawing, we have greater flexibility. If your meeting includes breakout sessions or is held in multiple rooms, the digital recorder can easily move between spaces and capture details from different discussions.
The output is always sharp, clean, and suitable for high-quality prints or digital sharing.
Typically, we will create 2 digital graphic recordings per day.
Which Option Is Right for You?
Both paper and digital graphic recording have their strengths, and ultimately, the choice depends on your event's needs. For large-scale meetings or events where you want a highly immersive and tangible experience, paper can create a striking visual presence that attendees can engage with. For those who need flexibility, scalability, and a cleaner digital output digital graphic recording is a fantastic choice.
If you’re still unsure which option will be the best fit for your upcoming event or project, we’re here to help. Our team at Elkplan is ready to discuss the specifics of your session and guide you toward the ideal solution. Contact us today to explore how graphic recording can help bring your next project to life.
Paper Graphic Recording
Digital Graphic Recording
