Boost accessibility and increase engagement with Visual Note-taking
I love working on community focused projects!
So when Dave from the Cherry Orchard Community Centre got in touch with me to create Visual Notes for the Cherry Orchard Implementation Board I jumped at the opportunity.
The COIB, was created to provide a range of supports for the community of Cherry Orchard - The board is made up of 6 pillars:
Infrastructure
Youth Work Services
Community Services
Education
Life-Long Learning
Health & Wellbeing
My job was to attend each pillar’s meetings and create Visual Notes of their plans to relay back to the community.
Why was Visual Note-taking a good fit for this project?
Accessibility & Inclusion
Many people in Cherry Orchard come from a disadvantaged background, they may have left school early or struggled to engage with traditional forms of education. Long written documents are hard to understand and are intimidating to read - Visual Notes communicate the key messages in a casual, engaging way.
Including and informing all EVERYONE regardless of their level of education or literacy.
Here we go with the same old thing again…. Oh wait, that's new!!
Graphic Recording was a brand new, never seen before addition to the room. It piqued people’s interest, and got them REALLY excited. No more of the same old thing - using Visual Note-taking engaged the community and kept them posted.
(Lots of people also found the dodgy portraits very entertaining 👀)
But don’t just take my word for it, here’s what Dave had to say!
“Leah, from the outset, immersed herself in the collective goals of improving Cherry Orchards’ entire community. Leah brought a brand new approach of communication and this in turn has fast tracked our approach to service delivery.
The world needs more Leahs”
It’s not just about pretty pictures…
It’s about democratising information and including the entire community. Throughout these series of visual notes, I strived to make even the most mind-numbing pieces of information accessible and engaging. That’s the beauty of Visual Note-taking, through using simple words and fun illustrations, even grant applications can be exciting!!
Learn more about the Cherry Orchard Implementation Board and how they’ve been using my notes here.
