Last week’s heatwave made for an interesting backdrop to London Climate Action Week, with a number of events being cancelled due to the extreme temperatures, and many people unable to make their commitments thanks to travel plans being disrupted or ill-advised. I – thankfully – was able to escape my poorly-insulated and therefore oven-like 1980s loft conversion and camp at my friend’s house with the dogs while he braved out the scorchio conditions in the city and made his contributions to the discourse at LCAW.
I practised graphic recording by logging into a number of webinars and presentations which was a good exercise in using my pens and learning to organise the layout, and I’m pleased with my output. The occasional thunderstorm meant it was safe to walk the dogs, but the relentless heat was really draining.
We have a few days of cooler and less humid weather this week before the weather starts to get hotter again, so I have got a lot of things to get done. I want to have a go at graphic recording on A1 paper on my easel as I’ve only been working on A3 paper at a desk with my markers. I am enjoying the process, and even though my other artwork has been shoved aside for the time being, I feel like I am getting the hang of listening and working out what to put on the paper, and how.
There were lots of different formats, from panel discussions to more conversational chats, and the times varied from about 40 minutes to an hour and a half. I need to remember to put my name on the maps, which I kept forgetting to do, and some of the colours weren’t as bold as they needed to be. I’m aware they are quite wordy and I need to incorporate more drawing but that will happen with practise. To be fair, they were all quite data- and detail-heavy and dealing with some serious subject matter but it’s good to see them all together. I was also working blind in that I only had the event details on the websites as my background information, and in the real world I would have a directive from the client as to the emphasis or audience required so with these I tried different outcomes. Is the map meant for people who had attended the event and needed a memory-jog? Or is the info primarily for people outside the organisation to understand what was said? Will it just be shared internally, or need to be punchy and highly visual so will stand out on social media? Graphic recording has multiple applications and the end design will vary accordingly.
In other news, I need to make a Spanish version of the Yasuní poster, but I’ve been given the bird names and it’s just a question of swapping the English names so shouldn’t take too long. Oh and I need to sell some more birdwatching logbooks now that people can venture out without melting!
How did you deal with the hot weather?
