Cornell University
Project
2-day conference
Service
Visual Notes In-Person & Digital Project
Measuring & Addressing Racism in the Food System
“We were addressing a complex, sensitive issue and having the visuals drawn in real-time added to the audience experience.”
Sheelah Muhammad, Lead Strategist at S Mpact Consulting
Challenge
Building community engagement among an audience that is a mix of people from all different areas of the food system.
The Big Picture: Group Problem-Solving
When Cornell University hosted Understanding, Measuring and Addressing Racism in the Food System at the University of Chicago, it brought together a diverse audience–from academics and policymakers to farmers and community leaders. Visual notes united the group in finding solutions.
So, how do you build community engagement among people from different sectors on a sensitive and complex topic over two days? You tap into the power of visual notes.
That’s what Dr. Angela Odoms-Young, Nancy Schlegel Meining Assoc. Professor of Maternal and Child Nutrition at Cornell University, and Sheelah Muhammad, lead strategist at S Mpact Consulting, did when hosting their conference: Understanding, Measuring and Addressing Racism in the Food System.
The conference was a rare opportunity to bring together academics, researchers, policymakers, farmers, and community activists to identify solutions to a legacy issue.
“A lot of people in the audience already knew the problem. We wanted to talk about it and create solutions,” said Muhammad.
Solution
2-day conference, supported by 2 artists
Creating a collaborative environment that supported idea-sharing was paramount.
To do this, the team turned to Ink Factory to draw visual notes throughout the two-day conference. Artists captured analog visual notes (using markers and posters) and digital visual notes (using a tablet), which they projected on a large screen at the front of the room so the audience could reflect and respond in real-time.
“Our conference was focused on advocacy and the drawing became a big part of that. Everyone was excited about the artists. They were part of the conference–not just off to the side.”
Dr. Angela Odoms-Young, Associate Professor at Cornell University
Result
In-person physical and digital visual notes were displayed simultaneously over 2 days, and the visual notes live on in presentation slides and post-conference reports.
Visual notes help people understand
Dr. Odoms-Young also appreciated how visual notes illuminated concepts so people could understand complex relationships.
Today, the visual notes continue to serve an important purpose. They live in a post-conference report and are key to conversations with partner organizations.
“I’ve already used them in a presentation for a discussion with a large non-profit organization. They appreciated not having sterile slides, but using visual notes to talk about what came out of the convening.”
Dr. Angela Odoms-Young, Associate Professor at Cornell University
Meet the TEAM
No, we’re not tattoo artists. We’re really big visual note-taking nerds. The kind of people who get genuinely excited about the perfect marker color and debate the best way to draw a lightbulb. Sure, we take our work seriously—but we refuse to take ourselves too seriously.
Ariana Wallis Essian
Artist
Alison Vellas
Director of Creative & Brand Experience
Grace Hanson
Client Specialist
See it for YOURSELF
Finding the next step is harder when your wires are crossed. Drawing can help you get everyone on the same page—without all the sticky notes.
You won’t regret it
