Aligning goals and creating visions in real time
Sometimes the best way to plan the future is with the simplest tools. These two projects show how giant sheets of paper and markers can bring a community's goals together as they happen. By listening closely to the speakers live on the day, I drew their ideas into a shared visual landscape- giving everyone an immediate, understandable picture of where they want to go next.
Fresh energy for long term community projects: Several volunteer groups, all working on different restoration projects along a local stream, came together for an open community workshop. They needed a way to share their individual aspirations, find common goals, and map out a collective plan to bring the waterway back to vitality.
I captured the energy of the workshop live on a large, blank canvas using markers and pastels. Working entirely on paper allowed the audience to see a shared vision emerge in real time. Because the final visuals were tangible, community members could interact with them directly - touching the paper, writing down extra thoughts, and photographing the ideas to share later.
Capturing policy and change: The timeline is a useful framework to capture important events, local council decisions and wider policy changes that affect the area.
Harvesting group knowledge: I created an accurate map before the session so we could capture with string and cards all the work happening on and around the stream. After the workshop I produce a more polished version to send to the organisers.
Linking people, ideas and possibilities
Predator Free Kāpiti Coast is a new regional group built to unite smaller, local predator control groups and support them with advice, best practice and access to volunteers. With the inspiring vision of "A Kāpiti Coast where nature thrives," they hosted a community hui to map out the path forward. I scribed the day live, capturing the conversations and connections between the groups to help this new organisation step into the future with a clear, shared direction.
