
Our Favourite Visual Facilitation Books
Updated September 2019 with some new titles!
Summer is in full swing – hopefully this means you’re working at a slower pace lately, and maybe have a little extra time to flip a few pages at the beach. Personally, I’m trying to catch up on my reading-for-fun. Here’s a few books that Drawing Change graphic recorders have found helpful along their visual journeys.
Many of these are outside the ‘foundational’ visual practice books that often inform our work. And, if you’re new to the field, you’ll also see a list of classic books that are perfect for learning how to think with your pen.
Foundational Sketchnoting and graphic facilitation books
Brand new anthology! 50 authors from truly all around the world – The World of Visual Facilitation is now available! Sam has two chapters in this hefty, full colour book.
Brandy Agerbeck, whose gift at explaining things clearly and concisely, shines in this second major book about graphic facilitation called “The Idea Shapers”.
Brandy’s first book, the classic Graphic Facilitator’s Guide, celebrates its 10th birthday in 2022 and was one of the first books that turned Sam into a graphic facilitator!
The Sketchnote Handbook: the illustrated guide to visual note taking – by Mike Rhode
Draw To Win and Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures – Dan Roam
Resonate: Present Visual Stories that Transform Audiences Paperback – Nancy Duarte
Design a Better Business: New Tools, Skills, and Mindset for Strategy and Innovation – with Lisa Kay Solomon, Justin Lokitz, and Patrick Van Der Pijl
The Doodle Revolution – Unlock the Power To Think Differently – Sunni Brown
Draw Your Big Idea: the Ultimate Creativity Tool for Turning Thoughts into Action and Dreams Into Reality – Nora Herting and Heather Willems
The Front of The Room: a book on facilitation by experienced facilitators – by Dan Newman
Drawn Together Through Visual Practice – edited by Brandy Agerbeck, Kelvy Bird, Sam Bradd and Jennifer Shepherd
Kelvy Bird’s way of scribing, Generative Scribing, has changed my practice. The workshop and books are gifts to the field. This book describes “generative scribing” and “key concepts that inform and cultivate a scribe’s inner capacities of being, joining, perceiving, knowing, and drawing.”
I think I’ve bought 8 copies of adrienne maree brown’s book Emergent Strategy to give away so far. It’s about complexity, radical self-love, and community in your facilitation, with a sprinkling of science fiction/futurism.