Best Digital Tools for Virtual Graphic Recording
With events and meetings moving online, visual recording has evolved with them. Has graphic recording gone virtual? Yes, in a big way; it has now easily migrated from having spaces on large whiteboards with accompanying markers used in a formal conference room setting. Whether you’re taking notes in one app during a Zoom session or facilitating a remote workshop, digital tools allow you to create engaging visuals on the fly.
The right tools can make all the difference if you’re a graphic facilitator (or an aspiring visual thinker). So, let’s take a closer look at three of the leading digital tools — Procreate, Concepts, and Miro, and how they are changing the landscape of virtual graphic recording.
To Get Started With: Fresco: Power Meets Precision
Adobe Fresco is a digital artist’s best friend, making it a great choice for visual recording throughout your online graphic sessions. Fresco is designed for natural drawing and painting with various brushes from vector to pixel and live brushes that closely approximate real-world media such as watercolor and oil paint. Graphic recorders regularly draw upon their artistic versatility to fluidly jump from one style to another and create dynamic event content in the moment.
Its integration with Adobe Creative Cloud means that projects can be shared or refined easily through other platforms. Fresco also has layers, the ability to mask images within each layer, and the ability to record a time-lapse of screen captures of your artistic process, which is a helpful way to document how your drawings and visual notes evolved. The touch-friendly interface and stylus compatibility seamlessly flow from concept to well-crafted pieces. Whether deployed on an iPad or a full desktop, Fresco is a professional-grade tool for expressing your ideas in fast-moving, visual formats.
Concepts: Ambient and Unlimited
Another iPad-friendly, creativity-first, flexible and open-ended tool is concepts. Its standout feature is its infinite canvas — you’re always free from the bounds of screen size or page dimensions, which is really helpful for lengthy conversations or elaborate workshop flows.
Just as with the vector-based system of Procreate for iPad, Concepts takes regular repositioning of its drawing elements into play, so you can move your sketches at any time, resize and recolor them with ease, taking the stress out of editing live with it. It’s perfect for Graphic Facilitators who iterate quickly or you have to re-work content for your audience
The app also has layers, templates, and multiple brush styles. And whether you’re outlining a keynote address or creating a visual map of a group discussion, Concepts helps you remain adaptable in ever-changing environments.
Miro: The New Frontier of Real-Time Collaboration
Miro is a Holy Grail for remote collaboration And although it’s not a drawing app in the strictest sense, it acts like a collaborative whiteboard where teams can brainstorm, plan and co-create at once. Graphic recorders can also use Miro’s pen and shape tools to quickly sketch visuals, record group input, and create interactive maps in real time during live sessions.
Its real power is in its collaborative features. You can have contributors adding material, commenting on, or otherwise interacting with material as it’s being developed. For capturing visuals in virtual workshops or hybrid events, Miro is a shared space that captures how visuals develop as input is provided by the group.
Pair Miro with an external drawing tablet or use it in tandem with Procreate or Concepts to meld detailed illustration with interactive collaboration.
Final Thoughts
In an age where virtual events have made deep connection harder, the right digital tools are essential to keep pace with visual recording. Whether you create solo as an illustrator in Procreate, ideate freely using Concepts, or are a Graphic facilitator building team experiences with Miro, these tools provide the flexibility, creativity, and real-time engagement to meet the demands of events today.
Digital graphic recording creates new possibilities to visualize and remember ideas in virtual spaces, no matter your style or skill set.
