Using the fun of cartoons to engage and inspire people across all aspects of work

I love to bring business ideas, decisions and important messages to life in visual format. I choose to use the medium of cartoons as by their nature they are inherently humorous and have the ability to effectively engage people.

But I didn’t start off as a corporate cartoonist. I’d like to say that my move into cartooning was a strategic career decision, but the reality is, I stumbled into it.

I started my career over 15 years ago, working as a professional engineer, before moving into operational and management roles and then into strategic roles such as corporate enterprise risk manager. These senior roles required active stakeholder engagement with the CEO, executive management team and all other employees across the organisation. This breadth of experience has allowed me to better understand the challenges faced by businesses in an ever rapidly changing environment. During this time, one theme has remained prevalent…

Capturing the hearts and minds of employees is the ultimate key to business success

This is where the ‘stumbling’ part kicks in. I was trying to communicate a change to an internal process and the standard approaches weren’t cutting it. So that’s when I decided to put my longtime passion for cartooning to use and created a short video using humorous metaphors to convey my message. I was amazed at the flurry of immediate and positive feedback.

Think about it… When was the last time someone ran up to you in the work corridor expressing great excitement over a report you had just produced?

People not only took the time to watch the video but better still, they were inspired to apply their new learning to their day-to-day work. As an added bonus (this I really hadn’t anticipated), they became advocates for the message and without prompting spread the word through their respective networks.

This response piqued my curiosity – What was it that was inspiring so many, apart from the obvious fact that it was different?  My research revealed that scientific studies into how people communicate and learn had identified the answer.  Ever heard of statistics such as:

…Or how about…

• 65% of people are visual learners
• Your brain can process visuals 60,000 times faster than text

These studies have reinforced what we probably intuitively already knew; it’s just that we mightn’t have seriously considered the potential breadth of its application in a business environment.

Since the initial video I have continued to explore the effectiveness of cartoons in the working environment. All types of business activities can benefit from the incorporation of cartoons, such as:

• Sketch note recording of strategic and idea generation workshops, where participants receive a copy of colourful ‘drawing’ minutes, not the typical black and text minutes that are all too familiar in today’s businesses
• Business case presentations, where a storytelling approach can be used to enable a clear understanding
• Office artwork, where office walls and coffee rooms are decorated with bespoke art work that reflects something core and unique about the business
• Training packages, where fun cartoon videos are used to help people readily understand the new material

I work with all types of businesses wishing to use cartoon drawings to engage and inspire their people. I provide either hand drawn sketches or finished digital drawings to meet your specific requirements.

I have to admit; I’m a bit of a cartoon nut and love to explore the different facets of this art form. I also publish a single panel gag cartoon called Just Outside the Box – it keeps me on my toes and forces me to think differently. You’ll also find other cartooning related projects such as The Art of series, kids books and my favourite, (because I’m a space nerd at heart),  Cosmic Caboodle, an online interactive science website for children.

If you wish to discuss your work project, I’d be delighted to hear from you.  I can be contacted via the form below.