On Friday 16 January 2026, I held the very first day dedicated to sketchnoting within the European institutions. The idea was simple: to celebrate sketchnoting with colleagues who had followed the StartSketch course, and with anyone curious about the practice.
For this first edition, Celia Pessaud kindly agreed straight away to organise it with me. We chose to keep things light and flexible. Colleagues could drop in at any time, without registration, and stay for as long (or as little) as they wanted. We offered a few simple and playful sketchnoting activities. We began with a warm-up to step away from daily work and reconnect with creativity. Then participants could choose what suited them: sketching their 2025 retrospective, their 2026 resolutions, their hopes and fears for 2026, a visual agenda, or contributing to a visual dictionary of EU jargon. We ended with a large mural where everyone could leave a trace: an avatar, a thought, or a quote.
The atmosphere was calm and relaxed, but also full of energy. Smiles quickly turned into quiet focus as people leaned over their paper and started sketching.
Many told us they had barely practised sketchnoting since the course, but that the day gave them fresh motivation to start again. Others said that thinking visually helped them reflect differently, less linearly, and clarify their ideas. Several even suggested doing this every month.
So, what do I take away from this first EU Sketchnote Day?
- First, it simply feels good for those who practise and for those who watch. It creates a different state of mind: more attention, better focus, stronger synthesis, and more creativity. And all this without needing to “know how to draw”.
- I also realise that one day a year is not enough. The interest is clearly there. We will keep an annual celebration, but between those moments we could organise regular “Visual Fridays” to practise together around a theme or a concrete need. And we should keep building our shared visual dictionary.
- Finally, what I treasure most is the reminder that I work with extraordinary colleagues. Starting with Célia, who supports all my visual ideas, and Catherine Focant, with whom I developed the introductory sketchnoting course.
Thank you all!
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