visual thinking – Claudio Nichele

27/11/202527/11/2025

Large-Scale Review meeting – Digital graphic recording

If you’re not part of the EU bubble, you may not be aware that the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has asked Commissioner Piotr Serafin to lead a large-scale review of the Commission’s organisation and operations, together with an external benchmarking exercise. The aim is to ensure that Europe has a modern, efficient public administration capable of delivering on its political priorities and improving the daily lives of Europeans.

Since April 2025, I’ve had the privilege of supporting, from time to time, the internal team working on this initiative. I contribute with the tools and capacities I know best, especially participatory facilitation and visual thinking, during consultation and reflection sessions with staff.

Last Friday, all European Commission staff were invited to a meeting, held onsite for some and online for most, where the main actors openly discussed the process behind the initiative. Among other things, they explained that the review seeks inclusiveness and collaboration to help shape a more agile, effective, and attractive Commission for the future. My role in this major event was to visually capture the key points from the discussions. For the first time, I worked from an interpretation booth, alongside the French and German interpreters, where my task was to “interpret” the room’s conversation into visual language.

My graphic recording was widely shared internally afterwards as part of the follow-up communication. The feedback I received, both privately and publicly, has been very positive and truly encouraging: colleagues highlighted how valuable visual harvesting is for complex, high-stakes discussions, appreciated the clarity and completeness of the capture, and praised how the visual summary distilled 1h15 of exchanges into a single, accessible image.

I’m proud to see how my practice of visual thinking, which includes graphic facilitation, sketchnoting, and graphic harvesting, has evolved from a tiny niche within the Commission more than 20 years ago to something now requested and used at high-level events. One of my greatest satisfactions is having helped bring this innovation into the Commission, equipping colleagues to think not only with text but also with hand-drawn visuals (icons, arrows, containers, etc.) for richer, broader and more inclusive reflection. I’m grateful to all those who believed in this approach, who had the courage to try visual thinking, and to everyone today who is keen to learn it.

The European Commission needs more creativity and innovative thinking to meet the complex challenges of today’s world. Visual thinking is a skill to be relearned, not just a tool, and it can help achieve this. This is my personal conviction and it is entirely my own opinion.

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15/11/202518/11/2025

Reflections after the graphic recording at SG REFORM staff away day

On 12 November 2025, I had the opportunity to visually capture the discussions as a graphic recorder during the first away day for staff of SG REFORM, a Directorate-General of the European Commission.

While we often discuss transformation and innovation theoretically or empirically, SG REFORM lives it.

Their teams emerged from the merger of two departments (DGs) during the COVID crisis, rapidly developing innovative solutions like the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), which is now deployed to tackle almost every crisis the EU has faced since.

At SG REFORM, they are trailblazers exploring uncharted territories, blending traditional and modern work methods to tackle complex issues collaboratively in a matrix structure. In these challenging times, including workload and political pressures, their management trusts the dynamism and expertise of their remarkably young team.

I am proud to be a colleague, in a way close to these people who are shaping the future of the EU with resilience, expertise, and creativity. I didn’t know them well before, but my role as graphic recorder for their internal event gave me an added perspective and allowed me to forge an emotional connection. It helped me focus on the individuals, the teams, and their overall work context. That’s not necessarily what I conveyed visually, but that’s the impression I got.

My post on Linkedin

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02/11/202518/11/2025

My Inktober 2025

I just completed the Inktober 2025 challenge!
Thirty-one days and thirty-one prompts to draw (=the Inktober challenge during October), thirty-one one-line drawings made with a single black marker(my own challenge in the challenge).

Beyond the creative challenge, what I found most inspiring was being part of a global community of artists and sketchers, all working on the same idea, each in our own way, yet connected through the shared rhythm of daily creation. Seeing others’ works, exchanging encouragement, and feeling that collective support truly strengthened my sense of belonging.

A heartfelt thank you to everyone who followed, liked, or commented on Instagram and Bluesky, your engagement made this experience even richer.
Until the next challenge, the marker will not stop, the inspiration continues, and the visual thinking does the same.

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31/10/202518/11/2025

Believe in people and let them fly

Last week, during the Evidence-Informed Policy-Making (EIPM) community meeting in Brussels, I had the chance to do what I love: bringing ideas to life through graphic recording. But this time was special. I was joined by five colleagues I had recently trained in sketchnoting with Célia Pessaud.

For them, it was their first live recording experience. They stepped forward with curiosity, courage and trust, and they did beautifully. Seeing them in action filled me with joy and pride. It reminded me that leadership is not about doing things alone, but about creating the conditions for others to grow and shine. Célia and I wanted to share not just the techniques of visual thinking, but also the confidence to use them. And that’s exactly what happened.

I deeply believe that visual thinking belongs to everyone as a tool for reflection, communication and collective sense-making.
To the five visual thinkers who joined me that day: thank you. You made the invisible visible and you made me proud.

If you are a member of the European institutions and also want to learn the basics of sketchnoting, search for “StartSketch” on EU Learn, our training platform.

My post on Linkedin

EIPM event - graphic recording with new practitioners

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24/05/202521/06/2025

The power of the H in Human Resources

At nearly every event I attend – whether as a participant or a visual notetaker – artificial intelligence is front and centre. People are exploring, debating, and sometimes worrying about how AI is transforming jobs, processes, and mindsets.

This was certainly true at the recent gathering of HR professionals from the European institutions. Speakers and participants shared how AI is revolutionising their roles, procedures, and ways of working. What resonated with me most? Hearing that in the face of this technological upheaval, HR professionals are choosing to double down on the “H” in HR – the human element that makes us truly unique.

On a more personal note, I’m grateful to be considered part of this HR community, even if I’m not officially an HR officer. Over the years, I’ve worked closely with HR colleagues across the institutions, from supporting internal communication efforts in the past, to more recently helping them develop their community of practice, and capturing their events through graphic recording, which they seem to particularly enjoy.

This community, which has now officially opened up to all HR professionals across the institutions, is one I often cite as a powerful example of what it takes to build and grow a successful community of practice.

A heartfelt thank you to those who work tirelessly to keep this community alive – and who trust me to visually capture its key milestones.

The power of “H” in Human Resources - Graphic harvesting

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14/04/202528/07/2025

Starter pack made by human intelligence

It would have been so much easier to write a prompt and receive my starter pack image in one second. Instead, I thought about what I wanted in mine and worked on it long enough to decide I didn’t want to be boxed in. So I escaped from the box. Basically, I’m sad and infuriating to see AIs stealing artists’ rights by copying their art (Studio Ghibli knows something about this), and to make people believe that creating a drawing or any image can be done by prompting an AI with text for a result in a few seconds. Where is the pleasure in taking the time to hand-draw your image? Where is the learning from making mistakes, from wanting to start again and again?

Art and visual creativity are not just a result but are above all and primarily a practice.

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09/04/202517/04/2025

Third meeting of the European Citizens’ Initiative network

Here is my graphic recording from the 3rd meeting of the ECI network, the European Citizens’ Initiative.
For a full day, European partners working to promote and communicate this unique tool of participatory democracy gathered at the invitation of the Secretariat-General of the European Commission. Their goal? To explore how they could better collaborate so that more EU citizens are aware of and make use of the initiative.
From my external perspective, one key takeaway stood out: to truly reach citizens, we must meet them where they are, with stronger, more effective communication. This means better campaigns, clearer tools, and more resources. Partners also expressed the need for financial support from the EU and called for a simplification of the administrative procedure, so that reaching the goal of one million signatures becomes more realistic. Incentives, encouragement, and active support from the Commission would help initiators stay motivated throughout the process.

And you, have you heard of this unique European tool for participatory democracy?

I would like to thank Barbara Walentynowicz and Adriana Mungiu for trusting me for the second consecutive year with the graphic recording; and thank Mira Bangel and Marina Lynch with whom the facilitation of the event is so natural and efficient.

ECIgathering_20250408_CommunicationChallenges

ECIgathering_20250408_Knowledge CaféSessions1of2

ECIgathering_20250408_Knowledge CaféSessions2of2

ECIgathering_20250408_QuestionsToDiscuss

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