Graphic recording at #illustraTED | Progress enigma

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Written by

Paula Tesch

The first day of TED brought twenty talented speakers and performers, and three thought provoking themes: Progress Enigma, Beautiful Imperfection, and The Spark.

For us, TED isn’t just about listening to the talks, it’s about synthesizing the information, recording it graphically, and uncovering a visual story. Our dynamic duo of illustrators–Dave Nguyen and Jonathan Valiente–transformed the first seven TED Talks into one cohesive visual about Process Enigma.

More than any other year, the speakers acknowledged those who had been onstage before them, referencing their ideas and incorporating bits of language that made the group of speeches feel all the more connected.

The general idea is that we’re up against a lot of obstacles on the road to progress, but we are on track to overcome them, with the help of each other, and a few robots.

Check out the video and photos below to see our whole process from start to finish.

Duarte video: What are some visual storytelling and slide design examples from Duarte?

Dave Nguyen and Jonathan Valiente transforming Ted Talks into Progress Enigma

Hand drawn mapping of Progress Enigma

See you back here for Day 2!