What is Øredev?

Øredev, an annual conference held in Malmo Sweden, has its origins and focus on the software development process, from programming to project management.

How did the organizer come to learn about graphic facilitation?

Emily Holweck and Olof Adell were inspired when they saw ImageThink’s graphic recording at 74 sessions at SXSW Interactive earlier in the year. In addition, Emily shared that the participants, intent and thoughtful software developers, are often socially reserved. She was hoping our work would be a good conversation starter.

Emily and the program staff at Øredev were so excited about graphic facilitation that they didn’t just want to use it to capture their content, they wanted to turn the practice into content for their conference, by having Imagethink be conference speakers and teachers.

How can software developers integrate visuals into their own practice?

Software development is not just about coding. Collaboration and project management is critical to creating good software. 13 participants from as far as Israel and India attended a pre-conference workshop on Working Visually 101.

During their presentation on Visual Collaboration we shared simple principles for organizing information visually to facilitate team work. Was this a topic of interest to programmers? There was standing room only! The audience got to try out their new skills by attempting to each graphic record the Abba song “Take a Chance on Me”!

Like many conferences, Oredev had a twitter hashtag and twitter stream. They didn’t stop there. Imagethink set up mural size foam boards and a plasma screen in the common space. We then selected the best, and most visual tweets to visualize along with the author’s twitter handle. Those whose tweets became part of the mural won a prize from the conference! Attendees would return again and again to see if their tweets had been illustrated.

What did the attendees think?

Testimonials and feedback:

Another thing that really stood out were the graphic live-recordings by Heather and Nora from Imagethink. These talented ladies recorded every keynote live on stage, and made the beautifully looking artworks available as handouts later on. A brilliant idea. - Zeger Van Hese CTC Consultant, Belgium

Image Think raised the tone of the conference. Their work was a great conversation starter and they communicated the content of the conference in a fun and universially understandable language. A great investment!- Kathy Compton Øredev

aallan Alasdair Allan
Really enjoying @imagethink's work at #oredev. It's interesting to see it evolving in real time during the keynotes

jakobklamra jakobklamra
Fantastic workshop with @ImageThink at #oredev. Learnt so much. Thank you! And now my hands are all blue from the markers.

kn0thing Alexis Ohanian
Agreed! This was awesome - and 2x! RT @jeantabaka: Real time animation of #Oredev keynote by @imagethink is mind blasting. Nicely done


athought Steven (Doc) List
Thoroughly impressed with the work and the women who are @imagethink #oredev

About ImageThink

ImageThink was founded by two pretty amazing friends: Nora Herting and Heather Willems. The pair share a unique background. Both are trained fine artists and art educators who have a passion for clear communication. They use the art of graphic facilitation to help organizations of all sizes get their message across in a fun, effective, and memorable way.

What does ImageThink do?

Graphic recording is a powerful creative catalyst and meeting tool. ImageThink graphic recordings have aided acquisitions, mergers, LEAN implementation, brand essence brainstorming, strategy and mission development, IT implementations, culture transformations, advertising pitches, keynote speakers, and panel discussions. As graphic facilitators, ImageThink transform complex ideas into powerful visual stories. This means your meetings are more engaging, productive and fun. ImageThink supports keynote speakers, strategy workshops, innovation sessions, and brainstorms in industries as varied as healthcare to aerospace. If you need your team to understand and act on complicated information in a short time frame, graphic facilitation is the tool you want to use. 2/3 of all people are visual learners. Graphic facilitation provides the data your team needs in the way they can process it best!

What Type of Companies Use Graphic Facilitators?

ImageThink has worked with some of the world’s best companies. We’re proud to say our client list includes Google, Ogilvy, Johnson&Johnson, Lego, Time Warner, and UNICEF. You can see our work at trade shows, conferences, conventions, and professional meetings as well. ImageThink has supported conferences around the globe including: SXSW Interactive (Austin, TX), MLove (Germany) 99% Conference (NYC), Oredev Userverse (Sweden), and Celebration for Entrepreneurship (Dubai.)

Tell Me More About Nora and Heather!

The ImageThink team of graphic facilitators has an impressive teaching background. Between them, Nora and Heather have taught classes at Ohio State University, Denison University, Minnesota Center for Photography, and Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Both women also work as fine artists. Their body of work includes creating art installations, performance art, videos and animations, public portraiture, social gardening, and conducting drawing and graphic recording workshops.