About
Hi, I’m Sam Bradd (MEd) and the Principal of Drawing Change. With 25 years’ of facilitation experience, I focus on creating visuals for organizational development and systems change. I’m an author, have trained hundreds of graphic recorders, worked in 11 countries and have expertise in health systems, environment, social policy and helping people have better meetings. I love meeting people who know we can approach complex issues differently - together, we're drawing change.
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Drawing Change has deep expertise in strategic communications consulting, focusing on visuals for organizational development and systems change. Our visuals and ways of working synthesize complex information, sustain engagement, support problem-solving, and honour multiple ways of knowing. Our services include:
- graphic facilitation/ graphic recording (online and in person)
- group meeting facilitation (online and in person)
- strategic planning illustrations and infographics
- layout for print and web.
We provide facilitation and graphic facilitation that is strengths-based, creative and participatory, works with complexity, and uses an intersectional and anti-racism lens.
Drawing Change is recognized globally for our expertise, especially in health, environment, and social policy. Our collaborators include the World Health Organization, Harvard, knowledge translation experts, Indigenous rights-holders, researchers, governments, Google, and non-profits working for a better world.
And here’s a bit about me:
My facilitation is grounded in who I am, and where I’m from. I’m a 3rd generation white settler of Italian/Scottish heritage, and I live on unceded Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh territories (Vancouver Canada). When I was a young queer and trans person, making art got me through the hard times – and looking back, I realize I did something unusual in meetings. I would pull out paper and explain ideas by drawing. Drawing helped me think. It wasn’t about the fanciest drawings - it helped people around me do their best work. My first career was in the advocacy sector, where my toolbox included working in consensus, labour relations, and building capacity in the disability sector. This strategic visual thinking pivoted my career in a new direction - and I found my knack for visualizing systems and abstract concepts that are hard to explain. Today, I love seeing people be creative together, especially the ‘aha!’ moments when we can use non-linear methods and dialogue to find new ways forward.
My formal education includes:
- a Masters of Educational Studies (MEd, UBC, 2014)
- Certification in Human Systems Dynamics (2020)
- Certification in Integral Facilitation (2020)
- Training with Deep Democracy; Liberating Structures; Training for Change
- I’m a Dialogue Associate with the Simon Fraser University’s Centre for Dialogue
As an author, I’ve co-edited two books including Drawn Together Through Visual Practice (2016), am a contributor to the World of Visual Practice, and am a co-founder of the award-winning Graphic History Collective that creates peoples’ histories in accessible formats. And Drawing Change likes to give back, including with our Foundation.
Today, my favourite projects turn complex information into something engaging: trainings, strategic planning and knowledge translation products.
I love collaborating with people who know we can approach complexity differently - with visuals.
Together, we’re drawing change.
