Can you draw empathy using an AI?..
Why draw yourself when AI can do it for you
That’s what I talked to Signe Dilling fra Streger m.m. about.
Signe Dilling does not teach people how to “draw nicely.” She teaches them to use drawing as a tool to create an overview, a sense of safety, and shared understanding in complex educational and social contexts.
Where AI delivers the finished (and often polished) result, the hand-drawn line delivers something completely different:
Presence: A drawing that is created in the moment invites dialogue, not just admiration.
Sense of ownership: When we draw our challenges, we own the solutions.
Psychological safety: The imperfect line reduces performance anxiety and makes the complex feel more human.
As Signe herself says: “It is not so much about how, or what, you draw, but much more about the benefit you get from drawing in dialogue with others.”
Read the full interview below, where we try to clarify how communication in “child-friendly terms” can save adult communication, and why play is our most important tool in a modern workplace.
The bridge between the complex and the concrete
Q: You mention that drawing can make the complex concrete, especially in educational and social contexts. Can you give an example of a situation where a simple drawing solved a knot that words alone could not untangle?
One of the simplest things I work with is also one of the most effective: a line on a piece of paper. I use it in educational, social, and organizational contexts when conversations get stuck.
Maybe you know the feeling when a conversation turns into a kind of interrogation:
For example, on an ordinary day when a child comes home from school and you ask:
“What did you do today?”
The question is asked out of care and interest in the child, but it is a big question, and the answer is often:
“I don’t know.”
Here I use the same method that I also teach in my small free mini-course when you sign up for my newsletter: a simple timeline.
When you draw a line and ask:
“How did your day look?”
you also give the child the opportunity to point, draw a ball, a friend, a lunchbox, or a conflict. Memory is awakened, and the conversation becomes concrete. Paper and pencil become a simple but effective alternative to “the interrogation.”
The timeline transforms the conversation from questioning into a shared exploration.
And the same method works in professional contexts. A timeline or a simple model is a small device that makes the complex concrete, clarifies processes, and creates a better overview — whether you work with children, citizens, or colleagues.
"Child-level communication” as an adult tool
Q: You use your children’s book about Parkinson’s as an example of how to simplify difficult things. Why are we adults often so afraid of making things “simple,” and what happens to professional communication when we dare to use tools from the world of children’s books?
I am not sure I would say that we adults are “afraid of making things simple.” I actually think it can be a difficult discipline. It takes courage to leave things out, stand by the essence, and trust that the recipient does not need all our intermediate steps.
When we borrow tools from children’s books — metaphors, repetition, clear images, humor - the following also happens:
1. We become more precise. Simplicity does not have to become naive; it can also remove noise and create precision.
2. We become more human. Children’s books speak to feelings, not just logic. That makes our communication more present.
3. We create shared understanding faster. An image or a metaphor can be a shortcut to common understanding in complex processes.
Drawing as a relationship builder
Q: Many people see drawing as an individual, creative achievement, but you talk about it as something that strengthens relationships and creates safety. How does a marker on paper shift the dynamics in a room with many people?
When you bring drawing into a conversation, the dynamics in the room change. If everyone has a marker in hand, everyone gets a concrete way to think and express themselves — not just those who are quick on their feet or can phrase things in special ways.
It levels some of the hierarchy, because no one is necessarily “the best at drawing.”
Drawing also shifts focus from the person to the paper. It gives others different ways to contribute, because they do not have to express themselves perfectly, but can point, draw, or mark a connection.
In groups where some people normally dominate, the conversation often becomes more balanced when it is visually supported. It becomes easier to explore something together instead of arguing from each person’s own position.
That also applies when staff gather, as in a workshop I ran for a family center. The employees wanted to learn how to use drawing in their conversations with the children and families they work with — precisely because they could see that drawing creates more equal and inclusive dialogues.
In that workshop, a different way of being together around the work with children and families emerged. When you draw side by side, other skills naturally come into play than in a classic pedagogical discussion or a more theoretical workshop. It becomes more playful, more exploratory, and more shared — and the participants expressed themselves in ways other than just with words.
The nice thing was that they could already use the method that same afternoon in their practice. That says something about how practical and usable drawing is as a relationship-building tool — both in the learning space and in meetings with children and families.
Play at work
Q: You have a consulting service called simply "Visuelle præsentationer og referater". Many companies and organizations have shifted to using AI in these contexts. What is the advantage of using hand drawing here?
I actually see them as two different things. One is a very advanced machine that helps you generate the visualization you request. The other is a process where I, as a human, listen, ask questions, and help identify what matters most.
When I create visual presentations or minutes, it is therefore not an order for a drawing. It is a process in which you get my clarifying questions, my expertise, and my experience as part of the work. I use humor, metaphors, and small linguistic detours when it makes sense. And often the best ideas emerge along the way, because we develop the visualization together — even if you may not have a clear picture of the final result from the start.
The visual expression is also different. The hand-drawn line has human intention behind it. We do not only see the subject, but also the process and the person behind it. It feels more personal and authentic, and it creates a stronger emotional connection. Mistakes, unevenness, and “crooked” lines tell a story of presence and effort. They arouse curiosity and empathy, because we intuitively understand that someone has spent time and thought on it.
So the advantage of a hand-drawn visual presentation or a hand-drawn set of minutes is that it speaks to our emotions and our human need for connection — while combining a more lively expression with a process that creates clarity, ownership, and relationships.
The vulnerable imperfect line
Q: Many of us stopped drawing in 4th grade because we did not feel good enough. How do you work with that resistance, and why is the “imperfect” line sometimes more effective in communication than perfect graphics?
Yes, many of us stopped drawing in 4th grade, and when we start again, we begin exactly where we left off. It can feel a little childish to draw the same stick figures as back then. But fortunately it is easy to learn some other and more professional figures. That also helps let go of the thought that “I cannot draw.” Most people have that thought, and it often stands in the way of getting started.
Whether I teach in an online course or in an in-person workshop, it is important to me to show participants:
- The purpose of drawing is not aesthetics, but understanding.
- You can very quickly draw something others can recognize — and nothing more is necessary.
- You only get better by starting. A little is always better than nothing.
And then there is something special about the imperfect line. The hand-drawn line disrupts the brain a little — in a good way. It takes slightly more attention to decode, and therefore it makes us pause. At the same time, it is more inviting. It signals: “This is in process. You are welcome to join in. It is not perfect, finished, or closed.”
Perfect graphics are completely streamlined and precise, but they can also feel distant. The hand-drawn line is alive, human, and relational — and can therefore do something entirely different in communication.
Body and sense-making
Q: AI is bodiless. The body, the hand, and the senses themselves must be used to communicate, which creates a certain tension. Is this something you work with consciously in your teaching?
Yes, I do — but in a practical way. Drawing itself is a sensory activity: you feel the pencil, the paper, the resistance, the rhythm in your hand. It is not something I talk about too much as a separate theme, but it is an important part of the experience.
I emphasize that participants should feel what they are making. That they remember with the body, not only with the head. When you draw, you are more present, because the senses are being used. That creates presence, calm, and a different kind of attention, which also affects how you listen and communicate.
So the sensory aspect is not something I theorize about much in teaching — but it is a natural part of the process. For example, I invite participants to feel what they draw best with: pencil, ballpoint pen, marker, etc. And to consider what advantages and limitations the different tools give them. That affects tempo, line, expression, and confidence.
In that way, the sensory becomes part of presence and participation. It helps make drawing a strong tool for both understanding and relationship.
The future vision of "Streger m.m."
Q: f you look 5–10 years ahead, what do you hope has changed in the way we talk to each other in Danish workplaces if your vision of visual presence takes hold?
What does “visual presence” actually mean to you in a digital age?
When I look 5–10 years ahead, I hope we have workplaces where visual tools are a natural part of how we think and talk together. As a way to create clarity, shared direction, and real change.
I hope that in workplaces we:
- Use drawing and other visual tools in meetings so conversations become more practice-oriented and lead to action — not just words.
- Create shared images before making decisions, so everyone knows exactly what we are talking about, and what actions follow.
- Show what we mean — not just explain it — so we avoid misunderstandings and communicate more precisely.
- Use drawing as a relationship tool, so our conversations become more equal, inclusive, and grounded.
For me, visual presence in a digital age means that we do not lose the human element, even though our working lives become more digital and AI-supported.
It is about continuing to make our thoughts visible to one another — both when we are physically together and when we work remotely. Sometimes it is a quick hand-drawn sketch on paper that creates presence and clarity. Other times it is a digital whiteboard or a shared model that makes it easier to think together at a distance.
What matters is not the tool or whether you are good at drawing. What matters is that we show what we mean — in a way that feels alive, clear, and human.
Find Signe Dilling on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/streger.m.m/
... and her website here: https://www.stregermm.com/