Teach Inspire Create Conference 2025: Meet Amber Anderson

We’re delighted to introduce Amber Anderson as the live illustrator for the Teach Inspire Create Conference 2025!

Amber is a London-based, multi-disciplined illustrator whose work brings ideas to life through visual storytelling. An alumna of Camberwell College of Arts - Amber began her creative journey within the same network that connects so many of our learners today. Since her time at UAL, she has built a career taking on some especially eccentric projects.

Amber’s ability to transform complex conversations into accessible visuals that capture the mood of the moment have awarded her an impressive clientele. Some of these clients range from Save the Children and Penguin Books to Red Bull, Adidas and Volkswagen.

At this year’s conference, Amber will be capturing the day in real time, translating keynote ideas or breakout discussions into a visual record of communal creativity. As she shares in our Q&A below, her process is entirely live and spontaneous, stemming from the belief that illustration can bridge any gaps across languages and experiences.

Read on to learn more about what to expect!

Can you tell us a bit about your journey into illustration?

I have always had a passion for visual communication, but my professional journey started with my Foundation diploma at LCC. The tutor I had on my Graphic Design pathway completely shaped my understanding of visualisation and artistic perspective. I went on to study BA (Hons) Illustration at Camberwell College of Arts, which offered live projects with design agencies, empowering my ability to understand and deliver design briefs. I discovered live scribing through a mutual friend, and have now been practising live scribing at events internationally for 10 years. I used to use visual notetaking for my revision notes at school, so my career path is a natural progression both in the way I process information and present it. As well as live visualisation at events, I have also been lucky enough to illustrate a number of books, various products, on site murals, and even a car, at a live motor sporting event!

What does your live illustration process typically look like during an event? Are you planning visuals in real-time, or do you go in with a structure in mind?

Absolutely everything that I create for live events is impulsive and live, I do not pre-plan any of the content or visuals. I find that this is the most authentic approach to ensure that the visuals that are created are best representative of not only the speaker's content, but also the 'feeling in the room'. I enjoy picking up on the atmosphere of what resonates with the audience and finding ways to celebrate this.

Teach Inspire Create 2025 aims to bring together a diverse community of educators and creatives - how do you approach capturing that kind of energy through your illustrations?

Diversity and inclusion representation is a strong passion of mine - I am lucky to work with a huge variety of disabled-led organisations, academic institutions, as well as larger corporate companies. I believe that the spectrum of organisations that I work for has a deeply meaningful impact on my oversight of psychology, society and individual communities, and take great joy in ensuring that everyone can recognise a part of themselves in the visuals that I create.

How do you see your role as an illustrator within today’s fast-changing cultural climate?

In the specific guise of live scribing, I always hope and strive to break down barriers to create a mutual understanding of content - visuals can proceed language barriers, individual impairments (e.g. hearing impairments) and different ways of thinking, to create what I hope is a valuable resource of collaborative and accessible understanding. My opinion is that it can be an important tool to facilitate discussion, spark commentary and be a reference resource to help learning and information retention.

What do you hope attendees take away from your illustrations?

I do hope that the illustrations will be a valuable resource both for attendees on the day, but also for communication post-event on the richness of content, discussion and presentation that has been covered. I would hope that it will provide a valuable sharing tool to celebrate and elevate the key insights and information from the event.