Hi Johannes,

I think that nice visuallizations, are very important in popular science.

Eye candy just keeps the motivation up and attracts readers in the first place.

Sometimes I got the impression, that nice visualizations are shunned in the "professional" scientific community. Apparently, there are still places where graphics need to be black and white for other reasons than accessibility.

I enjoy seeing clever and visually attractive graphics IF they are appropriate and have explanatory benefit.

Best regards,

Patrick

Thank you, Patrick, for your answer.

I agree with you on the potential benefits of good visualizations and also see your point regarding shunning in the scientific community.

How are the scientific visualizations created currently? I am under the impression that usually researchers try to create such images, videos or animations by themselves or ask their collaborators to do so.

How often are scientists collaborating with creative professionals? What is the main barrier for such collaborations?

Hi Johannes,

I am a professional scientific illustrator and could talk to you all day about the importance of science visualizations. The aesthetics aspect is crucial as humans are far more attracted to images (illustration, video, animation) than they are to text. But beyond the first-time appeal, images that convey a scientific message accurately can do so in a way that facilitates the interpretation of the viewer. S/he will have a mediated experience where the message is better assimilated and thus is more memorable.

As far as how scientific images are created there is a wide range: from scientists who create their own, to those who hire professional visual science communicators. Working with a professional guarantees an effective delivery of your message, as they will choose the best medium, know the subject (or know to ask the right questions and search the right places), and can tailor the execution to the audience.

A professional science illustrator usually has a multidisciplinary training. For example, my bachelor is in Biology, then I completed undergrad and graduate work in drawing and in science illustration, and recently I completed a PhD in Digital Media. Throughout my 10+ years career I have worked extensively with scientists, publishers, educators and museum professionals.

For examples of the work of a science illustrator and more information about what we do visit:

• my website - www.dianamarques.com
• work of many colleagues - www.science-art.com
• our professional association, the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators - www.gnsi.org

I'm happy to answer any additional questions you have about this subject.

Best,

Diana

Hi y'all,

I would add to what Diana said (nice to see you here :) ) that there are many kind of scientific graphics, and I have to say that I get crazy sometimes when i see the scientific schemas that supposedly try to make the story clearer but they are making it even more messy, and ugly. You don't need to make images in 3D or hyperrealistic to explain something, sometimes, the most didactical and attractive images are quite simple. But for that you need to have some sciences and arts background.

There's the European Association of Medical Illustrators, http://www.aeims.eu/portfolio-medical-area.php# , where you can take a look.

There are amazing medical and scientific illustrations, animations, virtual reality, and augmented reality works... that normally cost a fortune, because they are really good pieces of accurate art, and are quite effective explaining scientific problems. Others are more schematic, like the "sStory of Stuff" style, and also make it to get to a very wide audience.

I love when someone gives me a crazy graphic and i make it into a cute self-explanatory one :)

Best regards,

begonia

I ditto the comments above. My livelihood is based on creating medical and scientific illustrations. We are specially-trained story tellers who make difficult concepts more easily understood. It's not always as easy as it might look! :)

In the U.S., we also have the Association of Medical Illustrators. You can find lots of samples, as well as available contractors here:

www.ami.org

Happy New Year, Everyone!

Erin

Dear Johannes, your question brings a very delicate discussion. To me, the creation of any visual communication piece requires dedicated efforts, the amount of information, the level of information displayed usually comes from a study about who the final user or public will be and what the message and final goals are. Some time, a visualization even helps a scientist to understand better his or her data and some times allow some patterns to flourish. Scientific illustration has evolved to become a very useful tool for some very specific tasks but still not enough for the new crescent development of information visualization, information design and information transference. Processes of teaching, learning and interacting with information are benefited from informed processes of visualization that usually come from professionals in the area of visualization. The unattractive or unprecise of some visualization pieces it is just the result of an unprofessional way of looking at the problem and possible solutions. The quality of a visual piece it is the consequence of not just an aesthetic approach but of a functional approach.

Hi, as I am currently pursuing my PhD and working on the research of 'Interface Design Principles, Elements and Characteristics in Multimedia Teaching Aid For Non-Creative Design Field in Malaysian Tertiary Education', . This include scientific, medical and technical field of studies.

Visualization through images, graphics be it static or moving such as animation and videos are evident through multimedia elements in explaining the complexity of learning content which became evident, with challenges from scientifically demanding learning content.

With this challenges, it is important for designers to communicate or impart the principles of effective visual communications through its elements as a basic guideline.

Your sharing here have opened up another insight towards what I am working for currently.

Thank You

Yes, I believe that it is important, not only for the public but also for the researcher too. Have an attractive, beautiful, and efficient graphical abstract or infographic along with your paper will highly increase the dissemination of your research. At Mind the Graph's blog, an online software that I use to create my science figures, has many great articles about the power of science figures in your research.

Check their blog content. https://mindthegraph.com/blog/#.YR11KYhKhPY

Scientific Illustrations are an important part of research papers and reports and most prestigious journals won’t even review articles with unprofessional drawings.

Simplest way to get a professional scientific drawing or a graphical abstract with low cost for your research report or paper:

https://unitechlink.com/scientific-illustrations/

A team of scientists and artists works on your illustration/journal cover/schematics instead of only one illustrator. It's quick and the price is very reasonable (with first-time-order discount).

I totally agree that (good) illustrations are essential to draw in those who are unfamiliar with the work, especially those who are less scientifically inclined.

"A picture is worth a thousand words" (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_picture_is_worth_a_thousand_words for the origin of this proverb). As an example, I tried to explain the leap second, the reason for which is hard to understand, in a picture with several clocks (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320028956) and used this image in popular talks.

Hello to everyone.

To talk about the potential of an image to convey clarity in explaining a specific point or even to synthesize complex concepts is one thing. Mentioning the importance of aesthetic and visually pleasant illustrations or diagrams is also part of the point being discussed in here. But, visualization and the application of visual design principles to solve problems is an absolute different thing and much more complex than it is usually accepted. The realm of visual communication most be addressed by designers or people that has studied it. A proper process of visual analysis can go as far as improving the readability of data or scientific findings. It can offer improvements in the whole process of interaction between a scientist and his/her data. It can develop apps or software for specific needs and even facilitate the recognition of patterns within the data. It can actually “achieve better results when scientists organize, structure, input, store, and visualize scientific data.”.

So, it is not just an image but a whole process and discipline as complex as any other professional field and should not be neglected or disregarded by those that do not understand it.

As an experiment of the possibilities of visualization for the improvement in an specific scientific project you can give it a look to my thesis (Mapping Science, overlapping science and design), which was written from the design standpoint. I hope you find it helpful.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/331608287_mapping_science_overlapping_science_and_design