In March, 16 PhD students of UiB, UiT and UiO attended a 5-day course on scientific illustration taught by Pina Kingman at GFI in Bergen.
We studied design principles, color theory and the use of illustration software such as Adobe Illustrator, Gravit and Inkscape. The course also covered how these principles could be applied to the design of scientific posters and presentations.
In a series of sketching and peer review sessions, students developed their own illustrations depicting their research topics. After developing a concept, designs were first sketched on paper, then refined in an illustration software. Some students chose to illustrate their sampling procedure or experimental design, while others showed overviews of the research areas and environmental processes they were studying. Students also chose different audiences: some illustrations were geared towards expert audiences, while others were designed to be accessible for people from different fields or with no scientific background.
On the last day of the course, all students presented their final illustrations and described which design principles they had applied. Each student received feedback on their illustration from the class and from Pina Kingman.
Text: Elinor Tessin
Photos: Mandy Kong