Why visual science communication?
Science communication is more crucial than ever. Increasingly, grant funding includes requirements regarding sharing research findings beyond academic circles—and for good reason. Your research has the potential to benefit society, but for that to happen, it needs to reach the public. Yet, communicating complex findings to a non-specialist audience can be challenging. Academics are trained to use scientific, unaccessible language and publish in journals that are often locked behind paywalls, limiting access to those who could benefit most from the knowledge. This is where good science communication comes in play.
Research Visuals
Communicating research in a simple way is not easy. Visual storytelling offers a powerful alternative. Research visuals can translate complex ideas into digestible, creative illustrations that speak to a wider audience. Therefore, they are an innovative way to highlight key findings, depict experimental setups, or showcase your unique research design - an accessible, memorable way to share your findings.
Potential products:
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visual summaries of science projects and papers
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infographics of scientific results
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scientific cartoons summarising scientific concepts or research
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serious board games visualising complex dynamics
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academic visuals, such as scientific figures (e.g. an experimental set-up), for instance for presentations, (scientific) posters, videos, scientific books, or illustrations of researchers to visualise the face behind the research
From sketch to final product:
Visual Summary
Private Person | Bullying in Secondary Education
Elsje wanted something more for her dissertation - she wanted an A5-flyer that summarised her whole research project. As an educational researcher, she now works for institutes trying to improve education - so it comes in handy to hand them a short flyer displaying an overview of her work in a quick, accessible way.
You can find her whole dissertation here.
The Promovendi Netwerk Nederland researched the last phase of the PhD trajectory in the Netherlands, zooming into aspects that hinder or facilitate timely thesis submission. I helped them giving the report a face in form of an infographic summarising their project, a character leading through their report and the layouting of the report in general.
You can find the whole report here.
Promovendi Netwerk Nederland | Sofokles Report
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Infographic
Research Visuals
University of Groningen |
Well-being and resilience of pre-service teachers
You can find all these resources online here (only in Dutch).
As part of a project on promoting resilience and well-being in pre-service teachers, I aimed to translate key research insights into clear, engaging visuals. The project explored how different university initiatives support student well-being.
We created various end products: a visual summary of the key findings, an infographic capturing the entire project, the layout of the final report, and supporting illustrations for a complementary video series, helping to make the research more accessible across formats.
Academic visuals
Generally, research figures and academic visuals can transport a message quite well - one graph sometimes says more than a thousand words or tables. Here are some examples of how I visualised academic topics, concepts, research designs and (qualitative) results.
Dissertation Design
After years of hard work, you’ve finally hit “submit” on your dissertation—congratulations! Now, before your defense, it's time to give your thesis the polished, personalized look it deserves. That’s where I come in. I offer custom cover designs that reflect your research topic, along with professional layout services for the entire dissertation, ensuring it looks as impressive as the work inside.
Examples
Before designing a PhD thesis, I get into a conversation with the PhD candidates about their research, to identify important and crucial aspects and to explore options to visualise them.
Additionally, each dissertation design includes a matching bookmark, a set of propositions, and a thoughtfully styled inner layout, with attention to details like tables and figures that depict theoretical constructs or provide chapter overviews. Every dissertation is uniquely crafted, tailored to the specific research topic and personalized visualisation preferences.
For my own dissertation, I chose to create cartoons as a way to summarize and share my research, making it accessible to non-academic audiences—like my own family! Through these cartoons, I break down the core theories, methodologies, and findings of my work. I even illustrated myself as a guide, leading readers through each section of the dissertation. This visual approach invites people outside of academia to engage with complex ideas in a friendly and understandable way.
You can find the whole dissertation here.
Products for Academics
