Visualising Your Research: Creative Approaches and Drawing to Help Communicate Your Work (426)

28 mars 2025

Tom Reed

The clearest and most effective method to communicate some information is through a picture. This is particularly true for scientists. However, students with little previous instruction can find making these visualisations challenging and the results disappointing. In this workshop participants will obtain a grounding in the basics of visual design. They will learn techniques and working methods to enable them to produce successful and effective visualisations. Visualisations that will enable them to communicate their research more clearly and engage the viewer.

Content

• Introduction
• Communication and visualisation
• The basics of drawing
• How to use drawings in your work (whatever your 'skill')
• The basics of graphic design
• Laying out information so it can be clearly 'read'
• CRAP - Contrast, Repetition, Alignment, Proximity
• Colour - how and when to use it
• Telling a story visually
• Image hierarchy
• How to simplify
• Using narrative storytelling techniques to improve presentations
• Data visualisation
• The Workflow
• Examples – good/bad practice.

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course students will:

• Understand and practice the basics of graphic design
• Have basic drawing skills (tone, composition, proportion etc.)
• Know the process/workflow of producing visualisations - from sketches to final layout
• Understand how to tell a story in pictures
• Know how to use colour.

Participants should bring pencils and sketchbooks.... and have something interesting from the kitchen to draw - such as a pepper grinder, espresso stove top maker, tea pot... something that has a purpose.

They should also have a visualisation that they have already made and want to improve. (Or else they can begin a new visualisation, but must have the data to hand that they need to do so).

Participants will use this visualisation to apply what they will be learning throughout the day. At the end of the day there will be a process of presentations and feedback.

Some tool on their computer with which to make the visualisation, such as Powerpoint or Indesign - whatever they normally use - is necessary.

This workshop does NOT teach software.

University of Fribourg

Date: Friday 28th March 2025

Schedule: 9:15 am to 5:15 pm

Place: University of Fribourg

Trainer:

Tom Reed's background is in art, with a Fine Art degree from Oxford University and teaching qualification from London University. He has many years experience as an artist and illustrator and his visualisations have appeared in films for the University of Zurich and the NZZ newspaper.

He has been a lecturer on the PhD programme at the University of Zurich for the last six years. He takes courses in Scientific Drawing and Visualisation.

Tom is also the author and illustrator of ten children's books. In his books he mixes traditional mediums such as pen and ink and digital techniques to tell a story in pictures.

His work can be seen at www.tomreedstudio.com

Participants are eligible for reimbursement of incurred travel expenses by train between the city of their university and the location of the workshop (half-fare card, 2nd class).

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