Video: Illustrating Science Dataviz for Non-Scientists

Scientific American has been illustrating science since 1845. That means they have over 170 years of experience visualizing complex scientific topics, which they do incredibly well. This is thanks in part to Jen Christiansen – senior graphics editor at Scientific American.

Jen directs and produces illustrated graphics and data visualizations for the popular science magazine. She thrives off making scientific findings accessible to a wide audience using visuals. She acknowledges that scientific graphics are great when presented to scientists, who are naturally interested in the subject matter. But it’s up to her to make them interesting for non-specialist audiences as well.

In the video below you’ll see Jen explain what makes an engaging and educational visualization. She explains the shift in aesthetic style at Scientific American over the years, moving from strongly academic to visually rich. She wants to inspire scientists and non-scientists alike with three powerful visual tools: familiar visual vocabulary, welcoming gestures, and immediately visible context.

Enjoy this lecture from Jen at the 2016 Quo Vadis Information Graphics Conference.

If you found this video interesting, you may also want to sign up for our weekly newsletter and read these popular science dataviz posts:

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