As a science communicator of the visual variety, I produce illustrated explanatory diagrams and data visualizations. I make scientific content engaging, understandable, and memorable.

I excel at:

• identifying if a graphic would be useful for a given context based on the project goals and target audience;

• pulling together and digesting primary sources from a wide range of science disciplines, and developing backup research packets and project briefs;

• building and managing teams of researchers, artists, data designers, photo editors, and writers as needed, to deliver projects that may require additional collaborators;

• working solo if the project scale, budget, and deadline schedule favor one nimble collaborator;

• developing concept sketches that inform early discussions with project teams;

• identifying and working directly with sources and expert reviewers—especially scientists—to ensure that material is accurate;

• communicating with clients to ensure that the goals of different arms of any given project remain aligned;

• rendering final graphics for print and digital outlets, or art directing others to do so;

• setting up and adhering to workflows and schedules that allow clients to be as involved or hands-off as they’d like, with the peace of mind that comes with being able to watch projects hit benchmarks; and

• delivering production-ready files on time, complete with auxiliary information including alt text.

My double-interest in science and art started at a young age. I loved to draw, but often needed a prompt. Science classes in high school offered up a plethora of topics: My high school biology notebooks were filled with drawings. At Smith College, I double-majored in geology and studio art. (Ask me about the trace fossil Gyrolithes, the star of my undergraduate honors thesis.) I spent summers in the crustacea lab at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles, sorting crustacea larvae and illustrating hydrothermal vent shrimp mouthparts. Ultimately, I couldn’t bear to follow one discipline at the expense of the other, and enrolled in the natural science illustration graduate program at the University of California, Santa Cruz. After a year of classroom training, I interned as an illustrator at Scientific American magazine.

My education continued apprenticeship-style at the magazine under the tutelage of art director Ed Bell, and my internship led into an assistant art director position. I stayed with the magazine for a few years before heading south for a job at National Geographic magazine, first as an assistant art director/researcher hybrid, then a designer. Leaving National Geographic wasn’t an easy decision, but the time was right to travel north again, and I started my own business. As a freelancer, I focused primarily on designing, art directing, and illustrating book and magazine projects for clients including McGraw Hill, The Cooking Lab, Intellectual Ventures, and The Rockefeller University. The pull of Scientific American was strong, however, and I eventually returned for a second stint, during which I became the magazine’s first graphics-specific art director. In that role, I established a consistent dataviz and diagram philosophy across all articles.

As I immersed myself more fully in the world of information design and systems, speaking engagements at home and abroad ticked upwards. (I now regularly lead visual science communication workshops for scientists and students at universities, present at design and science communication conferences, and moderate panels and sessions on topics ranging from dataviz to disinformation.) In that capacity, I developed a habit of curating long lists of references to share with people who were hungry for more details. One thing led to another. And I wrote a book.

That book is Building Science Graphics: An illustrated guide to communicating science through diagrams and visualizations (published by CRC Press, AK Peters Visualization series). It is a practical guide for anyone—regardless of previous design experience and preferred drawing tools—interested in creating scientific illustrated explanatory diagrams. Starting with a clear introduction to the concept of information graphics and their role in contemporary science communication, it then outlines a process for creating graphics using evidence-based design strategies. The heart of the book is composed of two step-by-step graphical worksheets, designed to help jump-start any new project. It’s both a textbook and a practical reference for anyone that needs to convey scientific information in an illustrated form for articles, poster presentations, slide shows, press releases, blog posts, social media posts, and beyond.

If you’re interested in stepping into the world of science graphics and have questions about my path, I recommend these two articles: “Scientific American’s Senior Graphics Editor on the Power of a Good Science Illustration” (by Liz Stinson, for AIGA Eye on Design), and “Jen Christiansen: Sketching the Unknown” (by Gabrielle Ahern, for The Brilliant). And, of course, I recommend my book Building Science Graphics, which includes autobiographical details and a ton of resources.

Oh, and I’m pretty sure that I have the most complete private collection of pre-1979 occurrences of the black and white stacked line chart eventually made famous by Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures album cover, including a copy of Harold Craft’s 1970 doctoral thesis on radio observations of pulsars from Cornell University.

I am currently open to freelance work and full time opportunities.

Interested in collaborating?