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Public Lecture – Lost in illustration: the art (and science) of communicating through graphics
August 26, 2025 @ 6:00 PM - 7:00 PM
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Once upon a time, a hand-drawn sketch of the outlines of South America and Africa was all it took to make a compelling scientific statement: hey, don’t these two continents look like they broke apart from each other? Plate tectonics was in its infancy, data were scarce, and ideas were still forming. Fast forward to today, and we have decades of research, complex datasets, and sophisticated methods—and our science figures are starting to suffer under the weight of everything, everywhere, all at once.
In this talk, Dr. Lucía Pérez-Díaz explores how the role of graphics in science is evolving, and where it may have gone astray. Drawing (pun intended) on her perspective as a geoscientist and author-illustrator, she examines how our figures may be falling short—failing not just to communicate clearly, but to spark curiosity. This matters more than ever, as science increasingly needs to reach beyond specialist circles and into communities that may meet it with indifference—or even distrust.
When designing scientific figures, accuracy is important – but so is empathy. Our visuals need to offer viewers a way in, a path to follow, and a clear destination. We need to think not only about what audiences can understand, but what they’ll choose to engage with. From nostalgic 19th-century cross-sections to googly-eyed data plots, this talk invites us to rethink how we draw science—and how we draw people in. Bring a pencil, no better time to start than now.
This lecture is free to attend.
