After seeing how self-explanatory a comic-style poster was for younger audiences, Vincy Wilson explored using this format for a research presentation and found it also improved communication.
Vincy Wilson, a forest ecologist at the National Centre for Biological Sciences, studies the abiotic factors that influence how seedlings survive. However, when she had to discuss her research with school-age children, she realized that she needed a more approachable format to talk about the science that she did. Brainstorming ideas to make her research more accessible, she landed on transforming her scientific project and findings into a comic.
Vincy Wilson studies abiotic factors that affect seedling survival. At a recent scientific meeting, she turned her research project into a comic to improve science communication.
Rachita Master
How did you decide to use this comic style for your scientific meeting?
After seeing how successful this poster style, was—it was so self-explanatory—I realized that sharing research doesn’t need to have all of the jargon we normally use. I took the idea to try this concept for a research meeting to my advisor; although she was hesitant at first, she also is a proponent for simplifying science communication, so we decided to try this comic-style approach for an institutional conference.
How did you create a scientific comic for your poster?
I took all of the scientific information that I would normally include in a presentation of work and turned it into a conversation between two characters who discuss a problem and search for answers. I used generative AI to create cartoons with this dialogue and then, with help from a friend, arranged these into a poster in Canva. With the exception of the title, I didn’t use any headings so that the poster flowed like a story. Overall, I was happy with my poster. I wasn’t able to incorporate my results into the cartoon style this time, though; I’d like to try to blend those into the story in the future.
What do you think are the advantages of this format?
This format was approachable for a lot of researchers who were from outside of my scientific discipline, so by removing the jargon and focusing on the concept, it improved communication. Also, because it is a story, people could still understand the poster even if I wasn’t present to walk them through it.
What was the reception from your colleagues?
A few people commented that the poster was childish or unprofessional, but most people really liked it. They thought it was interesting and easy to follow. I definitely think that if my project can be turned into a story like this, I’ll be doing this again in the future.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
