Adobe Illustrator – Scientific Artwork & Infographics (online training)

This course will teach the tools needed to create beautiful and functional vector graphics/illustrations and develop infographics. Vector graphics are the main product of Adobe Illustrator and the fundamental design element for your infographics. After completing the course, you will create your scientific artwork and efficiently visualize your data in Adobe Illustrator. We will discuss the theory behind infographics' design, and you will appreciate the power of color and typography in your designs. Applying the designing principles you will learn, you will understand why some designs look better and are easier to follow than others.

Learning objectives

Our goal is to introduce Adobe Illustrator and help you design vector graphics, graphs & illustrations. Starting from scratch, you will discover how to navigate the program, draw your illustrations, and develop your infographics. You will be provided with a straightforward manual so you can always look back on when you have a new design challenge. You will be trained to recognize a good and lousy infographic design and improve your designs with simple but necessary designing techniques.

Instructional method

The course is divided into four sessions. The focus of the first two sessions is in Adobe Illustrator. During the last two sessions, you will learn more about Infographics' design theory and the principles of good design. You will be challenged to improve, design, and give feedback to infographics. There will be a theoretical part in all four sessions, followed by assignments with the trainer's supervision and help. The activities are given beforehand, but you can always bring your designing challenge to practice. The activities in the Adobe Illustrator sessions are designed to teach you the program's tools and functions. The Infographics sessions will help you see and recognize designing flaws and enhance your designs with the knowledge you have acquired during the course. After each session, you will be given homework which you will get the chance to do during the week. Iliana will provide feedback on all assignments you hand in.

This course provides a printed manual that you can skim upfront, save time on the first session, and use afterward to refresh the theory. This allows the course sessions to focus on the tools and design principles needed to create your scientific artwork and infographics. The assignments will make you confident to design your projects at the end.

Remember that Adobe Illustrator is used for drawing illustrations and vector graphics, while Adobe InDesign is used to layout any file from a figure to a thesis book. If your goal is to layout, consider taking the other course provided (Adobe InDesign - from Dissertation Layout to Poster Design).

Important

To take the course you need a laptop with Adobe Illustrator installed in English. Also, remember to have a mouse or a graphic tablet to work since the laptop's mousepad will make the work difficult. At last, since the course is online and the sessions interactive, a microphone and a camera are obligatory for participation. If you plan to miss parts of the course, don't hesitate to contact Iliana directly and ask about the possibilities. The training is online, but it is not an online tutorial.

Study load

In addition to the scheduled sessions, you should consider an extra study load of approximately 16 hours. This study load generally consists of homework assignments in preparation for the next session.

Reviews

It is a very interesting course, with many tips and tricks that you can practice straight away.

The instructor is full of ideas to improve any infographic.

It's great to see how much you can learn in such a short time. It gave new insides to design

Iliana is very passionate and knowledgeable about the topic, making the five-hour sessions feel like they were nothing.

You'll learn how to use the software and some golden rules about the design and visual perception of the human mind.

The course gave me incredibly handy tricks to work on the design of my figures.

This course helped me visualize my research understandably and attractive.

Teacher

Iliana Boshoven-Gkini (1981) has completed two master diplomas in Landscape architecture, Floriculture, and garden design, in the Agricultural University of Athens and Wageningen University in the Netherlands. After completing her studies, she started working independently (2012) (AgileColor design studio | AgileColor.com) and focused, among others, on helping PhD students with their thesis books and scientific artwork. From 2015 she started teaching Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign and Infographics courses in Wageningen and Utrecht Universities and gave guest lectures/training to numerous other occasions in the Netherlands and Switzerland. From 2019 she is a certified teacher in the Netherlands (CRKBO, Centraal Register Kort Beroepsonderwijs). She lives in Koedijk Alkmaar with her husband and three children. 

General Information

Target Group:	PhD's and Post-docs from Wageningen University & Research. If there are any spots left PhD's and Post-docs from other universities can apply too.
Group size:	8 to 15 participants
Course duration:	4 days from 10 am to 3 pm
Language:	English
Credit points:	1.2 ECTS
Self-study hours:	We recommend at least 16 hours of self-study and practice after the course
Name lecturer:	Iliana Boshoven-Gkini
Venue:	Online

Programme

The following topics will be covered on the first 2 days:

• Designing basics & principles
• Infographic basics
• Using Illustrator workspace
• Setting up artboards and documents
• Working with layers
• Creating basic and complex shapes
• Using drawing tools
• Transforming objects
• Visually improve your graphs and charts
• Grouping and ungrouping objects
• Adding fills and strokes
• Working with color
• Image tracing
• Using appearences, filters and effects
• Working with text and type
• Working with 3D
• Printing and exporting files

On the third and foourth day the following topics will be covered:

• Data visualization
• Draw charts and graphs
• Plan an effective infographic
• Work process
• Combine the building blocks to create an infographic
• Use effectively elements like type, color and icons
• Combine icons and illustrations in your infographics
• Good and bad infographic design
• Design an infographic

You will be provided with a manual of the theory, "Shortcut Sheets" for Illustrator, and extra reading material for further understanding.

Fee

Reduced fee: • PhD candidates of Wageningen University with an approved Training and Supervision Plan (TSP) who are registered at one of the WU graduate schools (EPS, PE&RC, VLAG, WASS, WIAS, WIMEK) • Postdocs of Wageningen University who are registered at one of the WU graduate schools	€ 150
University fee: All other PhD candidates / Wageningen University postdocs and staff	€ 300
External fee: All other participants	€ 600

Fee includes study and training material.

Cancellation condition

You may cancel free of charge up to four weeks before the start of the course. After this date you will be charged the University fee. Unless:

• You can find someone to replace you in the course and supply the course coordinator with the name and contact information of your replacement.
  In this case you will only be charged a € 50,- cancellation fee.
• You (PhDs and postdocs of Wageningen University) have a valid reason to cancel (illness or death in the family 1st or 2nd degree).
  In this case you will be charged the reduced fee and your supervisor/PI must send a mail indicating the reason for cancellation.

Information

For more information please contact marijn.blok@wur.nl