How images make knowledge understandable
I received an enquiry from the German Academic Scholarship Foundation asking if I would like to work as a lecturer at the Kulturakademie Weimar 2016 to hold a seminar for scholarship holders over several days. As I always take great pleasure in passing on my knowledge to others and was given complete freedom as to what the workshop should be about, I enthusiastically agreed. From 16 to 24 September 2016, the time had finally come: in my workshop ‘Design meets science – how images make knowledge understandable’, I first taught the students in my group the basics of science communication and design and then had them design their own scientific topic in the form of an infographic poster. The results, which were created in just three mornings, are really impressive!
Part 1: Sort design
After a brief theoretical introduction to science communication and design, on the first day of the workshop I had my students sift through and sort heaps of infographics in groups to give them an insight into the many ways in which knowledge can be communicated graphically. Step by step, the white walls were transformed into a colorful source of inspiration.
Part 2: Finding ideas
Now it was time to find ideas. The seminar participants were asked to come up with an original image idea and a creative headline for their topic, which they had already researched intensively in the run-up to the academy. They then discussed their suggestions with the other students in the group.
Part 3: Realizing ideas
After the initial ideas continued to brood in the subconscious overnight, the implementation could begin the next day. With lots of coloured paper, all kinds of pens, laptops and all kinds of other utensils, the students finally set about visualizing their themes.
Part 4: The finishing touches
The designs progressed at lightning speed. I was on hand with help and advice.
Part 5: Presenting
Finally, on the last day, the students presented their results to each other and then gave each other constructive feedback.
Part 6: The exhibition
The crowning glory of every cultural academy is a big festival that the scholarship holders put together themselves in just one week. My group organized an “out of turn” exhibition in which we presented the posters that were created during our workshop.
My students and their poster designs
The posters
Alena Lohnert
explains how a bacterium can be used as a genetic engineering vector with her poster “Schwarzfahrer” using graphic shapes and wool.
Alice Cheng
uses fruit and vegetables to explain the three forms of hair loss with her poster “When the carrot runs out of herbs”.
Annika Diana Haase
explains how ideas are developed in companies with its poster “The Ideas Factory” using a road network.
Christine Schwitay
uses her poster “A picture of picture functions” to explain the effect pictures have on texts using an open book.
Felix Schremmer
uses circular objects from everyday life to explain with his poster “Round has its reason” why the circle has the smallest surface area of all bodies of the same volume.
Florentine Mostaghimi-Gomi
explains the solar system with her poster “The cosmic carousel” using a chain carousel.
Florian Bolenz
uses graphic lines to explain how computers can learn to recognize handwritten numbers with his poster “Patterns, machines – magic?”.
Frank Hildebrandt
explains women’s menstruation with his poster “Mansplaining Menstruation” using technical utensils.
Hanna Frühauf
uses smartphones to explain how the electronic age has plunged the Congo into chaos with its poster “Alle Angaben ohne Gewehr”. (Gewehr, which means gun, sounds in German similar to the word Gewähr, which means guarantee.)
Lorna Schütte
explains interesting facts about the ships of the Vikings with her poster ‘In the beginning was the boat’ using a haptic paper ship.
Maike Tesch
uses a toilet to explain how we can recover phosphorus from urine and use it as fertiliser with her poster ‘The pee potential’.
Nils Hanwahr
explains critical facts about flying with his poster ‘Environmental movements at 30,000 feet’ using a collage of photos and graphics.
Sinja Zieger
explains how biological pest control makes chemical pesticides superfluous with its poster ‘Through the flower’, which uses struggling insects.
Ulla Scheler
explains with her poster ‘No feeling for feelings’ using graphically reduced icons why we are so bad at predicting our own feelings.
I wish you all the best on your future journey and hope that my seminar has provided you with valuable creative tools that will help you to see the world through different eyes!
Conclusion
I really enjoyed working with my group! Thanks to the canteen eating ritual three times a day and the evening get-togethers, I quickly grew fond of the other lecturers and students as well as the Studienstiftung team during the intensive week at the Kulturakademie. It was really, really hard to say goodbye! I would like to take this opportunity to thank Jean-Pierre Palmier and Carsten Bockholt once again for allowing me to take part!