1. Submit Request
2. Preparation: researcher gathers information such as sketches, illustrations and other reference materials.
3. Kick-off Meeting: to agree the scope, style and budget of the project.
4. Production: illustrator works on assets and can provide weekly updates on hours.
   • First draft: A basic sketch is shared to get feedback.
   • Second draft: A more detailed version of the sketch is shared to get feedback.
   • Final version.
   • (Depending on the project, more drafts can be shared between the second draft and the final version).
5. Delivery: After getting approval on the final version, files are shared.

 

Good to Know:

•  We use Adobe Illustrator for Figures containing plots. If you are providing images to us, send the vector files in PDF or SVG written out from R or Python. We cannot increase the resolution of PNG files, so they might look rasterized.
• We cannot alter plots manually. Whatever changes that require something different than color and basic layout should be done in the original software used to create the plot.

Tips to Maximize Efficiency:

•  Have a good idea of what you want in the visual (e.g., what message you want it to convey) before we start. Developing ideas from scratch takes additional time.
•  Suggest changes in bulk.
•  Have one key person communicating with the illustrator.
• Online meetings are useful for ensuring we are on the same page.
• We can modify your figures by changing the style, organization and/or formatting, and cleaning up files. However, this can take time and have more subtle results, and so tends to be less value for money. So, for limited budgets, only use us for what you really can’t do yourself – Biorender can do a lot!