7 tools I use in my visual science communication projects

Since becoming a freelance visual communicator, I have enjoyed refining my graphic design process. I still have plenty to learn, but I wanted to share some of the tools I use regularly when designing visuals. These tools are all available for you to access (some are free, others are not), and I hope they can help you to speed up your creative processes and become a more confident visual science communicator!

For designing graphics & reports: Affinity Publisher

I thought it best to start off with the tool that I use to design all of my graphics, visuals and reports! While Affinity Publisher is not free, it is a *considerably* cheaper alternative to Adobe InDesign. It offers more features than Canva, Powerpoint or Word, which will make designing graphics and reports less frustrating. While there is definitely a significant learning curve for this programme, you can make effective visuals with just a basic understanding of the tools. I'll be posting a lot more about using Affinity Publisher for scientific graphics and reports, so if you're interested in learning more, make sure you subscribe to the blog!

Price: $54.99 (£45), with 10-day free trial available

For finding inspiration: Pinterest

If you're anything like me, it might come as an initial shock that Pinterest can be used for topics other than wedding planning and finding recipes! Since becoming a freelancer, I've enjoyed using Pinterest to find inspiration, whether it’s for infographics, report page layout or attractive colour palettes. Create a board where you save designs you like so you can use them for inspiration for future projects.

Price: Free!

For finding a colour palette: Coolors

One of my favourite steps in designing a graphic is picking a colour scheme! The Coolors website is a great place to find a beautiful colour palette for your next project. You can toggle through different randomly generated palettes or browse pre-made ones. There's also a feature that lets you check whether the palette is colour-blind friendly, which is especially important when designing data visualisations and infographics! As you start designing more graphics, you'll begin to find colour palettes that you gravitate towards (for me, they usually involve the colour teal...).

Price: Free (with option to upgrade for additional features)

For finding free photos: Unsplash

There are numerous free stock photo websites out there, but Unsplash tends to be my favourite. Finding photos is often one of the most time-consuming parts of my graphic design process, but having access to thousands of free high-quality images is much appreciated. If you can't find what you're looking for on Unsplash, you can also check out other options, such as Pexels and Pixabay.

Price: Free!

For finding icons: The Noun Project

I love using icons in my visual communication projects and The Noun Project has a large library of icons that you can download as PNGs or SVGs to include in your designs. If you are interested in using icons in multiple projects, I would recommend buying an annual subscription as this allows you to use icons without attribution.

Price: Free (with attribution) or $39.99 (£33) for an annual subscription

For creating data visualisations: Microsoft Excel

Most of my data visualisations start off in Microsoft Excel. I love how easy it is to take shapes and graphs from Excel and bring them straight into Affinity Publisher, where I can make them more visually appealing. I would love to increase my confidence with coding-based data visualisation tools, such as R or Python, but up to this point, Excel has been sufficient.

Price: Included within Microsoft 365 subscription (£59.99/year)

For getting feedback & refining my work: Friends & Family

Okay so this isn't a "tool" per-se, but it's worth including on this list. Once I have created the first draft of a design, I often send it to my parents and boyfriend so they can provide feedback. I've found that it's very helpful to have a second (or third or fourth) set of eyes look at my designs and suggest ways they can be improved. Whether it's a colleague, friend or family member, sending your work to someone you trust to provide useful suggestions can help improve your final piece.

Price: Free!

Additional resources:

• For checking colour accessibility: colourcontrast.cc

• For generating blob shapes: blobmaker.app

• For downloading free fonts: fonts.google.com

• For creating beautiful gradients: uigradients.com

• For finding free illustrations: drawkit.com, scribbbles.design, openpeeps.com, humaaans.com, weareskribbl.com/free-illustrations/

• For creating designs digitally: canva.com

• For extracting a colour scheme from a photo: color.adobe.com

I hope you found this post useful! If you have any questions about using any of these tools, please don't hesitate to get in touch. And if you're interested in learning more about visual science communication, please subscribe to this blog!