Illustrating to Communicate Concepts

Having illustrated for academics in the past, my name was suggested to author and educator Professor Narelle Lemon late 2023. This was my first project after recovering from burnout. The first meeting was set up, and the manuscript of the "yet to be named" book was sent ahead of the meeting.

The book in a nutshell: Drawing on personal experiences of burnout, as well as research in wellbeing literacy, self-care and positive psychology. Narelle was presenting a new framework for self-care, written mainly for educators (however, I'd argue the core principles are helpful for all professionals regardless of their field).

Process

Working on this project was a timely learning experience, and a great opportunity to provide a fresh perspective on how to best communicate concepts to Narelle's audience. I really appreciated the space Narelle created for collaboration (including a dedicated channel named "Book Club" in WhatsApp). This fostered a delightful process and great outcome. 'The How of Self Care for Teachers - Building your Wellbeing Toolbox'

I soon realised I'd need to understand the work in its entirety to deliver the communication 'problem solving'. Siri read me the manuscript on my morning walk for a week. This definitely increased my capacity to add value.

The author provided me with her initial ideas on diagrams to represent the concepts, and also invited me to propose alternative ways to illustrate the concepts.

Illustrations

While a lot of the illustrations could have been dot point lists, the Author recognised the value of creating variety in the way ideas were presented.

The style Narelle was looking for was playful and simple.

Having examples interspersed throughout the book created a moment for the reader to stop and engage in an alternative way.

Font creation

Narelle requested that I source a suitable font to accompany illustrations and stand out from the rest of the text in the book. I decided to create a font specifically for Narelle ("Lemonaid") for use in her book. Given it was my handwriting, it sat well with the simple illustrations that I'd created for Narelle.

Tools

I used my 'reMarkable 2' to experiment with concepts, refine, and then share with Narelle for approval. Once the illustrations were approved, I used Adobe Illustrator to "clean up" and format the illustrations for the publishing house.

Published

The publishing house specifications informed how I set up and used the formatting environment from day 1. The clarity Narelle brought to this project and the level of communication we shared throughout the process resulted in very few changes being required once the artwork was submitted.

I thoroughly enjoyed this project.

You can find out more about Narelle's fantastic work 'here'.