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By the end of this course, you will be able to:

• Draw clear, effective icons and build well-structured infographics.
• Design clear scientific artwork.
• Apply the principles of good design (color, typography, composition) to guide your audience through a clear visual journey.
• Produce professional-quality figures, graphical abstracts, and posters for your research, making your work more impactful and memorable.

• Sessions 1-2: Master the tools of Adobe Illustrator with hands-on practice and get a better understanding of the program.
• Sessions 3-4: Focus on design principles. Learn to create custom icons and identify common design flaws to elevate your work.
• Bring your own project: You are strongly encouraged to bring your own work (like a figure, a graphical abstract, a poster) to apply the skills you learn directly to your personal projects.
• After the Course: You’ll be able to produce professional-quality figures, graphical abstracts, or posters, making your research more impactful. As a bonus, you can even reach out to Iliana for further feedback on your work after the course ends!
• You will receive a comprehensive manual and additional material. Homework will be assigned after each session with personalized feedback from your instructor, Iliana. 

Installation of Adobe Illustrator

• Software: You need a computer with Adobe Illustrator installed in English. You must uninstall the program to adjust the language setting in Creative Cloud, and then reinstall it. For installation issues, please contact your faculty's ICT department.
• Equipment: A second screen and a mouse are highly recommended. A microphone and camera are mandatory for interactive sessions.
• Study Load: In addition to the scheduled sessions, anticipate an extra study load of approximately 20 hours, consisting primarily of homework assignments.
• Contact: If you plan to miss parts of the course, please contact Iliana directly to discuss options.

Study load

After each session, you receive assignments to practice the techniques you learned. During the next session, you have the opportunity to ask questions about the assignments.

In addition to the scheduled sessions, you should take into account an extra study load of approximately 20 hours in total. This study load generally consists of homework assignments in preparation for the next session.

Group size

10 - 12 participants

Number of credits

1.3 EC

Trainer

Iliana Boshoven-Gkini, is a visual communicator who merges her passion for design with her love of nature. Her unique background is a perfect blend of science and art: she holds a BSc in Plant Sciences and two MSc degrees in Landscape Architecture & Floriculture. She is also an accomplished artist and has been an Adobe Certified Instructor since 2021. Iliana founded AgileColor design studio () in 2012, specializing in scientific visual communication and publications such as thesis books. For more than a decade, she's been teaching design courses at various universities and research institutes, empowering students to turn their complex research into clear, visually engaging content.

Course certificate

You will receive a course certificate after attending the training sessions and completing all the course requirements (i.e., assignments).

This course is free for GSLS PhD candidates. However: free of charge does not mean free of responsibility. Once you have signed up for a course, we expect you to attend. For every late cancellation or no-show we have had to disappoint others who would have liked to attend. This is our policy:

• You may cancel free of charge up to 4 weeks before the start of the course. After this date you can only cancel if you have a GSLS PhD candidate to replace you in the course. Send the name and contact information of your replacement to pcc@uu.nl, at least 2 working days before the start of the course;
• We expect that you actively attend the full course, but at least 80%. It is mandatory to attend the first session. If you are absent the first session you cannot follow the remaining of the course;
• Not meeting the above requirements means you will be charged a no-show fee (€ 120). We will send the invoice after the course has ended. We are unable to make any exceptions, unless you have a valid reason (i.e., illness or death in the family 1^st/2^nd degree or partner). Your supervisor has to send an e-mail to pcc@uu.nl indicating the reason.