Graphic Design & Science

[gentle bren]

hello folks,

 

i have just graduated as a mature student with a Graphic Design degree and one particular area of study which i am interested in is the communication of science/scientific concepts to the public.

 

although my main interests lie within music and graphics i have always had a fascination with science and philosophy. The only problem being i really don't have a very technical brain! However, i am constantly astounded by what i read about cosmology and science. Even though i don't really understand the fundamental workings surrounding theories and laws, they never fail to trigger profound thoughts and spark my imagination.

 

my own scientific knowledge is limited. Its mainly from reading the New Scientist magazine, Richard Dawkins, Carl Sagan and not really understanding Stephen Hawking books! For this reason i understand that my role is to act as a messenger, i am in no position to start answering questions. I wish merely to understand the questions, and then to attempt to make them communicable to ordinary people

 

my self elected final project started out as a quest to describe an atom accurately to the layperson - and ended up highlighting a need for increased dialogue between the the Arts and the Sciences - they are after all, as Stephen Wilson states "the twin engines of creativity in any dynamic culture"

 

i was wondering therefore, if there were any people within the scientific community who be interested in any collaborative projects?

 

thanks

 

bren

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is there really no-one on this forum who is interested in the communication of science to the public?

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i guess you guys are kinda stuck with poorly constructed illustrations and bad typography then

 

does anybody know of any science forums which are more geared towards academics?

 

thanks

 

bren

[Izzy_Bee]

Wow I can not believe no one has got back to you with this. I am sorry our community is not as open as some.

 

I can work with you if you give me a base to work on, for example.. physics, solar systems.. etc etc. It will be easier if you email me on

donna.robs@yahoo.co.uk

 

I am more then happy you aid in your workings. It is all for my own personal discovery and adding knowledge to what i already know. I am a A-level student in the higher end of A-levels. I hope that is ok. I am also a ex-graphic designer. So I may be of help to you.

 

Reply me at my email Thanks.

 

Louise

[Phi for All]

This is a discussion forum, not a chat room, so you sometimes have to be patient for a response. This thread is in General Discussion as well, so many people who only read for the science discussions won't see this. And this is also summertime, so many students are off on vacation or working summer jobs.

 

The staff here has long been talking about how best to raise membership and much of that is presenting science to the public in a way that is informative yet entertaining. The majority of the members have a lot of scientific knowledge but aren't necessarily professional scientists. We'd love to attract more members who like not only science itself but the scientific approach to observing the world around them.

 

Does that make sense?

[Izzy_Bee]

Makes sense to me. Thanks.

[Phi for All]

So how would you go about attracting people like yourself who are fascinated by science and would like to learn more?

[gentle bren]

hey guys

 

thank you for your replies

 

i figured that there would be people here interested in this and my last post was intended only to spark someone in to replying (i hope i didn't offend anybody)

 

my main aim is to in some way work with scientists and maybe people involved with scientific institutions - in order to look at and identify problems and issues surrounding the communication of AND public understanding of science and/or scientific concepts and breakthroughs

 

from what i can work out so far, it seems that scientists are very good at being scientists, but not so good at being communicators

 

for instance, scientists in general seem not to regard typography as being very important, which seems bizarre considering that the printed word is probably one of the most important inventions there has ever been. Without it the widespread dissemination of information would have been impossible

 

in my experience scientists also have a difficulty grasping semiotic and semantic relationships as they are often much more abstract concepts

 

scientists by their very nature have to present everything as accurately as possible - which will often confound the layperson when dealing with very complex subjects. However a designer may well communicate a scientific concepts completely inacurately if left to research a topic alone.

 

what i'm looking for is to begin an open dialogue between scientists and designers to work on effective, accurate and ultimately attractive ways of communicating science

 

i really don't have any answers at this stage which is why i would like to discuss the topic further

 

i hope this is clear!?

 

i'm also aware that there are many scientists with excellent communication skills - people like Carl Sagan, Richard Feynman, Stephen Hawking, *ahem* Richard Dawkins and Brian Cox i consider to be excellent at communicating science to the public, although i dare say many scientists would accuse them of being populists

 

thanks

 

bren

[Izzy_Bee]

All the people I know are already devoting their futures to science.. We normaly do small events and try to get people doing small experiments. Like trying to make a Sonic boom. Its fun. And it gets people going ...