Visual Communication and Design Principles Training for Scientists & Researchers
Clear, compelling visual design for slides, posters, figures, and scientific graphics
In our long-format visual communication and design principles training for scientists and researchers, we focus on best-practice design techniques, visual clarity, and communication effectiveness, helping researchers improve the slides, posters, figures, infographics, and other graphics they create.
We help make those visuals clearer, more compelling, and more effective at communicating findings, across common research formats.
Good to know: This training is not about technical data visualisation or statistical graphics, and course participants should already know which data to present and which graph types are appropriate for their discipline.
Visual communication training: 2-day visual communication intensive (applied)
→ Popular format for researchers with materials ready to improve and who want to cover most types visual communication materials used in research settings
This 2-day intensive is designed for participants who have existing visual materials to improve. Through hands-on practice with their own slides, posters, figures, and other research visuals, participants learn and apply design principles to create clearer, more compelling communications.
What’s covered:
- Visual design foundations
- Learning through critique of published examples as well as participants’ own materials
- Format-specific intensive sessions (posters, slides, figures – selection based on group needs)
- Individual practice time to revise, improve, and polish own materials
- Peer and facilitator feedback sessions
- Data storytelling and narrative structure
- Graphical abstract creation as synthesis exercise
- Final portfolio review and feedback
Requirements:
Participants must bring their own visual materials (slides, posters, figures, or drafts) to work on during the training.
Delivery:
Two consecutive days (in-person preferred) or 4 half-day sessions (online)
Perfect for:
Doctoral candidates and researchers preparing conference materials, publications, or high-stakes presentations who have materials ready to improve.
Tailor this training to your needs
Every group has different visual communication needs and material readiness. We can adapt this training to fit your context:
1.5-day format?
Covers all visual design foundations and format-specific work with participants’ own materials as outlined in our 2-day course,, but skips the graphical abstract exercise and final portfolio showcase. Ideal when time is limited but participants have materials to improve.
1-day foundations format?
Covers all visual design foundations and format-specific work with participants’ own materials, but skips the graphical abstract exercise and final portfolio showcase. Ideal when time is limited but participants have materials to improve.
Half-day introduction?
Core visual design principles, light critique session, and quick sketching exercises. Great for beginners or as preparation before format-specific training.
Blended format (self-paced with live online or live in-person)?
Pre-work covering design foundations (2-3 hours async) followed by one full day of application with real materials (own or examples from literature). Maximises live session value for geographically dispersed groups.
Just need foundations?
Our 2-hour skills sessions on Visual Design Principles, Poster Design Essentials, Slide Design Best Practices, and Graphical Abstracts introduce the basics. See our other short format options →
What our training does NOT cover:
Our visual communication training programmes focus on design principles and communication clarity. We do not cover:
- Statistical analysis or choosing appropriate chart types for your data
- Technical data visualisation training (Tableau, R, Python, advanced statistical graphics)
- Discipline-specific data standards or conventions
- Software tutorials for design tools (though we provide guidance on tool options)
Why this matters:
Participants should come with data/content and visual material already prepared, or ready to work on examples from literature. If their visual material includes figures and graphs, we trust that they will know which graph types to select (based on their field training). Our training helps to make those visuals clearer and more effective at communicating.
Looking for technical data visualisation training?
We work with specialist data visualisation experts for groups needing statistical graphics, advanced dataviz tools (Tableau, R, Python), or discipline-specific visualisation training. Tell us about what you need and we’d be happy to help.
Delivery options
Online:
Via Zoom, or your preferred platform. We run these workshops for institutions worldwide
In-person:
Across Europe (if we can get there by public transport, we’re happy to travel!)
Included in all formats:
- Pre-training discovery call and/or survey to understand your group’s needs and context
- Tailored examples relevant to your discipline
- Hands-on practice with peer and facilitator feedback
- Post-session resources, worksheets, cheatsheets, and frameworks
- Support for organisers in planning and participant communication
Perfect for:
- PhD students and postdocs
- Interdisciplinary summer/winter schools
- Research teams preparing for conferences or grant presentations
- Scientific support or admin teams communicating with students/faculty
- R&D teams sharing internal results or innovation pipelines
- Add-on modules or workshops for conferences, scientific meetings, or project check-ins
Short-format alternatives to long-format training
If your group needs immersive learning, with lots of time for application, practice, refinement, peer-sharing, and learning-by-doing, our long-format training is best.
But: in the real world, researchers and students need to balance “too little time” with a need to learn communication skills. That’s why we offer half-day workshops, and 2-hour skills sessions, too.
2-hour Skills Sessions
→ Single focus for large groups
Our short SciComm Skills Sessions are designed to introduce one specific skill in a short timeframe, online, for groups of up to 100 participants.
Choose from:
- Visual Design Principles: foundational design principles for all formats
- Poster Design: structure, layout, and visual clarity for posters
- Slide Design: clear, memorable presentation visuals
- Graphical Abstracts: compact visual storytelling
Even Less Time?
→ Webinars, expert talks, panel contributions, quick tips
We’re always open to contributing to sessions that need short, sharp input, without the interactive training element.
We draw on 20+ years of international communication experience, and nearly 14 years of working with scientists and researchers across a wide range of disciplines.
Get in touch to chat about whatever is on your mind and we’ll do our best to help.
Explore all training topics
Not sure which format or topic you need? Browse our complete catalogue of communication training, organised by category.
Looking for something different?
We’re always happy to tailor programmes to your context, or create custom-designed learning experiences to address specific needs.
Ready to plan visual communication and clear design training?
If you want to offer an interactive visual communication skills workshop or skills session for your scientists, research group, or students, we’d love to help.
Tell us a bit about what you need (purpose, number of participants, when, where, and anything else that might be useful), and we’ll respond with ideas and costs.
Alternatively, book a call, and we can talk through your ideas together.
