EDITORIAL ILLUSTRATION
Scientists from EDITH COWAN UNIVERSITY are studying the vital ecological relationship between dugongs and seagrass ecosystems on the Western Australian coastline. Dugongs aren’t just gentle sea mammals, but active caretakers of their environment with surprisingly sophisticated behaviour.
As part of their educational outreach, they were publishing an article in Frontiers for Young Minds and wanted illustrations that could connect with the readers.
GOAL: Create illustrations for an audience aged 8-15 that sparks curiosity and imagination while exploring the ecological role of dugongs.
The articles core messaging showed dugongs performing two key roles; acting as detective in their ability to locate seagrass, as well as farmer in their role of seedling dispersal.
We chose to highlight these roles with playful, character-driven illustrations as well as diagrams to further explain the seagrass seedling dispersal.
By blending imaginative character design with real science, the visuals invite readers to see marine biology through a lens of story and play.
The final artwork has been used by ECU for multiple science presentations including conferences in Perth, Melbourne, and Italy. It has also been featured in Frontiers for Young Minds, where the article had a significantly boost in engagement compared to previous publications by ECU.
Read the article here.
NICOLE SAID - Postdoctoral Research Fellow at ECU