Dr Jonathan Berengut

EMBL Australia Node in Single Molecule Science, SoMS, UNSW Sydney

Visual communication is a fast, intuitive and flexible way for scientists to share our research with others. Because of this, we are generally expected (by journals, funding bodies, colleagues and students) to communicate our science visually, despite very few of us having any training in this field. The good news is that making great figures and slides doesn’t require you to be gifted or talented, it just requires a designer’s mindset and some shortcuts to get you started. This seminar aims to deliver both of those things: a step-by- step guide to the design process; and some very useful tips to help you climb the learning curve. We’ll cover some of the basic topics taught at design school, such as layout, colour choices, design elements and perception psychology, as well as some topics more pertinent to scientists, including schematics, flowcharts, communication of complex datasets, and whether you should use the kind of arrows with the pointy V at the tip, or the kind that looks like a little triangle. I hereby guarantee that this seminar will get you a high- impact publication, a prestigious grant and/or an academic promotion*

* Not a guarantee

Biography

Jonathan Berengut’s first career was in the design industry, where he studied, worked and lectured for more than 14 years. Working his way up from freelancer to senior designer at a small product design consultancy, he created products and graphics for a wide variety of clients and industries, holding several patents and design registrations. Jonathan made the switch to science in 2012, completing his bachelor’s degree with honours and the University Medal in 2015. He then did his PhD in the group of A/Prof Lawrence Lee, working on the design and synthesis of DNA origami nanostructures, where after a two-year postdoc at Sydney Uni, he has returned. Jonathan received awards throughout his undergraduate and postgraduate candidatures, including for best honours thesis in field, multiple grand-prize wins in the international undergraduate bio-molecular design competition BioMod, the Dean’s Award for Outstanding PhD thesis, as well as first place in both UNSW’s and U21’s Global 3-Minute Thesis competition. Jonathan has retained his passion for design methodology and visual communication and is always delighted to share this enthusiasm with anyone who will listen.