The Intern(al) Monologue
IPSHITA
Anyways, now about how I joined Biotales! I’ve loved science since I was a kid, and was such a fan of biology at one point that I wanted to go into research. I studied science during my 11th and 12th too and thought of becoming a doctor, but took a hard right into design instead- and decided I’d make sure to take up as much ‘sciencey’ work as I could in order to stay connected to it.
I’ve been with the team since the start, from when Biotales was merely a collection of google docs on a drive titled ‘Output from workshops’. From ‘Output Biotales 1’ back when I joined, I’ve seen the drive grow to ‘Output Biotales 2’ and later even a ‘Output Biotales 3’, the categories of posts becoming 5 from the original 3. With Aswathy and Ipsa’s guidance and hard work getting everything together, we’ve all made it into what it is today, and I’m really proud of the work we’ve done!
Hi everyone, my name’s Ipshita, Biotales’ visual design and illustration intern! You’ve probably seen my name in the credits of a few posts, either under some illustrations or the recent Biotales posters. It’s about due time I introduce myself (further than whatever is on the About page, anyway).
I’ve recently graduated with a B.Des in Visual Communication and Strategic Branding from Srishti Manipal Institute of Art, Design and Technology, and my strengths lie in visual design, information design, illustration and UI/ UX design. I’ve been drawing since I was a kid, and psychology is something I thought was really cool- so I decided to take up something with both- aka design.
As I worked on the stories, I came across so many experiences where I found myself thinking, “Of course people struggled in this way,” or “I’d never thought about it but of course this would make people happy!”—in this manner I was able to relate so many experiences to similar ones I have lived through, and I feel I was able to get even closer to the science I once thought I had left behind when I chose design as a career.
My relationship with biology since school has changed greatly- from rote memorising textbooks while cramming for the NEET to a more slow, personally-driven and curiosity-induced learning, and I feel this internship only made it better in terms of me being able to see so many more things than I’d ever even known existed. But it also made me realise that all the things I thought I knew about science research and the lab were very much the experiences of famous people, or those who have been in the field for many years already.
Before I continue- shoutout to everyone who participated in the workshops! I got to read all your stories, learn so many new things, read quite a few touching and inspiring tales, and also interact personally with a few of the people behind them! Thanks so much for sharing your personal experiences with us, I’ve been honoured to get the chance to visualise them these past few months :D
It made me understand just how important sharing these stories was—
Not only for the junior researchers themselves, or for those who wanted to get into this field as well (younger me would have had a lot less anxiety and uncertainty about thinking of research as a career path if I’d had something like this), but also for people who may have forgotten the small struggles and joys of their beginnings. This was relevant to every single field, too. This realisation only made my belief in what we were doing stronger, and I enjoyed my work even more!
Okay, now back to business. When Aswathy asked me to write an editorial post about my experience at Biotales, I was a bit confused on what I could talk about (although considering I’ve already said so much, you wouldn’t think this was where I started). She then suggested I try breaking down my process of designing a post, and I was like ‘Hey, that sounds really cool!’ But when I sat down to write it, I hit a block. I’d never really thought about it, so it took me a day or two to actually list it all on paper. And now, here it is:
Read the article:
1.
I first go through the stories, the images and illustrations shared with us by the author, as well as any notes left by Aswathy. Sometimes I have to ask her for what certain things mean, sometimes Google- but I make sure I understand everything I can so I can get it right.
Mark out the parts of the text that can have images/ illustrations/ be put as quotes, if not marked already:
2.
This allows me to start getting an idea of how many ‘chunks’ the post would be in (text chunks and non-text chunks), to make sure it doesn’t get too visually or textually heavy.
Search for photos and make sketches, and get them approved
3.
Hover here to learn the story of how I made the new illustration style :D
My original illustration style is very, very different—much more detailed, what I’d classify as semi-realistic. But it was difficult to make such illustrations for each post (especially because I was balancing my pre-thesis project with this internship), which is when I started experimenting with making the different parts of a person that I spent most time on easier—so the eyes, hands, and overall feeling became much more cartoony, while still retaining the idea of a person. It also suited many of the posts as well, so it all worked out for me luckily.
Some of them were different on request (for example, Alka had requested an anime style character in their post), while others were even more toned-down to match the mood of the piece (like in 'Disentangling the Self from the Laboratory'). If you look at my illustrations from the beginning, in fact, you’ll gradually see this style slowly develop over weeks. Akash’s post saw a very initial idea of it, and I’ve only very recently become confident in my ability to be able to draw in this style easily (which seems counter-intuitive, considering the reason why I even tried it in the first place). But overall, I feel that it has contributed immensely to the visual style of Biotales as a whole, and that makes me quite glad. Both of us figured ourselves
out in this time—quite a sweet thought, no?
Make said illustrations:
4.
My favourite part! I eventually even developed a new personal illustration style for these, which is something I’ll always associate with Biotales.
Set up the text and play around with it until I think it fits the vibe of the post:
5.
Sometimes a long process, sometimes a short one. The easiest were the self-portraits, because all they had was a few photos and some text (but a few required me to get creative in how I arranged the photos, even using hover animations for some), while the data visualisation pieces were quite hard—but only because I had to struggle more with the website rather than any actual work. Those, and Alka’s piece ‘I am a researcher, not a scientist’ (because of the various interactions, the illustrations as well as the large amount of content) would be amongst the ones that took the longest.
Take a break (most important step) and come back to it:
6.
Here’s where I take a second look at my work and fix whatever seems weird, just to make sure there are no errors of any kind.
Send it for approval
7.
Work on any feedback, if given
8.
Fix the mobile version of it:
9.
This is just putting everything in order, fixing the sizes, etc. etc.
That’s generally how it goes- if it’s more illustration-heavy or a data visualisation piece, some of the steps get switched out. And once all this is done, it goes into the queue, and then out into the world when the time’s right!
Well, with that, I suppose I’m done. Thanks for sticking with me so far, and I hope you’ve enjoyed all our work on Biotales! I’ve had an amazing time in this internship and learnt so much (huge thanks to Aswathy and Ipsa), and hope you’ve all gotten some delight from my work too :D
Feel free to contact me on my Instagram-
@/thenightowl1107, I’m always up for a good pun or science fact!
With love and gratitude,
Ipshita
About Ipshita
Ipshita Raj is a visual designer, illustrator and writer, with a B.Des in Visual Communication and Strategic Branding from Srishti Manipal Institute of Art, Design and Technology. Her interests lie in science and anything creative- but especially when it comes to combining the two. Her current project observes the usage of colour and how it has changed in Indian art, through a historical lens.
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