Meet Our Graphic Designer

Emily Adams has worked as a Graphic Designer at the Institute for Childhood Preparedness since April 2019. She has an undergraduate degree in Biological Illustration and recently finished her Master’s in Medical Illustration. While working for the Institute, she has created over 100 informational graphics on public health and safety topics and works to upkeep the Institute’s website and marketing materials. You can see more of her work at emadamsinc.com or follow her on Instagram @e.m.adams.inc.

The Institute team sat down with Emily and asked about her design background, achievements, and her interests:

Tell Us About Your Recent Experience With the Journal of Natural Science Illustration.

In April 2020, I responded to a call for COVID-19 Visualizations released by the Journal of Natural Science Illustration; they responded to my submission and asked if I could write an article about my work with the Institute. They were specifically interested in the audience, early childhood professionals, how the graphics were used on social media, and how I had come to work for the Institute. I wrote up a timeline of my work at the Institute and how the COVID visuals were initially created starting in January before more information was known about the coronavirus.

The graphics were created using a pop art style that I had learned about during a recent medical comics workshop. The Institute flu graphics were the first visuals I used in the pop art/comic style. Initially, the COVID-19 visuals were created in Adobe Illustrator, but they were later moved into the online graphic design software called Canva so that the whole Institute Team could easily edit the content. The first round of graphics was created in English and Spanish. Later, graphics on mask safety were created with children and early childhood professionals in mind. Most recently, a similar illustration on the long term health effects of COVID-19 was created. Some of the COVID-19 visuals are also used in the Institute’s coronavirus online training courses, which have been taken by over 65,000 participants in the United States, Canada, and Europe.

The full article can be found in the Journal of Natural Science Illustration Vol. 52, No. 2, which is set to be published and printed before the end of 2020.