I am delighted to share my latest creative collaboration which is with an Indigenous business, Markwell and Associates, to illustrate a series of visuals to accompany the ‘Safeguarding Indigenous Heritage and Knowledge’ project for the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA). My role as a creative and visual communicator is to ‘draw out’ the key messages of projects to suit the content, audience and delivery mechanisms. In this case I was asked to incorporate both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander elements into the drawings which will be  shared with a diverse audience including GBRMPA staff, GBR Traditional Owner groups and other Reef stakeholders (in person, online and in documentation). And I’ve had such a wonderful response to my visuals from both my clients and Reef Traditional Owners including the appreciation of my creative energy in the process! You can see more of my visual storytelling with Indigenous Communities.

I use my background as a marine scientist, experience in public policy and my creative skills as an artist to help people to communicate their stories visually — through hand-drawn infographics and illustrations. The creative process is an iterative one so it takes some time to create visual products that are tailored to both the project and the audience. My process starts with reviewing the project information and interpreting the key messages, discussing my visual ideas with client(s) followed by sharing ‘mock ups’ of how I picture the project’s visual needs. Everybody has a story and I love to help people and organisations to “picture their ideas” through storytelling. In this digital age of technology, data and visual ‘noise’ I find that people are looking for a unique and different way to share their stories — and through the art of visual storytelling I can provide that point of difference as “When you see it, you get it!”

You can ‘sea’ more of my creative collaborations via Infographics & Illustrations. You can also dive in with me and follow my creative journey via my alter ego Dr Suzie Starfish and @suepillans on Twitter and Instagram.