Welcome back to The Designer Will See You Now podcast, where we talk health, design, and advocacy. Today we’re excited to introduce TWO award-winning illustrators and animators, Emily Holden and Annie Campbell. They lead Now Medical Studios and uniquely specialize in medical illustration and animation, which means creating visualizations for educational materials, infographics, medical devices, and more. Their work blends art and science in order to bring medicine to life in an understandable and engaging way (as they say, “if your granny can understand it you’ve done a good job”). Through intentional choices around aesthetics, sound design, and representation of people of different backgrounds, Annie and Emily tell a story that challenges established notions of how healthcare should look. Join us in talking to them about how medical illustration and animation impacts startup investment, considerations for accessibility and representation in their work, and myth-busting inaccurate depictions we see day to day. 

Show Notes 🖊️

• ​For more information on Annie and Emily’s work, check out their illustration & animation studio Now Medical Studios https://www.nowmedicalstudios.com/ 
• ​04:28 “Gross anatomy” is the study of body structures visible to the naked eye, such as bones, muscles, and organs.
• ​06:51 In the study of anatomy, “spot tests” are exams where students identify parts of the body and answer questions about their function.
• ​09:14 “Gestural and figure drawing” is the practice of drawing the human form, focusing on anatomy, proportions, and movement.
• ​12:00 “Medical communications agencies” specialize in translating scientific data into clear, compliant, and engaging content for pharmaceutical companies, healthcare organizations, and professionals.
• ​15:31 “Medical writers” create clear and scientifically-sound documents about medicine and healthcare for various audiences.
• ​18:42 “KPI” stands for Key Performance Indicator, a quantifiable metric that measures progress towards specific business goals. 
• ​20:42 Annie references the “pathways” and “journeys” that product designers create, referring to ‘user flows,’ which are visual maps showing the path users take to complete a goal in a product.
• ​29:42 Annie references a 2015 tweet from the Association of Medical Illustrators’ twitter, calling out a $50 million Neuroimaging Institute ad for depicting a brain backwards https://x.com/AMIdotorg/status/583341666028920832 
• ​43:14 “QC process” stands for Quality Control process, in this context evaluating medical visualizations for accuracy and compliance with accessibility standards.
• ​44:44 Within design, the “Occam’s Razor” principle suggests shaving away any unnecessary information or content to arrive at the simplest solution - essentially, less is more.
• ​46:36 Annie references Johnson & Johnson’s initiative Illustrate Change, which, together with the Association of Medical Illustrators, aims to increase diversity and representation in medical illustration. Learn more here https://www.jnj.com/media-center/press-releases/johnson-johnson-launches-illustrate-change-an-initiative-to-increase-diversity-and-representation-in-medical-illustrations 

Chapters 📖

00:00-01:44 Intro & showreel

01:45-05:39 What is medical illustration and how Annie & Emily got into it

05:40-09:39 Do you need a medical degree to be a medical illustrator?

09:40-11:12 Working creatively AND analytically

11:13-12:30 Non-traditional paths into medical illustration

12:31-14:25 Comparing to Ola & Bella’s career journeys

14:26-17:46 Making dry topics engaging

17:47-21:35 Explain it like you’re talking to your granny

21:36-26:15 Make stuff that you’d want to look at

26:16-28:53 Dark sexy medicine vibes

28:54-35:37 Shockingly inaccurate depictions out in the world

35:38-41:14 How great visuals help medical startups win investors

41:15-45:17 Accessibility considerations

45:18-50:26 Diversity in medical illustration

50:27-52:34 Favorite projects

52:35-53:39 Outro