NREL and ESS Graduate Students! Have you ever considered making your own infographic? Now’s your chance! Submit an infographic that relates to your research by December 6th for your chance to win $250! Your infographic will be judged (based on how aesthetically pleasing, engaging, and effective it is at conveying information) by online voters and by NREL PIs. The winner will be announced at the NREL Holiday Party, December 18th.
Submission guidelines
- Submit your infographic to nrel.ecopress@gmail.com by December 6th!
- Submit as a single image at sufficient resolution to read all text clearly (if you use text).
- Judging will be anonymous, so your submitted image should not have any identifying information on it (see below for how we’ll deal with name references during and after the online competition)
But I’m really busy right now. Is making an infographic really the best use of my time?
Well obviously there’s a nice prize involved, plus a rain of accolades at the NREL Holiday Party and the fawning adoration of your fellow peers for the winner. But really, learning how to make a good infographic is a worthy undertaking. If you have any doubts, look into the incredible work by XKCD author Randall Munroe (who had an infographic recently featured in an issue of Science), collected here, creating visuals to explain and explore complex concepts. Your infographic can easily become a reference and a tool for future use.
I’ve never done an infographic! What do I do?
Visual communication is a uncharted territory for most of us! Luckily Kate Wilkins forged ahead and put together a great infographic in her recent post, created on Piktochart (for free!). However feel free to take other approaches! EcoPress editors Nell and Jocelyn tried out hand drawing in a post on the government shutdown, inspired by XKCD. The Oatmeal ‘State of the Web’ posts are fantastic, but not appropriate for linking directly so head on over to Google if you haven’t seen one before.
I just made the best infographic ever. Can I get my name on it?
Yes! We’d like to make sure to credit the creators of these infographics and keep them from being used without reference. Therefore, DURING THE COMPETITION we will label each infographic with the EcoPress logo before posting them. AFTER THE COMPETITION, for all submitters who would like to participate, we will re-post infographics with the names of their respective creators included.
I have more questions!
Feel free to e-mail us at nrel.ecopress@gmail.com! Or contact us individually at nell.campbell@colostate.edu, jocelyn.lavallee@colostate.edu, or aaron.sidder@colostate.edu
Update, December 2nd: we posted some additional infographic resources here.
