Figuring Out Good Figures

The main point of doing scientific research is to share the things you discover. After all, what is the point if discovering something if no one knows about it, to work or learn from it? Science is typically shared in research papers, but the actual date is normally just in the figures (the graphs and images) while the the text describes what it means (as I have talked about before). Sharing scientific data is important, therefore good design of figures is also important. So how do you make a good figure?

Each term I make a research comic for the Oxford University Biochemical Society magazine called Phenotype. This one is all about figuring out figures. How do you make a good one, and how can you avoid getting tricked by bad ones?

Check out the comic here, the whole issue is available to download for free from here.

Software used:
Inkscape: Page layout and drawing.