Welcome back to my blog, where I talk about being an illustrator and a researcher. What does illustration-as-research mean?

Here is where it gets really interesting! So what does illustration actually mean? I need to talk a little more about what research entails in order to answer this…

In essence, research as a field is about creating new knowledge. Now, this is different from ‘invention’ or ‘innovation’ in that the size of the addition is of little importance. The new knowledge doesn’t need to (or won’t) change the entire humanity and its trajectory… at least right away. For the naïve observer, it may look like these nerdy researchers are doing nothing of importance. But our job is to ‘try’ and ‘archive’ rather than ‘improve’ or ‘change.’

Illustration research could have two strands: research about illustration or research through illustration. To me, the former is to deepen the understanding of the medium, its history and its prevalence in humanity. The latter is to expand the application of the medium and test the limits of where the medium can influence. Think of an XY diagram; whether one goes deep South down the Y line or far across the X line, it is going far nonetheless!

I am firmly in the latter category, where I often ask, ‘What/where/who else can illustration influence?’ I am also a practice-based researcher, meaning that my research cannot happen without practice. What I make is a part of knowledge. Knowledge wouldn’t have existed without the making part. If the making is absent from my research process, then the entire research ceases to exist. In fact, this is a good stress-test for determining whether illustration research is actually about illustration:

If you remove the ‘illustration’ part, does it still stand as research? Even a little bit?

The answer should be no.

Here, it’s important to note the difference between illustration research and research using illustration. If all the research is done beforehand – through interviews, tests, or questionnaires let’s say – and then illustration comes in to ‘decorate’ or ‘communicate’ the research findings, then that’s research using creative means rather than creative research. I can rant for hours and hours about how practice-based research is seen as a ‘quirky,’ or ‘creative’ method and underappreciated as ‘proper’ research, but I will save you the time and the energy. In the end, research is research.

Be proud to contribute to the pool of knowledge through making, fellow researchers!