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Christina from Northwestern Magazine got in touch with an assignment looking at a group of biomedical engineers who have developed a first-of-its-kind strategy that prevents cancer cells from evolving to resist therapies. Their approach nearly wiped out cancer in lab-grown cells and doubled chemotherapy’s effectiveness in a mouse model of ovarian cancer.
To accompany the article an illustration crossing the spread of the Discovery section was required. I came up with three possible interpretations, as shown here, the first of which was given the go-ahead.

Merging hi-tech with lo-tech to create something new with, hopefully, an air of mystery. Collaging and blending a disparate set of elements - an art journal spread.

Click for enlargements.

I was contacted by Gina at Education Week as they were planning a Special Report on AI. A cover and interior illustrations were needed. The report was looking at the big questions now raised for schools on how to evaluate and respond to the proliferation of AI. How to determine what role AI should play in education, how to develop a better understanding of the benefits and drawbacks of the technology, and then to leverage it to improve teaching and learning and the management of schools.

To help schools reach those goals, a number of aspects were examined from teacher training to deepfakes, assessment and special needs. The tone of the reporting was to be focused on solutions, so positive, hopeful imagery was requested.

Accordingly, for the cover I loved the idea of using a digitised butterfly. It works both as a symbol for transformation but also relates to the ‘butterfly effect’ idea and how everything is deeply interconnected.

Ideas for the interior illustrations sprang from the texts. Here are some of the published pages and proposed concept drawings.

Cori at Common Ground magazine called with an assignment based on how AI is being used in community associations. A cover and full page illustration were required.
Artificial intelligence is more reality than science fiction these days but no one is quite sure how to harness the technology. Community association boards and managers have a lot of questions and angst over it. Others believe it will improve productivity. How best to proceed?
I was given the working title “An AI Odyssey” intended to play off of Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Leslie contacted me with a cover assignment for the Milken Institute Review. It was to centre around the uphill battle to modernize America's electricity grid. The client was committed to the idea of a snapped (and live) electrical cable spitting sparks.