How to create successful graphical abstracts?

A 10 simple rules educational series

Matthias König
https://matthiaskoenig.github.io/edu-talks
konigmatt@gmail.com, https://livermetabolism.com

Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Faculty of Life Science, Institute of Biology, ITB
University of Stuttgart, Institute of Structural Mechanics and Dynamics in Aerospace Engineering

February 10, 2026

1: Key message for audience1

What do you want to show?

  • Write down the key message in one sentence
  • Doodle around on paper
  • Shorten down the abstract to one sentence (conclusion)
  • ChatGPT

Actionable items

  • Take an example of yours and define the key message

2: Pictures and pictograms

Key components are visual elements.

  • Mostly pictograms and symbols
  • Simple shapes
  • All icons should have similar overall appearance (consistency)

Actionable items

3: Data and charts as key visuals

When pictograms are not enough.

Actionable items

  • Medical, microscopy, or photo images are often self-explanatory
  • Most of us understand bar charts (and pie and line charts)1
  • Omit details (tick marks, legends, labels, …)
  • highlight specific methods with domain-specific plots (e.g. t-SNE, Forrest plots, Vulcano)

4: Layout: The dimensions

Where to put what?

Actionable items

  • Explore typical formats: e.g. Canva
  • Have a look at requirements: e.g. MDPI
  • Often square or rectangle (see instructions)
  • Often shown very small (newsletter, social media, …)
  • Often space very limited (grant applications), go wide not high

5: Layout: Reading directions

Where is the entry point, how do you scan?

Actionable items

  • Figure out the reading directions of the latest figures you created
  • Where is your entry point?
  • Provide clear entry point
  • Typical direction: left to right, top to bottom
  • Arrange elements in reading order1
  • Linear processes or workflows work well in linear chain
  • Parallel layout for contrasting elements

6: Connecting the elements

Arrows and arrangements

Actionable items

  • Explore the arrows and options in your tool of choice
    • Width, arrow heads, curves, … (e.g. Biorender)
  • Explore SBGN
  • Arrows connect text, pictograms, images and charts into a sequential narrative (storyline)
  • Arrows have distinct functions and meaning (be consistent)1
  • Respect domain-specific agreements (e.g. inhibition)

7: Text

Less is more

  • Graphical abstract should be self-explanatory (without text)
  • Be consistent (sizes, font-weight, font)
  • Don’t overwhelm or confuse

8: Colors

Colour is a power which directly influences the soul.

Actionable items

  • Explore tools to select colors or color combinations
  • Reflect your color choices
  • Engage with audience; other functions: highlight, enumerate, group, levels, …
  • Consistency in color usage is important (in graphical abstract and manuscript)
  • Many people are colorblind

9: Tools for graphical abstracts

Select the right tool for the job.

Actionable items

  • Get comfortable with a vector graphics program
  • Use vector graphics
  • Biorender, Canva, Figma, Adobe Illustrator, Inkscape
  • Comprehensive reviews of features and pricing are available1

10: Before, during, after

Feedback

Actionable items

  • Get feedback on your last figure and implement the suggestions
  • Designing is an iterative process
  • Seek input from friends and colleagues.

Evolution of Graphical Abstracts

Evolution of Graphical Abstracts (PERFECT-KID)

References

Ariga, Kana, and Manabu Tashiro. 2022. “Change in the Graphics of Journal Articles in the Life Sciences Field: Analysis of Figures and Tables in the Journal "Cell".” History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 44 (3): 33. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40656-022-00516-9.
Cairo, Alberto. 2016. The Truthful Art: Data, Charts, and Maps for Communication. New Riders.
Cvrčková, Fatima. 2019. “From Data to Illustrations: Common (Free) Tools for Proper Image Data Handling and Processing.” Methods in Molecular Biology (Clifton, N.J.) 1992: 121–33. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-9469-4_8.
Jambor, Helena Klara, and Martin Bornhäuser. 2024. “Ten Simple Rules for Designing Graphical Abstracts.” PLOS Computational Biology 20 (2): e1011789. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1011789.
Perkel, Jeffrey M. 2020. “The Software That Powers Scientific Illustration.” Nature 582 (7810): 137–38. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-01404-7.
Tversky, Barbara, Jeffrey Zacks, Paul Lee, and Julie Heiser. 2000. “Lines, Blobs, Crosses and Arrows: Diagrammatic Communication with Schematic Figures.” In Diagrammatic Communication, edited by Michael Anderson, Peter Cheng, and Volker Haarslev. Springer.
Weissgerber, Tracey L., Natasa M. Milic, Stacey J. Winham, and Vesna D. Garovic. 2015. “Beyond Bar and Line Graphs: Time for a New Data Presentation Paradigm.” PLoS Biology 13 (4): e1002128. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1002128.
Wong, Bang. 2011. “Layout.” Nature Methods 8 (10): 783. https://doi.org/10.1038/nmeth.1711.

Contact

https://livermetabolism.com

koenigmx@hu-berlin.de