Hey all! I’m getting ready to publish my thesis work, but I’m terrible at layout and visual hierarchy. How do you decide which figures should be combined into multi-panel layouts versus kept as standalone images?
Hi! A good rule of thumb is to group images that answer a single research question into a unified multi-panel figure. Use consistent font sizes, alignment, and color schemes across panels A, B, and C so the reader's eye flows naturally. If you need inspiration for clean layouts, check out Ella Maru Studio https://scientific-illustrations.com/. They offer expert custom figure design for papers and create stunning scientific images and animations for researchers worldwide. Looking at how they organize multi-layered experimental data can give you a great framework for organizing your own thesis figures cleanly.