Scientific 2D design workshop
Hands-on Affinity Designer session at TUM on vector schemes for scientific publications.
Group members building vector schemes in Affinity Designer, with xyzrender docs on the screen. © Iñigo Iribarren
After conferences I am often asked how I build figures, schemes, and renders. In May 2026 I turned that into a practical session for my group at TUM: a hands-on introduction to 2D vector design for scientific publications.
We worked in Affinity Designer, from the interface and core tools through to a first complete visual workflow. I also shared resources I use regularly — icon libraries, colour-palette tools, and xyzrender for molecular visuals. As a warm-up we built a light example together: a coffee-making workflow that ends in a caffeine molecule, then everyone designed their own schemes.
Demo scheme from the session — a simple coffee workflow in vector form, ending with caffeine. © Iñigo Iribarren
The goal was not a long software course, but enough vector literacy to go from zero to a proposal- or paper-ready scheme: hierarchy, consistent icons and arrows, and clean exports. I am considering expanding this into a broader format that also covers 3D (Blender), colour theory, and data visualisation.
Original post: LinkedIn.
Photos and demo artwork © Iñigo Iribarren.