Scientific illustration
Accurate enough for a reviewer

Scientific
illustration

Correct first, clear second — never the other order.

Scientific illustration for mechanism, anatomy and biological process, drawn accurately enough to be checked by your medical reviewer against the actual science, and clear enough that the intended audience actually understands it.

Scope
What is included

What scientific illustration
requires beyond good drawing

What it involves

Scientific illustration in this sector is not decorative art. Every anatomical relationship, every step in a process, every proportion has to be verifiable against the actual science, which means the illustration process includes source verification, not just visual design.

What we deliver

Illustration briefed against your source material and reviewed with your medical or scientific team, style development matched to the audience, and final files delivered in the formats your production actually needs.

Verified against your source

Every illustration is built from source material and direction your medical or scientific team supplies, and checked against it at each stage. Accuracy is confirmed against your evidence, not assumed from ours.

case studies

Clients we've worked with

Real projects for industrial and pharmaceutical companies.
Illustration track record
Track record

What our scientific
illustration work has covered

The scope our scientific illustration work has operated within.

+10
years building for regulated industries
+200
organisations have trusted Code
+1.500
documents migrated with their access permissions intact
+160
scientific papers in a single managed repository
Scientific illustration by audience
Who needs it

The same process illustrated
differently by reader

The same biological process needs different illustration depending on who is looking at it. Scientific illustration starts from the reader.

Illustration process
Four stages

How we approach scientific
illustration

Four stages. In scientific illustration source verification happens before style is even discussed.

SOURCE AND BRIEF
01
01

Working from what your team actually supplies

We build the brief from source material and direction supplied by your medical or scientific team, rather than researching the science ourselves and risking an inaccuracy.

What we gather

We collect the source references and material your medical or scientific team supplies, confirm exactly which process or structure needs illustrating and at what level of detail, establish who the audience is, and check for any prior illustration the new piece needs to stay visually consistent with.

Result

The brief is anchored to material your own scientific team has verified, so the illustration is not built on our interpretation of the science but on what your experts actually supplied and confirmed.

STYLE DEVELOPMENT
02
02

Matched to the audience, not to trend

We develop a visual style appropriate to the audience and the level of detail required, testing early rather than committing to a full illustration in an unapproved style.

What we develop

We put forward a few style directions appropriate to the audience, then test the level of detail on a single representative component before committing further, and check the direction against any existing visual identity the illustration needs to sit alongside.

Result

Style gets signed off on a small, cheap test rather than on the finished piece, so the bulk of the illustration effort only starts once the direction is already approved.

ILLUSTRATION AND REVIEW
03
03

Drawn and checked in parallel

We draw against the brief and put drafts through your scientific reviewer's check at defined stages, catching any inaccuracy before it compounds across a full illustration.

What we produce

We build the illustration in stages sized for review — a rough layout, a detailed pass, a near-final version — with each stage checked by your scientific reviewer before the next begins, and revisions folded in against their specific feedback rather than guessed at.

Result

The finished illustration reflects a scientific accuracy check that happened at each stage, not a single glance-and-approve at the end when errors are harder to catch and more expensive to fix.

DELIVERY
04
04

In the formats your production actually needs

We deliver final files in whatever formats your print, digital and presentation production requires, including source files for future edits.

What we deliver

We hand over files prepared for both print and digital use, the editable source files so future edits do not require re-commissioning the illustration, and any size or format variants your production actually needs — a slide version, a poster version, a web version.

Result

Your team can use the illustration immediately across the formats you need now, and adapt it later — a label update, a new claim — without paying to have it redrawn from zero.

Scientific illustration questions

What comes up before commissioning scientific illustration.

Do your illustrators have scientific backgrounds?

Our illustrators specialise specifically in scientific and medical illustration, and work directly from source material and direction that your scientific team supplies and verifies at every stage. We do not originate the underlying science ourselves; we visualise what your team has already confirmed to be accurate.

Can the illustration go through our medical review?

Yes, and we build review checkpoints into the process rather than presenting only a finished piece at the end. Draft stages go back to your reviewer as they develop, so inaccuracies get caught while they are still cheap to fix, not after final artwork is complete.

What is the difference between this and mechanism of action animation?

Format is the difference, not the accuracy standard. This page covers static illustration, while mechanism of action animation covers the animated version of the same requirement for scientific and clinical accuracy, verified the same way through your medical team at every stage of the work.

Can you match an existing illustration style?

Yes, where consistency with prior material matters we develop new work within that existing style rather than introducing a different one. That keeps illustrations across your content library visually coherent, which matters more than any single piece looking distinctive on its own when viewed in isolation.

Related pharmaceutical brand services

Other pharmaceutical
brand and creative services

Scientific illustration pairs closely with animation and video work. These are the related services.

Scientific illustration

Commission your
scientific illustration

A mechanism, process or anatomy that needs accurate visualisation. Tell us the audience and we will tell you how we would approach the scientific illustration.

contact us
Contact Form

Tell us
about your project

Tell us about your organization’s context and the planned scope of the project.
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