The SUMIT team explored how visual snapshots and infographics can make project communications clearer, quicker to absorb, and more accessible to diverse audiences. The session emerged from practical feedback on the first draft SUMIT leaflet. While the leaflet offers a succinct introduction and reflects the project protocol, feedback suggested it needs adapting for different places and audiences, particularly for service‑users, where some terminology often feels unfamiliar or overly technical.

During the session, Dr. Welsh fed forward recommendations received from a professional with an MSc in Science and Health Communication and experience as a digital editor at Taylor & Francis. These recommendations covered colour harmonies and strategic contrast ratios, including basic accessibility checks; audience profiling and readability; the ‘power of three’ for structuring key messages; and the use of clean, sans‑serif fonts. The group also explored layout techniques, such as composition grids and the ‘rule of thirds’, to create visual hierarchy and guide viewer attention.

The best bit - participants were then put to task, turning the guidance into practice. With option of a variety of tools, from PowerPoint, Canva and/or AI tools, each person selected an engaged research experience from the last three months and produced a quick draft infographic or visualisation. Drafts were shared with the room and discussed in terms of which principles were applied and why, highlighting how good prompting and intentional design choices can improve clarity without making visuals feel cluttered.

Arts‑based approaches like these offer a practical way for QCAP and SUMIT to communicate key messages efficiently — either as standalone snapshots for different audiences, or as a gateway that draws people into fuller written stories such as QCAPtures and SUMIT Stories.