9/18/08

Dense Gas of Ultracold 'Polar' Molecules

(mock up Science cover)

(Ultracold 'Polar' Molecules flow process)

(Ultracold 'Polar' Molecules flow process NIST version)

(mock up Science cover - ideaA)

(mock up Science cover - ideaB)

(mock up Science cover - ideaA+B)

(mock up Science cover - idea A+littleB)

I was asked create an illustration that explains the process of Fellow Jun Ye’s and Fellow Debbie Jin's Ultracold 'Polar' Molecules. I was originally just working with Kang-Kuen Ni, Jun Ye, and Debbie Jin, and then some people at NIST heard I was making some graphics for this scientific breakthrough, so it turned out to be collaborative effort with NIST as well. Jun and Debbie wanted the the graphic for their own presentations and press releases. NIST wanted an illustration that could be used for the news press release that would be easily understood by the general public. Jun and Debbie's research was being published in Science Express very very quickly, so this project turned out to be a pretty big with some tight deadlines. Everybody wanted something for their thing (websites, press releases, presentations, print, etc ), so it was kinda difficult meeting everybody's demands and needs in a very short time frame. It was a tedious process, but in the end I think the results were pretty positive. Everybody was running around everywhere and about everything. I was getting phones calls from NIST everyday and everybody was updating me about what the Science editors were saying or doing or whatever.

I was also asked to make a Science cover within 1-2 days (i think i really had a 24 hr turnaround) before it was absolutely due. Usually I need a little more time to make cover art, so I did the best I could. Since the deadline was almost immediate, I tried to recycle some of the imagery that I already made from the Ultracold 'Polar' Molecules flow process. I liked my ideas, but everybody had their opinions which just led to making multiple cover mockups. I had an amazing idea that was going to look beautiful and simple (basically bad ass), but I would need to do it with Maya with at least 4-5 days R&D time. So I did the best I could and developed the mock up (top image) using Illustrator. I thought it was pretty quick and simple solution in the end; however Science didn't selected it. I have been researching Science's past covers and their asethetics they go for which appears to be pretty fancy 3D renderings (and ontop of that, they were mainly of biology and chemistry concepts). So getting cover with the Ultracold 'Polar' Molecules was pretty slim to begin with. Nonetheless, I thought I came up with some pretty good visual ideas for covers given the time frame I had to work with (and the amount people involved).

It was fun and I wouldn't mind doing it again. The only thing I would ask for the next time was a little more time (and maybe their first born sons. however i think if they gave me a few of their grad student slaves, that could work out alright too. ha!)

The graphics were published in a lot of places, and I have to find them all. So I will be updating the links below as quickly as I can. If anybody finds a place where the images were used, let me know. Once the graphics get on the NIST's press release, a lot of different news sites pick up graphic for their reports.