Visual Narrative and Jargon Minimization Underpin Anatomy Teaching to Animation/VFX Industry Professionals and Health Professions Students

Abstract

Whether diagrammatic or deeply detailed, most anatomical illustration adheres to established archetypes - identical views of similar dissections, exhibiting neither variability nor originality. These conventional views are replicated from one generation of anatomy textbooks, atlases and now digital sources, with little modification or reference to original dissection. In this paper, I argue that more effective communication in the field of anatomy requires rethinking conventional anatomical images and avoiding over-reliance on anatomic terminology. The ubiquity and emphasis on the image in the emerging digital learning ecosystem challenges science educators to revisit their use of the conventional visuals. The tools of narrative creating engaging science communication can also be used in constructing better images. After brief review of the role of anatomical jargon and its discontents, I present several examples of "readable" images. These examples have been refined in the course of communicating detailed anatomy and movement for two decades to medical and other health professions students, as well as to character designers, modelers, riggers and animators in the animation and gaming industries. That "reading an image" promotes understanding without jargon is both anecdotally self-evident and yet scientifically largely untested. Rather than subsisting on images of convenience, the intersection of narrative tools and anatomical imagery provides the opportunity to structure images with intentionality and ultimately evaluate their impact. Such key images and their stories will ultimately require testing to validate the extensive anecdotal evidence that visual stories promote learning.