Publication design for research and innovation

A woman smiling and leaning on a wooden chair in a bright room with a skylight and a potted plant in the background.
Open book and pamphlet titled "Towards Mobility Justice in Cape Town" featuring illustrations of city streets, bicycles, buses, cars, and people, focusing on transportation and urban planning.

Research can shift policy, reshape industries, change how we live. Most of it doesn't because it never reaches the people it was meant for.

I'm a communication designer who turns dense technical work into publications, reports and visual tools that engage, educate and inspire action. I work for research institutes and innovation leaders who can't afford to be ignored.

See my workā†’

GET A QUOTE

150+ publications. 20+ EU languages. Trusted by research institutes across the world.

Logo for TU Delft Global Initiative with the tagline "Science for the benefit of people. All people. Worldwide."
GIZ logo with the full name in German: Deutsche Gesellschaft fĆ¼r Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.
Logo of EuroGOS European Global Ocean Observing System in black and white, featuring a stylized globe with curved lines to represent ocean waves.
Three horizontal black lines resembling a menu icon

The difference it makes:

  • Person sitting on bed reading a colorful booklet titled "A Toolbox" with a building photo on cover.

    Your complexity, made clear

    A well-designed report leads to better-informed decisions. I take the time to understand your research and design presentations that your audience will use.

  • A girl sitting at a table drawing on paper with colored pencils, surrounded by various papers, cards, and small paper structures, in an indoor setting.

    One partner, every format

    You get branding, editorial design, workshop engagement tools, dataviz, and infographics from someone who understands your full story.

  • A person holding a tablet displaying a color guide with various color swatches and images of a brick building, over a white surface.

    Multilingual publications

    Make your work cross language borders. Iā€™ve been delivering projects in 20+ EU languages, and with me nothing gets lost in translation.

  • Person sitting on tiled floor holding a blue conference booklet titled 'NECP Platform: Guidance for the implementation of climate and energy dialogue platforms.'

    High-stakes reliability

    Dissemination, Communication and Exploitation for EU-funded research projects. When you need your design done right and on time, contact me.

RECENT PROJECTS

WOEI! Het wonder van de wind

WOEI! Het wonder van de wind

Sustainable Regions in Action

Sustainable Regions in Action

Insights on innovative renewables

Insights on innovative renewables

Affordable Technologies for Marine Observation

Affordable Technologies for Marine Observation

The Cape Town mobility justice

The Cape Town mobility justice

Making room for circles

Making room for circles

Smart Monitoring for Regional Climate Adaptation

Smart Monitoring for Regional Climate Adaptation

Many levels, one voice

Many levels, one voice

Guidance for the Implementation of Dialogue Platforms

Guidance for the Implementation of Dialogue Platforms

  • If anyone here needs a designer who can handle technically heavy material and turn it into something genuinely compelling, you donā€™t need to look any further.

    FEDARENE

  • Working together with our designer, we are trying to find ways of communicating science that speak to the interest and delight of those who may not be steeped in research themselves.

    BinBin Jiang Pearce,
    Assistant Professor of Policy Analysis and Design,
    Technical University Delft

  • Agata, your dedication and contributions to our project are truly appreciated. We're thrilled to have the opportunity to collaborate with someone as committed as you.

    Emmanuel Daemers, Communication expert at the Green Overseas Programme

  • Thanks a lot for the fantastic work and your fast and meticulous uptake of comments. Itā€™s been wonderful, efficient, and overall excellent!

    Dina Eparkhina, EuroGOOS

  • A shoutout to our awesome designer Agata Smok for bringing our ideas to life with visually stunning materials! šŸ‘

    Nely Mokay, PhD Candidate,
    Technical University Delft

  • We were blown away by Agata's ideas, energy and passion. Her exceptional creativity and a great understating of the latest trend and their function in the research environment have been of great help to our project.

    Malgorzata (Gosia) Matowska, Th!nk E

  • Agata provided us with visualisations, which without any doubt are among the best I have ever seen in the field of science. I am very much looking forward to collaborate with her again, hoping that she can provide us with even more creative and intuitive representations of what we are doing.

    Dr. Michael Brenner-Fliesser, JOANNEUM RESEARCH Forschungsgesellschaft mbH

  • Dat je niet veel kleuren nodig hebt om een sterk ontwerp te maken, dat weet Agata Smok te bevestigen! Deze paperlover weet perfect hoe ze alles uit een papiersoort kan halen met de juiste technieken.

    zwartopwit | duurzaam drukwerk

  • Thanks Agata, for the beautiful and impactful design! It was truly a pleasure to work together. We proudly launched "Affordable technologies for marine observation: low-cost and cost-effective approaches" publication yesterday at the Ocean Sciences Meeting. It is making waves!

    Dina Eparkhina, EuroGOOS

  • A huge thanks to our amazing designer Agata Smok for creating workshop and communication materials that really sparkle with imagination and creativity. She has done hero's work for ENCLUDE, way above and beyond what anyone could ask for.

    BinBin Jiang Pearce,
    Assistant Professor of Policy Analysis and Design,
    Technical University Delft

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Reports, policy briefs, and white papers. Two-pagers and infographics. Data visualisation. Presentation slides. Ready-to-use tools and templates. Serious games and gamification. Research-related illustrations. Live graphic recording for events. Visual identity and logo design for EU funded projects and proposals (including diagrams, icons, charts, figures and graphs).

  • Three steps: first we align on the visual direction and strategy for your content. Then we design and iterate together until it's right. Finally, you receive all final files, source files, and guidance on how to use the design.

  • I've spent over a decade working specifically with research institutes, EU institutions, and mission-driven organisations. I understand your restrictions. It means less back-and-forth, and work that holds up under scrutiny. You get a single point of contact from strategy to final file, and someone who genuinely cares whether your work reaches the people it's meant for.

  • Finalised, proofread text as a text file, and any supporting visuals (your brand identity, reference images, or your task description from the EU proposal, if there is one). The cleaner the input, the smoother the process.

  • Collaborative. I ask good questions and make sure there are no surprises during the process. I'm direct about what will and won't work design-wise, and I flag budget milestones early when working on retainer. Most clients come back! šŸ˜Š

  • I work with project-based quotes, fixed annual budgets or framework contracts (whichever suits your needs best). I offer consultancy services. For project-based quotes I require a 50% pre-payment deposit. I'm based in Belgium and invoice with Belgian VAT.

  • Events start at ā‚¬1,500. That includes preparation, the live illustration, a custom colour palette, and digital files delivered within 24 hours for your review. Final revised files follow within three working days.

  • Six weeks ahead is ideal, especially for events. For design projects, get in touch as early as you can, good work takes time and a full calendar fills up.