Summary

The term botanical illustration is usually associated with representations from old textbooks, which today are appreciated primarily for their retro aesthetics and are considered more from a stylistic than a functional point of view.

Tabea Otto first analyzes the different stylistic forms and design methods in the history of botany. In doing so, it becomes clear that even the supposedly realistic depictions always show an ideal-typical state of the plant and often emphasize certain elements graphically.

The student then proves with her own graphic representations in the practical part of the work that the communication of basic horticultural knowledge can also succeed with less attention to detail, but instead with functional, yet decorative abstraction. The posters she designed offer easy-to-understand instructions for handling specific plants and explain organic processes such as photosynthesis or germination.

(Text source: https://www.hmkw.de/hochschule/fachbereich/design/bachelor-arbeiten/news/botanische-abbildungen/)