"“A picture is worth a thousand words” – a familiar adage, and the reason why newspaper articles are commonly accompanied by photographs and infographics. Scientific publications are no different, so medical writers are frequently asked to contribute to the design of figures and visuals. There is therefore a growing need for medical writers to expand their skills to include designing graphical abstracts, scientific figures, and infographics. This article explains the basis of visual perception and information archi tecture, provides some examples of biomedical information design, and explains how aspects of design theory can be applied to create effective infographics and other visuals.