Artist Wins Award for ‘Best Comic Design’
October 15, 2019
Artist John Jett of the NIF & Photon Science Document Services Team was honored with a special Adobe Government Creativity Award for creating an educational comic book explaining the National Ignition Facility and the types of careers that support the operation of the world’s largest and most energetic laser.
Judges awarded the comic book with a “Special Designation for Best Comic Design” in the annual competition’s Visual Communications - Print Communication, Graphic Design, and Illustration category.
Adobe holds the annual competition to “celebrate creativity in public service and to recognize best practices in government, showcasing individuals, and teams who are working hard to support their organization’s mission through design.”
The comic book, written and drawn by Jett, was one of more than 500 creative projects submitted from seven countries around the world.
“One of the biggest challenges we face at the National Ignition Facility is telling our story to our sponsors, our workforce, and our community,” LLNL’s entry statement said. “The NIF comic book was created as an effective way to explain to a broad audience all about NIF; from the basic science behind it, the missions NIF supports, and the makeup of its workforce.”
The comic book was first distributed in May 2018 during an annual STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) Day at LLNL and has now been reprinted more than 10,000 times.
The publication “has been received enthusiastically by our sponsors at the Department of Energy and the National Nuclear Security Administration, members of Congress and other government offices, the wide spectrum of our working staff at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and by our community through STEM outreach and NIF tour visits,” the entry statement said.
“The NIF comic has been incredibly successful in educating our entire audience on the story of NIF and has even inspired a science education lesson plan to help educators incorporate the comic itself into middle school science courses.”
Jett was thankful for the award.
“Being recognized by a group like Adobe is a huge honor, one that I am proud to share with everyone here who makes NIF possible,” he said.
—Benny Evangelista
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