The Poster & ArtistNobel Conference 47

The theme of Nobel Conference 47, “The Brain & Being Human,” comes to life through an intricate and detailed illustration created by Leandro Lima, a talented Brazilian illustrator, designer, and digital artist. Currently living in Milan, Italy, Lima has done work for numerous clients worldwide, including Microsoft, Sony Ericsson, Vespa, and Everlast, and Wired magazine.Learn More

For this year's conference, he creatively incorporated aspects of daily human life and the workings of the human brain. Utilizing a highly stylized typographic approach, he has created letterforms and pictures that represent sight, smell, emotion, and decision-making. The design highlights the senses associated with being human: among the images, an ear receiving sound waves produced by strings, representing the effect of music; a tearful eye, representing vision and emotion; a hand using a key, representing “the human possibility” of decision-making; and a face reacting with pleasure to the perfume of a flower. The reaching hands recall Michelangelo’s The Creation of Adam, representing not only the connection between people but also the theological implications of the passage in the book of Genesis that tells of God giving life and conscious thought to Adam, the first human.

There is a “discovery” aspect in Lima's design. It might take the viewer some time to see and appreciate all its aspects, not unlike our attempts to understand the brain. At first blush, our brains look like lumpy grey matter, but studying them from different points of view or with “different” eyes, we begin to appreciate their subtle beauty.

(The Nobel Conference poster image is © 2011, Leandro Lima. Gustavus Adolphus College owns the rights to this illustration and its derivations in perpetuity. After one year from the date of receipt of the finished illustration, the artist shall have permission to use it in his work.)