The story behind ELAS
Hey there!
My name is Joukje Willemsen and I’m the creator of ELAS (the icon of ASReview) and the illustrations on the website.
![Joukje Willemsen](https://asreview.nl/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/AfbeeldingRondgrijs-300x300.webp)
Who is ELAS?
ASReview uses active learning and artificial intelligence, which can sound intimidating. Therefore, the challenge of designing the logo, was to capture both a modern and futuristic touch, while still being open and friendly. And so, cute robot ELAS was born!
ELAS is your ELectronic ASsistant; your best friend and colleague in times of systematic reviewing. Quickly, ELAS started to live his own life; hanging in the lab and lounging in the air with balloons…
![IconBalloons Celebration time with ELAS](https://asreview.nl/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/IconBalloons-209x300.webp)
Illustrations
To explain the process of ASReview LAB in a playful way, we created a small series of illustrations for the website. For these illustrations I was inspired by PHDCOMICS. Do you see the resemblance of the male character?
![Search](https://asreview.nl/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Search-1-258x300.webp)
![PhDcomics](https://asreview.nl/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/PhDcomics-300x172.webp)
To highlight that the entire ASReview process is “open” and visible, we visualized it as a see-through, glass machine. This transparent box is the opposite of a black-box. You can also see that the researcher is actively involved in the process. She is the one that makes the eventual decisions.
![VrouwMachine ASReview as a machine](https://asreview.nl/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/VrouwMachine-300x287.webp)
Coverpage Nature Machine Intelligence
The artwork has also been used as the cover of an issue of Nature Machine intelligence! The original illustration I made is on the left and the actual cover as published in Nature is on the right.
![Explosion of papers ASReview paper explosion](https://asreview.nl/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/NATUREvoorkant7-scaled-e1620339110252-200x265.jpg)
![2-1 ASReview publication in Nature Machine Intelligence](https://asreview.nl/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/2-1.webp)
Cite the artwork
The artwork can be find on GitHub and is licenced under Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). It was truly a joy working on these projects! I hope you enjoyed the illustrations.