Author: Kiana Fraser-Handel (Page 3 of 9)

The article I chose, How dogs stole our hearts by David Grimm is about the discovery of how dogs release the love hormone oxytocin when gazing in a humans eyes. The hormonal release helps create the bond between humans and dogs similar to how a mother releases oxytocin when bonding with her infant. After creating 10 thumbnails, I chose three concepts that I think helps illustrate the article. Link to article: https://www.science.org/content/article/how-dogs-stole-our-hearts

The first concept is a human and dog eye side by side with a heart within the pupil. This is to show how the love hormone, oxytocin is released by the gazing. It also demonstrates how the bond between the human and dog is being formed.

The second concept is the dog looking at you with hearts in their pupils and the word oxytocin being repeated in the background, to create an echo effect. I wanted to show both of a dog’s eye gazing at you and make oxytocin appear as if it’s surrounding the dog.

The last concept is a side view of a dog’s head with an hand petting them. The symbol for oxytocin is shown moving out of the dog’s eye. Originally, in the thumbnail, I did not include the hand petting the dog’s head. But after hearing my classmate’s opinions, I added the hand. This helps show how the dog is creating the bond. I also made the oxytocin symbol bigger.

Overall, I believe I have created good concept sketches that can help illustrate the meaning of the article.

I have decided to go with an article from Science.org called How dogs stole our hearts by Online News Editor David Grimm. The article is about animal behaviorist Tamifumi Kikusui studying how dogs make bonds with humans by releasing the love hormone oxytocin through gazing in each others eyes. Similar to how a mother releases oxytocin when first making eye contact with her infant. The research mostly takes place in Azabu University, Sagamihara Japan. This matters scientists, especially Canine Cognition expert Brian Hare, because he believes this will lead to people having a better understanding of why service dogs are helpful to people with Autism and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. I chose this article because I love dogs, especially my dog Chibi, and was very intrigued by the article. I was curious about how dogs can make humans love them and never thought that they can release oxytocin to create their bonds with them. I hope to create an Editorial Illustration that helps emphasis this article and my love for dogs.

Link to the article: https://www.science.org/content/article/how-dogs-stole-our-hearts