Osmosis is a graphic image designed for the cover of an American science magazine Cell Reports at the request from the Laboratory of Cell Signaling of The University of Tokyo, whose paper is presented in the issue published on 13th of March 2018 (Volume 22, No.11).

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A scientist from the laboratory briefly explains about their research,

"Osmotic fluctuation perturbs cell volume homeostasis. To maintain the constancy, cells are intrinsically powered by the bidirectional systems recognizing both intensity and directionality of osmotic stress. [We] unveil that a PP6-ASK3 core module interprets and converts osmotic stress signals to coordinate the bidirectional volume recovery machineries."

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Inspired by this newly-discovered fact, Kosuke created the above abstract image which represents a cell continuously counteracting osmotic disturbance with its inner vital energy.

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Drawn in layers of free forms, the image illustrates unstableness of the volume of a cell with undulating boundary, membrane. Moisture is expressed by glittering moiré, and its blueness is meant to represent freshness and liveliness of life. It is, at the same time, designed as if emitting strong light outwards so as to imply mysterious energy a cell has.

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The publisher website is here.

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Concept, Design, Research and Development: Kosuke Araki