Templates & Icons
2,800+ research templates and 27,000+ vector icons. This is where SCIDraw shines compared to AI-only tools — the library is curated, scientifically accurate, and editorial-grade.
The asset library at a glance
| Asset type | Count | Source | License |
|---|
| Research templates | 2,800+ | SCIDraw editorial team + user submissions | SCIDraw (free to use in your figures) |
| Vector icons | 27,000+ | Iconify (16 sets) + Servier Medical Art | Mixed — see Acknowledgments |
Important — third-party icon licenses: some icons in the library (Font Awesome, BoxIcons, Servier, Typicons) are under
CC BY 4.0 or
CC BY-SA 3.0 licenses. If you publish a figure containing these icons, you must include attribution in your figure caption. See the
Acknowledgments page for full details per icon set.
Browsing templates
Open the Templates panel from the left sidebar in the editor, or visit /template-hall from any page. Filter by:
- Category: Cell biology, Medical, Anatomy, Plants, Charts, Arrows, etc.
- Use count: sort by popularity to find battle-tested layouts
- Keyword: search "Western blot" or "signaling pathway" for fast lookup
Click any template to insert it as a starting point. The full SVG loads onto your canvas — every element is editable.
Browsing icons
Open the Icons panel. Search by English keyword (the library is bilingual but English search is more reliable). Some tips:
- Try synonyms: "mitochondria" → also try "organelle", "powerhouse"
- Use species names: "E. coli" is more specific than "bacteria"
- Try both common and Latin names: "mouse" and "Mus musculus"
- Hover for tooltip: shows the icon name and (eventually) source license
Customizing a template
Once a template is on your canvas:
- Click any object to select it. The right sidebar shows its properties (position, size, color, stroke, opacity).
- Double-click text to edit labels. Use the same journal style throughout.
- Recolor: select one or more objects, then pick a color from the palette. Hold
Shift to apply the same color to multiple selections.
- Resize proportionally: hold
Shift while dragging a corner handle.
- Group: select multiple objects, press
Ctrl/Cmd + G to lock them together.
Combining AI output with templates and icons
The professional workflow most researchers settle on:
- Generate the overall layout with AI (see AI Generation guide) — gives you composition and proportions.
- Drag in specific high-quality icons from the library to replace the AI's schematic versions — gives you detail and accuracy.
- Apply a template's color palette (use the eyedropper on a Nature/Cell figure you admire) — gives you editorial polish.
Pro tip: save your custom "starter" composition as a new template (right-click on the canvas → "Save as template"). You can reuse it across projects.
Uploading your own assets
From the editor's left sidebar, open Upload. Accepted formats:
- SVG: preferred. Becomes fully editable (paths, text, colors).
- PNG / JPG / WebP: embedded as raster images. Not editable as vector.
- Max size: 5MB per upload. Larger files should be compressed first.
Copyright reminder: only upload assets you have rights to use. Uploading figures from published papers (even your own) without permission may violate publisher copyright. Use AI regeneration or hand-redrawing instead.
Submitting a template to the library
If you've built a figure that other researchers would benefit from, consider submitting it:
- From the editor menu, choose Submit as template.
- Add a clear title, category, and brief description.
- Our editorial team reviews submissions within 5 business days.
- Accepted templates appear in the public library with your name as contributor.