Challenge A : “The Science of Sleep”
Date: Oct 26th, 2025
Author: Sai Nihal Diddi
Introduction
The Science of Sleep is an educational comic that teaches students about the importance of healthy sleep habits. I chose this topic because sleep is often overlooked by high school and college students, even though it plays an important role in learning, memory, and overall well-being. The main goal of my project is to use a character that my audience can relate, to explain the science of in a way that’s easy to follow. My hope is that readers not only learn why sleep matters but also pick a few strategies that can improve their sleep. Creating this project involved going through multimedia principles, planning, and generating comic images that clearly support the idea.
Understand
Learning Challenge
Many students struggle to understand why sleep is so important for learning, focus, and overall health. This comic will break down the science behind sleep in a fun way.
Context and Audience
The comic is designed for high school and early university students who often sacrifice sleep due to busy schedules, late-night studying, or screen time. They are generally tech-savvy, enjoy visual contents, and respond well to humor or stories they can relate to. They need a clear, simple explanation of why sleep matters and how small changes — like creating a bedtime routine — can improve their energy and performance.
Point of View Statement
Busy students need to understand sleep so that they can make better daily choices to support their health and learning.
Learning Objectives
By the end of the comic, readers will be able to:
- Identify what happens during sleep.
- Explain how sleep affects memory, and learning.
- Recognize the impact of poor sleep habits.
- Apply simple strategies to improve sleep routines.
- Reflect on how their personal habits affect their energy and productivity.
Plan
Ideation Process
I started by thinking about some common challenges that students face when it comes to sleep, like staying up late to study, using phones in bed, or having coffee to stay awake. Then, I listed some key science concepts of sleep I wanted to explain in simple terms, like sleep cycles, the role of REM and deep sleep, and how sleep affects memory and mood. Then, I decided the best way to make this relatable to have one fictional character, going through their routine, and showing the difference between sleep-deprived days and well-rested days. I think this approach would make the comic more engaging and easier for students to connect.
Scenario Description
Title: The Science of Sleep
Structure: 14 panels
Panel 1
(Visual: Nighttime. Alex at desk, surrounded by books and laptop.)
Narration: It’s midnight, and Alex is still cramming for tomorrow’s test.
Alex (thought): “Just one more chapter… I can sleep later.”
Panel 2
(Visual: Phone screen glowing in the dark.)
Narration: After studying, Alex scrolls through social media.
Alex (thought): “This will help me relax… right?”
Panel 3
(Visual: Alarm clock showing 7:00 AM, Alex groggy in bed.)
Narration: With only five hours of sleep, the morning hits hard.
Alex (thought): “Ugh… I feel like I didn’t even sleep.”
Panel 4
(Visual: Classroom, Alex yawning at desk.)
Narration: Lack of sleep affects alertness, memory, and mood.
Alex (thought): “Why can’t I focus? I studied this stuff.”
Panel 5
(Visual: Brain illustration showing sleep stages.)
Narration: During sleep, your brain cycles through deep and REM stages to restore energy and consolidate memories.
Label: REM = memory & learning, Deep Sleep = repair
Panel 6
(Visual: Alex’s brain with scattered notes flying away.)
Narration: Without enough sleep, your brain can’t store what you learned.
Alex (thought): “It’s like my brain just… deleted everything.”
Panel 7
(Visual: Alex at desk late again, looking stressed.)
Narration: Repeating this cycle builds up sleep debt, hurting focus, mood, and health.
Alex (thought): “I can’t keep doing this.”
Panel 8
(Visual: Alex sets phone aside and turns off desk lamp at 10 PM.)
Narration: The next night, Alex decides to try something new.
Alex (thought): “Bed by 10. No screens. Let’s see if this helps.”
Panel 9
(Visual: Morning sunlight, Alex stretching, smiling.)
Narration: A full night’s sleep resets the body and mind.
Alex (thought): “Wow… I actually feel awake!”
Panel 10
(Visual: Brain illustration, connections glowing brightly.)
Narration: Quality sleep strengthens neural connections and improves focus.
Label: Sleep = Brain’s “save” button
Panel 11
(Visual: Alex answering quiz questions confidently.)
Narration: With enough rest, learning becomes easier.
Alex (thought): “This actually makes sense now.”
Panel 12
(Visual: Alex laughing with friends at lunch.)
Narration: Sleep improves not just performance—but also mood and relationships.
Alex (thought): “I feel like myself again.”
Panel 13
(Visual: Alex holding up a sticky note with tips.)
Narration: Alex shares what worked.
Sticky note text:
- No screens 30 min before bed
- Regular bedtime
- Cool and dark room
Panel 14
(Visual: Title panel — Alex walking confidently into class.)
Narration: Good sleep is the simplest way to power your mind and body.
Alex (thought): “Sleep isn’t lost time. It’s my superpower.”
Principles Applied
While planning this comic, I focused on reducing cognitive load and making the content easy to follow for busy students. I applied the Coherence principle by including only important visuals and short dialogues, avoiding any unrelated elements that might distract readers from the main message. I also used the Signaling principle that will guide learners’ attention to key terms and stages like REM and deep sleep through labels and visual cues. I also followed the Spatial Contiguity principle by placing text and visuals close together. Finally, I used the Segmenting principle by breaking the story into clear panels so readers can process it smoothly.
AI Image Generation Process & Bias Analysis
Model: Gemini 2.5 pro (Nano Banana), ChatGPT 5
The thought bubbles and dialogues in the comic are entirely my own writing. I used AI tools only to generate the images, into which I inserted the dialogues I had already written during the prototype stage. Below, I outline the complete process I followed when using AI to produce the images. I used both GPT-5 and Gemini 2.5 Pro for image generation. The second-last panel was generated by ChatGPT, while all other images were created using Gemini 2.5 Pro.
Initially, I planned to use ChatGPT 5 for the entire comic, but due to its inconsistency and lack of accuracy, I switched to Gemini 2.5 Pro. To be specific, I used Gemini’s new Nano Banana model to generate the comic-style images. My starting prompt in ChatGPT was: ” In this chat, create images based on my prompts, and it should be in comic book style. ” After generating the first panel with GPT-5, I moved to Gemini to re-create the same panel. The prompt I provided was: ” Create images in comic style now based on the prompts, similar to the attached image — a tired male student named Alex is cramming for a test at his desk late at night, surrounded by piles of books and a laptop. The mood is stressful. Thought bubble: ‘Just one more chapter… I can sleep later.'” For the second last brain image, I had to use an image, as a reference to point out hippocampus and hypothalamus, in my prompt for ChatGPT:
| Panel | Prompts |
| 1 | A tired male student named Alex is cramming for a test at his desk late at night, surrounded by piles of books and a laptop. The mood is stressful. Thought bubble: “Just one more chapter… I can sleep later.” Comic book art style. |
| 2 | Alex in a dark room, with his smartphone faced towards him as he scrolls. Thought bubble: “This will help me relax… right?” |
| 3 | Alex wakes up in bed feeling tired and groggy with clock next to him that clearly reads 7:00 AM. Thought bubble: “ Ugh… I feel like I didn’t even sleep .” |
| 4 | Alex is in his class in school, feeling tired and he’s yawning, unable to focus. Thought bubble: “ God damn… Why can’t I focus? I studied this stuff yesterday “. |
| 5 | Now create an abstract image of Alex and his brain where paper notes, which represent memories, are flying away into the air, with the thought bubble: ” It’s like my brain just… deleted everything “. |
| 6 | It’s night time. Alex is sitting at his desk, looking even more stressed and overwhelmed. Thought bubble: “I can’t keep doing this”. |
| 7 | Alex is sitting at his desk, smiling, looking happy and making a positive choice. with the thought bubble: ” ok from now on….bed by 10 and no screens before bed. Let’s see if this helps. “ |
| 8 | Alex wakes up in the morning from bed, feeling happy, and well-rested. with thought bubble: ” Wow….I actually feel so awake.” |
| 9 | Alex is in his classroom at school, feeling confident and focused while taking a pop quiz. with thought bubble that exactly says: “I feel so energetic…I am going to ace this quiz.” |
| 10 | Alex is sitting in a cafe with his diverse group of friends, laughing. with the thought bubble that exactly says: “I feel like myself again.” |
| 11 | Alex is holding a sticky note, that says “No screens 30 min before bed, regular bedtime, and cool and dark room.” |
| 12 | Alex is walking confidently, with the thought bubble: “if Sleep was a person, I would be their best friend.” |
| 13 | Please take a closer at the image of the human brain. Create an educational, comic-style illustration of the human brain, consisting of only two correctly labelled parts in the brain (please ignore the other parts mentioned in that image, except hypothalamus and hippocampus), that clearly say ” hippocampus = important for memory consolidation and learning during REM” and ” hypothalamus = switches your brain to repair and recovery during deep sleep stage”. include a narration on top the image that clearly says: “ During sleep, your brain goes through REM and Deep Sleep that are important for memory, learning, repair, and recovery “. |
| 14 | Create a pic of a brain, showing shining neural connections inside it as a symbol of memory consolidation, learning, repair and recovery. With a label that clearly says: “Sleep is your power”. |
Bias Analysis
- Eurocentric bias: The images created Gemini remain eurocentric throughout the comic. Without explicitly mentioning the ethnicity of Alex, Gemini creates a white male student by default. Moreover, the classroom setting of the school also appears to be westernized depiction of schools, well-funded, which is not a universal representation of classrooms. Having said that, I think that the model lacks diversity for representing people, and this means the model relies on Western standards.
- Commercial/Socioeconomic bias: The model consistently shows Alex as a student coming from an upper-class/middle-class family. Instances such as high-end smartphone, having a dedicated study space (private room with a bed and desk), and the cafe environment clearly indicate a high economic status and leisurely lifestyle which is not affordable for everyone.
- Tokenism: The model seems to show a very surface-level diversity where Alex is sitting with his friends around the table. According to my point of view, it appears only two of the five people are colored, and rest appear to be white, which is not authentic diversity. Authentic diversity would involve more than just varied appearances, such as more people sitting around the table, different hair styles, different clothing styles etc.
- Linguistic Bias: The model consistently defaults to writing the dialogues in the thought bubbles in English, even when the prompts don’t clearly mention the language. I expected the model to ask which language it should write the thought bubbles in; however, that was not the case. This reflects a linguistic bias in the model.
On another note, I wasn’t familiar with image-generation bias analysis, so I used ChatGPT for researching and understanding these terms — Tokenism, Eurocentric bias, Commercial/Socioeconomic bias, Linguistic bias.
Peer Feedback
In the feedback, they said that the chosen topic was great since sleep is something that many high-school and early university students struggled with. They talked about the character Alex, making it relatable and easy to understand. They also liked the flow of my panels, starting from the problem of staying up too late, moving into the science behind sleep and ending it with solutions that can help, which made the comic easy to follow and educational for the target audience.
They noted that my use of the multimedia principles — such as Coherence and Segmenting principle — were strong. However, they felt that it would have been easier to see how I applied the Signalling and Spatial Contiguity principle once I added the visuals. According to them, adding a bit of humor into some panels would have made the comic even more engaging for the readers. Overall, the comic was well-organized, relatable, and had the potential to make a positive impact.
Reflect And Refine
(1) What worked well?
Reflecting on my prototype and the peer feedback, I learned that my topic and the flow of my comic was good. My peer felt that creating one character Alex, showing him struggling because of this poor sleep and then later fixing that, made it more relatable and engaging for my target audience. I think that my use of the Coherence and Segmenting principle were effective because I kept the panels clear, less distracting and divided the story into clear sections, building on each other.
(2) What I would change?
One suggestion made by my peer was to include a bit of humor into the panels, which I completely agree as it could make the tone lighter and more appealing for the readers, rather than taking the sleep topic too seriously. If I revise my comic, I would add some small funny reactions or thoughts to Alex for balancing the emotional and scientific parts of the comic. Another improvement that I would make is applying the Signalling and Spatial Contiguity principle, I could add the main parts of the sleep process like REM and Deep Sleep to the brain image, basically the part that is responsible for memory, learning and other for repair and recovery using cues — such as arrows, labels, colors etc., to guide the reader’s attention effectively.
(3) Revisions & how I would address issues?
In the revised version, I made several changes based on the feedback I received and my own thoughts. I edited some of Alex’s dialogues to make sound more natural and human-like. I also removed the narration from except for the brain images because it was like reading a textbook not an educational comic. Doing that, kept the story cleaner and let the visuals and thought bubbles carry the message. Additionally, I placed the brain image explanations, showing the hippocampus and hypothalamus, at the end of the comic, after the main story. This helped to separate the narrative from the content, making it easier for the audience to connect with character emotionally first and then learn the science. After making these changes, the comic seemed to show more clarity and flow.
One issue I faced during my design process was maintaining consistency and accuracy across the images while using ChatGPT and Gemini. It took me a lot of trial and error to get the visuals right, especially for complex images like the human brain diagram. Sometimes the prompts didn’t produce the exact composition or labels I needed for my images, so I had to adjust it many times. In the future, I plan to improve my prompting skills by being more specific about the visual structure, tone, and layout of the images from the start. Additionally, I plan to explore some design tools that I can use to adjust the AI-generated images to better match my goals. Also, this may not be a major change, but I think I should have added some Em dashes (—) in my comic, just like I use in my writing, to show natural pauses and make the dialogue sound more human.
(4) Strengths, Limitations & My Learning
One strength of using comics as a form of multimedia is that they can make learning more engaging and enjoyable. Some studies show that explaining concepts in an emotionally engaging way can make readers feel more positive about their learning (Liu et al., 2025). Telling stories visually helps break down concepts or ideas, making them more relatable and easier for readers to understand and remember. Another strength is that comics can create an emotional connection with the reader, through characters and storytelling, they can communicate ideas in a more meaningful way.
However, there are some limitations that I noticed. Its effectiveness really depends on the topic. As a computer science student, I know that some algorithms and programming concepts are too complex to clearly explain with comics alone, which can cause readers to miss the deeper logic behind them. Another limitation is the limited interaction with comics because comics are static. Readers can look at them but cannot actively engage with the content. For example, in videos or simulations, learners can pause, replay, or change variables to see different outputs like adjusting numbers in a coding simulation or rewinding to closely observe how an algorithm works as opposed to comics, which are fixed pics; learners can only move from one panel to the next, but there’s no way to experiment manipulate the material to understand better.
Overall, I think that educational comics are a great way to support one’s learning, but I also think it does come with some strengths and limitations. By reading theories of Multimedia learning from EdTech UVic, researching with the help of ChatGPT and working on this project, I understood that designing educational comics is not only about making something look impressive, but it’s also about the visuals and to check whether they are able to support understanding in a clear manner.
Final Comic
References
EDCI 337. (2025). Theories of Multimedia Learning. EdTech UVic. https://edtechuvic.ca/edci337/2025/09/05/theories-of-multimedia-learning/
Liu, Z., et al. (2025). The impact of emotional design on multimedia learning. PMC. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11939454/
Google DeepMind. (2025). Gemini 2.5 Pro [Large multimodal model]. https://deepmind.google
McLeod, S. (2024). Forebrain, midbrain and hindbrain. Simply Psychology. https://www.simplypsychology.org/forebrain-midbrain-hindbrain.html
OpenAI. (2025, Sept 24 version). ChatGPT (GPT-5) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/chat