RevBayes

Macintosh application

 

Screen shot

RevBayes screenshot

 

Download RevBayes

I created all of the graphics in this program using Photoshop, and was also responsible for designing a large part of the user interface. RevBayes is a graphical application for computational biologists that allows users to input DNA sequences of different species and produce a probability distribution of the relationships among those species.

Many of the concepts in the calculation of probability distributions are abstract in nature. To create a more striking visual interface, I opted to use concrete objects to represent the abstract concepts. A few examples of these tools are shown below. Users can select the size of the tool images in the software, so I included many details in the images that are only visible at the largest size (512 x 512 pixels)

Sample graphics

data entry icon

Although most users choose to input data by importing a text file containing DNA sequence data, it is also possible for users to manually enter their data using the Data Entry tool.

parsimony icon

For the Parsimony tool, I selected an image of a old-fashioned straight razor, referencing a well-known principle of parsimony called Occam's razor.

mcmc icon

Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) is a common statistical method dealing with probability. For this tool, the image of a die represents probability, with a chain wrapped around it as a nod to the name of the method. The footprints in the background refer to the random walk concept.

distance icon

The tape measure represents the Distance tool, which calculates evolutionary "distances" (i.e., the expected number of differences in the DNA) among the DNA sequences of different organisms.