Dr. Paloma López Grüninger studied Fine Arts at the University of Granada, Spain, and Visual Communication at the Basel School of Design, Switzerland. Between 2005 and 2008 she was a member of the Graduate School “Image and Knowledge” from eikones (National Centre of Competence in Research Iconic Criticism) at Basel University. Her dissertation, with which she obtained her PhD from the University of Granada in 2011, looks into non-quantitative visualizations, particularly historic and current tree-diagrams in the domain of Biology, and the ways they construct and communicate their meaning.

Her research interests are focused on Information Design and Instructional Design. She co-lead the research project “Durchblick – Visuelle Kommunikation in der Sozialhilfe (2019–2022), funded by the Christoph Merian Foundation. In the project she developed, together with students from the MA programme, a series of tools for improving communication in social welfare counseling sessions. The project got awarded by the International Institute of Information Design (IIID) in 2023. The resulting tools of visual communication have been recently published by the Swiss Conference for Social Welfare (SKOS), and are now accessible to a wide audience.
She is a lecturer at the Basel Academy of Arts and Design FHNW, Switzerland, since 2012, teaching in the domain of Research Methodologies, Information Design and Instructional Design. She has also coordinated the program between 2013 and 2021.

López Grüninger, Paloma (2015). Defying the limits of the plane: Two-dimensional space and its consequences in the search for the order of nature. Journal of Illustration, vol. 2, nr. 1, pp. 51-73.
López Grüninger, Paloma (2013). Practice-Led Iconic Research as a Methodology for Research in Information Design. Neshan, vol. 30, Summer 2013, pp. 60-63.
López Grüninger, Paloma (2011). Diseño y evaluación de diagramas cualitativos y su aplicación al análisis de visualizaciones de la clasificación biológica. Granada: Editorial de la Universidad de Granada.