Dear professor: How do I make high quality figures for my scientific publication?

Students in my lab requested a video tutorial on how to make high quality figures for our scientific publications, so I figured why not make the tutorial available to everyone.

Figures that are polished and well-designed can communicate complex ideas more quickly and efficiently. In this video, I go through the process of making a high quality publication-ready figure and narrate my general process, also summarized below:
Step 0: Make a mockup    • Dear professor: How do I make high quality...  
Step 1: Create vectorized versions of all figure panels    • Dear professor: How do I make high quality...  
Step 2: Combine your figure panels in a vector graphics software    • Dear professor: How do I make high quality...  
Step 3: Make sure everything is labeled and legible    • Dear professor: How do I make high quality...  
Step 4: Use visual similarity, proximity, and other Gestalt principles to enhance salience    • Dear professor: How do I make high quality...  
Step 5: Minimize distractions like multiple fonts or stroke weights    • Dear professor: How do I make high quality...  
Step 6: Balance use of white space and iterate as needed    • Dear professor: How do I make high quality...  

Try it out for yourself!

Links to software, programs, resources, and papers referenced in the video:
Data visualization theory: https://jef.works/genomic-data-visual...
Figure style guide: https://jef.works/blog/2019/07/19/fig...
STdeconvolve R package: https://github.com/JEFworks-Lab/stdec...
Scatterbar R package: https://github.com/JEFworks-Lab/scatt...
Affinity Designer Software: https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/desi...
Inkscape Software: https://inkscape.org/
Gestalt Principles: https://sketchplanations.com/gestalt-...
Example shown from our Miller et al paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s4146...
Example shown from our Clifton, Anant, et al paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s4146...
Example shown from our Aihara et al paper: https://academic.oup.com/bioinformati...