I remain a bit puzzled.
If fitting on the Invincible was never a requirement for STOVL, then what did the UK Ambassador and the MoD and BAE Systems think that the RN would use?
And why were both Boeing and LM going to some pains to ensure that the aircraft would fit pretty much anywhere a Harrier did?
Given that numerous studies in the mid-late 90s had concluded that any attempt to fit what was SSF on a CVS would require huge amounts of work on the ship - much of it structural, (think Victorious' 50s refit) - for minimal OC, one would have hoped that they thought the RN would be using a new ship........Don't forget that CVF original ISD was 2010-2011 and that the SHAR OSD was much further in the future than it ended up being.
Fitting anywhere a Harrier did might just describe the US LHDs....
As for the artists impression, they usually reach for the nearest available template - and the
PR people that commission the work don't know any better.