Infographics

Analysis

We were asked to review 5 infographics, in a variety of styles.Whist searching I found what is potentially a really useful tool from The Guardian:

http://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2014/aug/28/interactive-infographics-development-data

Example 1: The Guardian - The world's top 50 banks

This infographics (ROGERS 2007) represents a serious subject for a serious readership and is presented in a formal manner. It has a standard colour scheme across all colours, and a business like serif font (the same one the Guardian uses, I think). It includes source information (in very small print). No key is necessary and it is very easy to understand and compare the data, as the size of the circles relate to the amount, and countries are displayed in a single colour. The audience is the readers of The Guardian newspaper - I'm guessing they would be well educated and interested in a factual analysis. This infographic would look better in print as the writing is too small to read on an iMac, let alone on a tablet or phone. There is no hierachy involved as all the information is equally important, which makes the eye flit around looking for somewhere to settle, which is perhaps a weak point of the graphic.

Example 2 - The Guardian (Culture supplement) - Fact-checking the famous: Beyonce

This tongue-in-cheek infographic (Dee, 2013) contrasts in style with the previous example from The Guardian. This is aimed a less serious reader, or the same reader who expects something more light-hearted from The Guardian's culture supplement. No sources are referenced, because to be honest its unlikely that Beyonce has "the world's most powerful thighs'. There is a clear hierarchy in the information, with the dominant pink colour drawing your eye round the page with its repetition. The typefaces are straightforward sans serifs making it a very quick read. The simple doughnut graphic is the only formal element, even that is used to show trivia. It serves its purpose well though and would appeal mostly to teens or someone looking to fill a spread 30 seconds.

Example 3 - UK road sign

This infographics is a very straightforward road sign (Traffic road signs giving directions, ND). Signs like this are directed at the road driving public who would be very familiar with them. They are in standard colours, in the same standard typeface, Transport, that was introduced in the 1950s. It is large and easy to read from a distance with a large x-height. The pictograms representing airport and motorway would be recognisable to any driver from anywhere in the world. The graphic representing the roundabout is standard and straightforward. This is obviously a serious, if simple, infographic.

Example 4 - London's Literary Haunts

This piece of art shows the places that characters from famous novels visited (Dex, ND). It is a fun piece and is on display at The Literary London Art Collection. Presumably the more famous the character, the larger the type. The river Thames is clear to see. This is informal but eye-catching in black and white, with a variety of hand drawn typefaces and a few pictograms thrown in. I'm sure this piece is stunning in real life, but on screen it's a hard read.

Example 5 - Preserves

Preserves (Wildish, ND) is a lighthearted infographic representing the ingredients of various preserves (except The Jam!). It is straightforward and to the point, with different colours relevant to the colour of the ingredient they represent, and consistent in each jar. The typeface is a clear sans serif, which goes well with the informal and quite retro tone and subject matter. It is simple enough to be clearly legible on a smartphone. As Wildish is a graphic artist, it goes well with the other work in his portfolio and would suit many applications.

References

DEE, J (2013) Fact-checking the famous: Beyonce [online] The Guardian. Available from http://www.theguardian.com/culture/interactive/2013/feb/15/infomania-beyonce [Accessed 24 October 2015]
DEX (ND) [online] http://www.stipso.com/blog/2014/10/16/infographic-of-the-week-whats-killing-james-bond [Accessed 24 October 2015]
FERGIE'S DRIVER TRAINING (ND) Traffic road signs giving directions [online] Available from http://www.drivinginstructorm44.co.uk/learning-to-drive/learnig-to-drive/uk-road-signs/traffic-road-signs-giving-directions [Accessed 24 October 2015]
ROGERS, S (2007) The world's top 50 banks [online] The Guardian. Available from http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2009/mar/25/banking-g20 [Accessed 24 October 2015]
WILDISH, S (ND) Preserves. Available from http://stephenwildish.co.uk [Accessed 24 October 2015]

Waterstones Bag for Life

I experimented with a couple of ideas for the illustrations for my bag for life. These are just rough concepts:

This illustration for my bag was quickly created in Illustrator with the blob brush and shape tools. The black panel would be fixed with velcro to the bag and could be written on with a wipeable white chalk pen.

The image below is a quick watercolour sketch in line and wash on NOT watercolour paper. It would be used in the same way as the Illustrator sketch above.

In the image above, I hand drew some type with a white gel pen. I quite like the effect on this sketch, and think I will explore this technique further. The white hand writing on the blackboard is not part of the design, and the background has printed too dark.

Marketing brochures

Hampshire County Council brochures

I recently created the branding for Hampshire County Council's children's homes. There are soon to be 8 children's homes owned by HCC and I was tasked with creating a brand for them. I created logos for all the homes, and 40-page brochures for each of the homes (see below). For the remaining children's homes, I will endeavour to take the internal and external photographs of the building myself, as the styling of the photos needs to be improved. The brochures were printed by our in-house print shop. I was really pleased with the results, and the Service Manager and children's homes managers gave me positive feedback. I have also designed flyers, certificates and leaflets.

HCC children's homes handbooks, designed by myself

Packaging - the delivery medium

Postcard mailer and tea towel wrapping

We were asked to consider the different mediums that can be used to deliver a product - bags, envelopes, boxes etc.

Bags are the method shops employ as free advertising when you buy from a store. It's a signpost to other shoppers that their store is in the vicinity. You are the walking advertisement.

Packaging also has negative connotations - it creates litter, it goes into landfill - non-biodegradable packaging in particular.

We were asked to create 2 concepts for envelopes, incorportaing an element from our assignment on a Waterstones envelope.

I sketched out two ideas, below. The first idea was for a mailer to prospective customers in the form of a postcard. This would include a pop out gift tag which customers could take into Waterstones to get a discount on their cookbook purchase. The tag could be attached after the parcel had been gift wrapped by Waterstones, and has a scratch and sniff panel relating to one of the recipes in the book on promotion.

The second idea was to use a promotional tea towel as gift wrap for a cook book purchase. Alternatively an apron would work too. The illustration/pattern could be related to the cook book promotions.

Mailers - inspiration

Mailers from Boden and White Stuff, self-generated photo

These two mailers were sent to me by Boden and White Stuff over the last couple of years. These companies are really inventive with their mail shots.

The first one is from Boden. A paper envelope shaped like a camera with a tab on the side invites you to pull. This reveals a double sided sheet advertising their sale, mimicking the pulling out of old style Polaroid Instamatics. This idea works well for Boden as they rely heavily on their retro styling and old school imagery.

The second piece is from White Stuff. They sent out a thick card in A5 with pop-out cocktail toppers, which suited their catalogue theme, being summer holidays. Although not amazingly practical, it is a fun idea, and very engaging.