Infographic Case Study
Starting Sketch
For my Vector Illustration class, we were instructed to create an infographic on an animal that catches the viewer's eye, shares fun facts, and keeps them engaged in the poster. This includes an audience of all ages and those looking to learn more about the animals they are seeing. Being able to make a visually appealing design to draw in the viewer and keep them reading the infographic from start to end by using visuals and short sentences to keep their attention.
Some challenges that can occur is that people have a short attention span and can easily get bored with reading long sentences and paragraphs of information that is given. Zoos have children running around looking at animals and being able to create something for children to understand as well can be a challenge.
It started with looking at examples of infographics on Pinterest and Canva to get a good idea of how I would like to set up and design my infographic, while keeping it unique from all the others. Picture one shows the rough sketch of the idea I had thought of to see if it is truly something that can look eye catching and easy to look over. My classmates and my teacher, Brenda Blum, had given me excellent feedback to help improve my designs from start to finish. The feedback made me realize to not overcrowd the infographic by creating enough space between each fact to be able to tell when one fact ends and another starts. With these in mind, I made sure to get rid of many details that were placed and create a more simple version to reduce crowding and confusion to the viewer. After taking all the feedback into account, and a few smaller added details, I finally finalized the design by spell checking all the words and reading over every fact to make sure it is clear and understandable.
To avoid writing longer sentences, I started by writing down the keywords that needed to be apart of the fact in order to give the viewer an idea of what you are trying to inform them about. After highlighting those words, then comes writing down filler words to make it more clear and descriptive so that the viewer isn't just reading one word per graphic but an actual fact to go along with it. Guiding the viewers eyes where you want it to go can be tricky to do. To accomplish this, I used a gradient background that goes from a light blue to dark blue to attract the attention of the viewer to the brighter color first and slowly make their way down to the darker blue in order to see the whole infographic. While looking over the design, I decided to add a jellyfish subtly in the background so that the background isn't just a blue gradient that can be seen as lazy or not eye catching enough.
While creating this design, I had been able to grow my experience in Adobe Illustrator and learn new things, such as using image trace and the charts tool to show the information visually, making it more memorable for all ages. This project showed me the importance of keeping typography short and sweet but informational and understandable to keep the viewers attention, and the use of simple graphics can make the information given easier to remember in the future for those who see it. One thing that is to be expected is not everyone will like or agree with the infographic as everyone has their own opinions and outlooks on designs and how they should be done.
Finalized Design
