Photo Realistic - Photo Decision

Cupcakes!
Hopefully, I'll have time for a process of three separate cupcakes, but if not, I may just finish the first whole one.

Visual Explanation Project Statement

The Project Statement

1. Background

What is the background for this intervention? Why are you doing it?

I am doing this visual explanation illustration to accompany an article that is featured on The Nest's website, called Budgeting for Baby. 

2. Target Audiences

Who do you want to reach with your communication? Be specific.

With this illustration, I want to reach the Nest's readers who may not want to read an entire article that talks about budgets, but would rather see a visual explanation of the article instead to help them get an idea of how much to budget for a new baby. 

3. Objectives

What do you want your target audience to do after they hear, watch, or experience this communication?

I want my target audience to be able to get the information that they need to effectively plan (or decide not to plan) for the addition of a baby into their household. 

4. Obstacles

What beliefs, cultural practices, pressures, and misinformation stand between your audience and the

desired objectives?

An obstacle could be the fact that there is such a difference in price of the various items on the list. I am going to try and make it more assessable with lower budget couples. 

5. Key Benefit

Select one single benefit that the audience will experience upon reading the objective(s) you have set.

A benefit that the audience will have is having a more clear and concise idea of how much money it will take to raise a newborn baby during it's first year. 

6. Support Statements/ Reasons Why

These are the reasons why the key benefit outweighs the obstacles and the reasons that what you are promoting is beneficial. These reasons often become messages.

The reason why this project would be to show a more clear view of budgeting for an addition to your family. This will also make the information that the Nest has a lot more approachable to readers and may earn them more readers due to the easy accessibility of information. 

7. Tone

What feeling should your communication have? Should it be authoritative, light, or emotional? Pick a tone.

I want the tone to be fun and home-y. I want it to have an illustrative, cartoon feel, not so realistic.  

8.  Media

What channel(s) or form will the communication take?  Television? Radio? Newspaper? Poster? Pointof-purchase? Flyer? All of the above?
My goal would be for this illustration to replace the article on the Nest's website. 

Troubles in Infographic Land!

Go figure, I chose a topic with barely any reliable statistics, just because it is so broad (all about money-winning statistics). So, I think I might have to adjust my topic to be a little narrower. I liked the idea of sticking with something money/budget related, and I found some cool stats from one of my favorite websites (my favorite because it's designed beautifully) The Knot (theknot.com).

I found some stats about wedding budgets and some about baby budgets (as in, how much babies cost their first year of life). I liked the wedding one, but there are already a bunch of infographics having to do with that, so I'm not sure. I couldn't find any baby budget infographics, so that one may be a little more original. 

I'll figure it out and hopefully have something going by Tuesday! Just wanted you to know so that you weren't totally confused next week!

Sketches for Project 3 - Infographic

I choose two ideas, one being a recipe/facts about a food (I picked Pizza, but could be something else too) or another idea that I came up with this week about what a million dollars means to people (as in, what would they spend it on, what could you buy with it, how much is it worth today vs. twenty years ago, how to people acquire it, etc).

Type Illustration - Project 2 - Final Case Study

Open publication - Free publishing - More case

Prelim Case Study - Type Project

Open publication - Free publishing - More case

Ideas for Informational Illustration - Project 3

I am completing this post early on in the week because I am very inspired and excited by this project, and also because I do not want anything to distract me from finishing my type portrait!
I have some ideas for what I would like to do, and what I think would not only make a kick-ass infographic, but will also be informative and have a related application.

My ideas are:

-A step by step guide to a recipe
Not sure exactly which recipe yet, but I could illustrate various ingredients, as well as demonstrate the actual cooking process. This could be applied in any cooking magazine, website, or book.

-The Newspaper Production process
Newspaper is where I got my design origins and I think it would be really interesting to illustrate the process how a newspaper actually gets printed. Taking the paper to the printer was my favorite part! Plus, I could illustrate a really cute little boy in a bowler hat screaming "extra! extra!", which would be pretty awesome.

-Facts about Amusement Parks
I found some facts online about amusement parks (their attendance, favorite rides, favorite foods, prices, etc.) and thought it would be a fun topic for a traditional infographic.

Just some ideas for now, I am trying to think of more, but I am really interested in all three ideas, so I think it would come out great!

Preliminary Case Study - Type Project

DISCLAIMER: I was gone last week, and didn't get as much done on this as I wanted to, I had some trouble with the tools and could not get them to work. But I learned a little more about how to use them from my pal Whitney so I have a more defined direction now, and I will have my project ready next week!

I don't have a lot of progress on my actual illustration, so I made a case study out of what I do have.

Open publication - Free publishing - More case

Project Statement - Type Project

1. Background

What is the background for this intervention? Why are you doing it?

I am doing this type portrait of Taylor Swift because I feel that there are many words that can be used to describe her and her music, and I feel that using type for her portrait would be appropriate because she writes her own music, and that is what she is known for. This illustration could be used to accompany a magazine article about Taylor, or else as an illustration on one of her CD's or website. 

2. Target Audiences

Who do you want to reach with your communication? Be specific.

I want to reach Taylor Swift's fans and those who like and respect her music and songwriting. I also want to draw in listeners who may not have heard her music that may see this illustration and decide to listen to her music for the first time. 

3. Objectives

What do you want your target audience to do after they hear, watch, or experience this communication?

After seeing this illustration, I want my target audience to want to go listen to Taylor's music and learn more about her and her songwriting. 

4. Obstacles

What beliefs, cultural practices, pressures, and misinformation stand between your audience and the

desired objectives?

I think that there may be a few obstacles related to doing this piece, and most of them stem from the fact that people seem to think that Taylor Swift only sings country songs, or only sings pop songs. People let their prejudice of the type of music that they like determine what they listen to. With this piece, I want to show that Taylor sings music that any genre would enjoy and will focus more on her songwriting, which is what makes her special as a musician. 

5. Key Benefit

Select one single benefit that the audience will experience upon reading the objective(s) you have set.

A Key Benefit would be that more people are exposed to Taylor's music and will then become fans of her music. 

6. Support Statements/ Reasons Why

These are the reasons why the key benefit outweighs the obstacles and the reasons that what you are

promoting is beneficial. These reasons often become messages.

I am doing this illustration to show that Taylor Swift is a songwriter, singer, and guitar player, and has a lot of musical skill that people from all walks of life, with different musical styles, will enjoy. 

7. Tone

What feeling should your communication have? Should it be authoritative, light, or emotional? Pick a tone.

I want the tone to be emotional and powerful.

8. Media

What channel(s) or form will the communication take? Television? Radio? Newspaper? Poster? Pointof-

purchase? Flyer? All of the above?

Experimental type illustration.

Final Case Study - Editorial Illustration

Gone away on vacation this week, so I will not be in class, but here is my case study for my final illustration!

Open publication - Free publishing - More case