SHOWCASE: INFOGRAPHICS

I have been itching for the opportunity to create an infographic illustration for awhile as I’ve been regularly impressed and inspired by artwork adopting this particular style of data representation.

Infographics visually interpret factual information, such as statistics, comparisons or results, in a way that the reader can quickly engage with and understand. Designing an infographic requires deep interaction with the data and thinking outside the box to find a creative, meaningful way to deliver the information to the reader.

I created the following two infographics for Janaagraha’s I Paid a Bribe blog. They were a lot of fun to create, not to mention an interesting subject matter!

SHOWCASE: ACTIVITY BOOK ILLUSTRATIONS

One of the most enjoyable projects I worked on when volunteering at the Indian NGO, Janaagraha, was creating illustrations for a student activity book for the Bala Janaagraha campaign. The book is a support resource for Janaagraha’a civic education program which is responsible for a specially created curriculum being delivered by volunteers to over 15,000 primary school students in Bangalore every year.
 
It goes without saying it was a lot of fun; I’m now on the lookout for a new kids illustration project to continue honing my illustration skills in this style. Here is a little peek at some of the illustrations I created -

These little kid characters were created for a recurring exercise where students have to write down their opinions and ideas on nominated topics.

 I also created a series of graphics for recurring headings throughout the book; it was pure fun creating these.

SHOWCASE: ‘I PAID A BRIBE’ CAMPAIGN BROCHURE

I really enjoy print design projects and this folding brochure I created for the NGO I volunteered at in India was no exception. It was my first project for Janaagraha and it was an ideal way to plunge straight into the brand while learning a lot about one of it’s most aggressive and successful campaigns – the anti-corruption website-based I Paid a Bribe.

The printed piece was a sign of the campaign’s success. Having gathered statistics that awarded the Bangalore Transport Department the number one corrupt department in India, the I Paid a Bribe campaign lobbied them to address the issue. The Minister for Transport got on board and requested a public education campaign through the Transport Department offices. A brochure explaining citizen rights and expectations of motor authority functions was commissioned, to be printed by the department itself and distributed through the offices, along with prominent posters proclaiming anti-bribe support. This was a huge step forward in the campaign and I was thrilled to be involved in designing the public information brochure.

It was an interesting experience as it was the first time I had designed a printed piece that would incorporate two languages – I designed a folding format with an English side and a Kannada side. I conceptualised the theme of bribery entwined with the process of accessing motor rights in India, creating a graphic which was a custom tyre mark made with the Indian Rupee symbol. I also focused on creating clean, streamlined flow charts as there was a lot of procedural information to communicate. It had a very tight deadline, resulting in the concept being pitched and approved and the artwork completed within a week. 

I was really happy with the end product as were both Janaagraha and the Bangalore Transport department. Fingers crossed the printed brochures will contribute positively toward eliminating the bribe system at motor registries in Bangalore.

SHOWCASE: INDIA URBAN CONFERENCE LOGO

It seems I’ve worked on a lot of event projects over the past twelve months and this conference logo is the latest, which I did while volunteering at the Bangalore based NGO, Janaagraha.

The Janaagraha Applied Research Program are co-organising the India Urban Conference: Evidence and Experience, a 4-day gathering of academics, public and private sector practitioners, students, and citizens in Mysore, India which will culminate in a session focus on national policy in Delhi.

The project brief was set by the J-ARP team and the IIHS (Indian Institute of Human Settlements) following a brainstorming meeting I attended with representatives from both. This logo needed to convey a big message; the geographical focus, the academic angle and the urban theme. I presented three concepts tying these three aspects together, with an emphasis on connectivity.

Interestingly, there was no unanimous winner. With a number of people across the organising bodies providing input it was interesting to hear feedback from different perspectives with preferences for all. In the end the parties worked their way to agreement on the logo above; with urban icons connected together in the shape of India. It will be used on all conference collatoral including the website, invitations, signage and correspondence.

SHOWCASE: BRIBE BANDH WEBPAGE

The Bribe Bandh campaign’s online petition webpage needed a clean layout with strong ‘call to action’ graphics and a straight forward sign up procedure. Visitors had to feel compelled to act and the process had to be quick and easy so that they wouldn’t hesitate to take action. I designed a layout that would be used on the I Paid a Bribe website, so I kept in consideration the branded environment. The result is below:

SHOWCASE: BRIBE BANDH LOGO

One of the first projects I have worked on at Janaagraha, in Bangalore, was a logo for a campaign being launched by the ‘I Paid a Bribe’ team. As I mentioned in my previous post the mission of this campaign is to ‘uncover the market price of corruption’ by giving citizens a voice against bribery in government departments, a significant problem in India and one that every Indian has had to deal with at some point.

The Bribe Bandh campaign is a petition campaign collecting a target of one million names to put pressure on the Indian government to ratify the UN Convention Against Corruption. India is one of the 140 countries that has signed the UN Convention against corruption, but the government is under no pressure to make its anti-corruption laws stricter unless it ratifies the convention – something it has not committed to do.

The name Bribe Bandh combines two powerful words: Bribe identifies the form of corruption most rife in India and Bandh is a Hindi word that originally means ‘closed’ but is also the name for a form of protest in the way of a general strike by a community.

The logo needed to be bold and inspire action. It needed to convey the severity of the issue and well as incite a sense of responsibility in the viewer. I chose a stencil typeface for it’s confrontational, no-frills tone. For the word ‘BRIBE’ I developed a number of concepts incorporating the Indian Rupee symbol into the Bribe logotype. I then looked at a number of options for the word ‘BANDH’, using the A to create a symbol focusing on the action needed to see corruption outlawed in India.

The final logo took the form of a strike slashed across the A, winning out over the other options which included a mouse cursor arrow and a mouse click hand icon that pointed to the word bribery. I personally preferred the hand icon version (the last in the images below) but I think the final logo does work well for the campaign.

Let me know what you think!

AN AUSSIE DESIGNER IN BANGALORE

After all the hype and hard work last year I am finally in Bangalore! Today I am four weeks into my ten week internship in the Communication Department at an NGO - Janaagraha, Centre for Democracy and Citizenship.

The experience working in Janaagraha for the past four weeks has been brilliant. The team environment is really dynamic, fuelled by the passion and enthusiasm of the people who work here. The projects are based on a meaningful philosophy and it is a privilege to be here working towards the common goal of improving the quality of life for so many people.

SHOWCASE: ADVENTURE FRIENDS WEBSITE

With the brand identity established, the Adventure Friends website design followed closely and the store is now live.

The new logo set the tone for the whole website look and feel, so the earthy but edgy style continued through the evocative header image which fades out into the black site background, and a vibrant, eye popping menu navigation boldly jutting out of the main site content. The awesome subject material made it easy to introduce photos that conveyed the sense of adventure and wonder accessible through the adventure gear market. Read on for site screen images.

My clients were very happy with the final result and feedback across the board has been very positive.

SHOWCASE: ADVENTURE FRIENDS LOGO

I’ve been busy working on a couple of projects for my newest client, Adventure Friends – an online store selling all things necessary for a good time in the great outdoors. From backpacks to tents and everything inbetween, their point of difference is the introduction of high quality European equipment never before supplied in Australia.

The founder of this new e-commerce store contacted me after liking what he saw of the work I did on the Kool Kitchen website. Their first priority was a new website design for their BigCommerce hosted online store, but I convinced them first on the necessity of investing in a solid brand identity from day one.

So we embarked on a brand identity project and from three concepts quickly identified the perfect logo direction. I really love the slightly grungy style of the logo type and the illustrative representation of ‘Adventure’. It was a great brand psyche to get into, and was a great opportunity to tap into my own great outdoors experiences camping and bushwalking in our Aussie ‘big backyard’.

SHOWCASE: CORPORATE CHRISTMAS PARTY INVITATION

This one doesn’t really need an explanation; it’s an email invite for a corporate Christmas party, though perhaps not your standard corporate affair. As we are doing something a bit different for our party this year, something a lot more fun than in previous years, I went straight for a playful, ‘let’s have some fun’ style of graphic. It seems to have done the job!