Brief:
Students are tasked with identifying and visualising 8 sets of infographic data pertaining to a topic they found interesting and important.
Visual continuity as well as ease of conveying different complexities of data was essential.
Visual continuity as well as ease of conveying different complexities of data was essential.
Planning
Concept:
inspired by my undergrad research paper which discusses ecological utopias and alternative worlds of making kin with natural “others” -"Trees" aims to empower and excite the reader with positive and affirming facts about trees and their conservation.
Visually, the infographic set emulates an eco-biological textbook. Ghostly scanography and photography creates at times abstract visuals, elevating the subject matters of the seemingly mundane tree, to revered entities with their own powers.
Visually, the infographic set emulates an eco-biological textbook. Ghostly scanography and photography creates at times abstract visuals, elevating the subject matters of the seemingly mundane tree, to revered entities with their own powers.
Visual Elements:
"In the current age of the Anthropocene, humanity has distanced itself from the natural world, as previously established by theorist Bruno Latour. The result is that generally, the ecological crisis is either feared or ignored, borne 'with an admirable form of stoicism' and calm as humanity accepts it cannot change the course of natural history"
(Latour 2017: 8-9).
(Latour 2017: 8-9).
it is ‘the lack of an alternative vision”, a feeling shared by many in the face of ecological uncertainty, “which prevents the formation of an oppositional movement, while the absence of such a movement precludes the articulation of an alternative”
(Harvey 2010: 227).
(Harvey 2010: 227).
In reading this pamphlet, you are resisting narratives of hopelessness.
You are taking steps towards making kin with an ecological entity which, barring a physical form, shares no discerning features with yourself. You are indeed believing in alternative vision - one which celebrates humanity’s co-existence with and preservation of trees.
You are taking steps towards making kin with an ecological entity which, barring a physical form, shares no discerning features with yourself. You are indeed believing in alternative vision - one which celebrates humanity’s co-existence with and preservation of trees.
Pamphlet Design:
1. Title page and introduction
2. Who planted the most trees/ number of trees per person
3. Trees per square kilometer/ continents with most tree species
4.Tree families/ the world's stoutest trees
5. The world's oldest living trees/ world's tallest trees
6. Conclusion/ bibliography
Physical Mockup
Reflection:
working on this project was rewarding; I was able to reflect on and visualise several theories I’ve explored in contextual studies. Using scanography to capture physical elements I gathered, such as leaves, lent the project another dimension and helped bridge the gap between human and nature, image and artefact.
The final decision to represent it in pamphlet format also conveyed the idea of dispersing good news, or as a manifesto to an ecological alternative universe where we make kin with ecological others.
The final decision to represent it in pamphlet format also conveyed the idea of dispersing good news, or as a manifesto to an ecological alternative universe where we make kin with ecological others.
