I designed this interactive PDF to engage the learner's episodic memory to embed the information. The intended audience is anyone wishing to learn about The Great War - age 12 to 90. I utilized images, audio, written and video. The technology I used to create this Inforgraphic was Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop and Acrobat. Garage Band, Microsoft Word, and YouTube were also involved with the creation. The images come from Creative Commons through Flickr but the recordings are from The SeaDog Slam Studios.
This is a screenshot of the final interactive PDF. It can be viewed from this link.
To begin the background had to be just right. After creating a old paper feel, I began to build the maps.
By using Illustrator, InDesign and Photoshop, the layers started to come together for me.
Spacing had to be correct to give the actual feel of the scope of The Great War.
After which, I highlighted the Fronts and made them specific through circles and masking,
Layers were added that included the visual graphs and charts to demonstrate the ammount of casualties.
My final step to the basic infographic was adding a timeline, images of specific people and even the innovations that occured because of the war. Again - more layers. And this was just the beginning.
Next, to make it more personal. A letter was written home by each individual after their death to their loved ones.
(Yes, I created each letter based on the person's history.)
Below are 3 of the letters I created followed by their corresponding image that I created in Illustrator for the interactive infographic. I tried to retain the type of speech prevalent during the era. I even had the SeaDog Slam studios record each letter in the appropriate dialect.
Finally, I embedded the letters into the infographic and created buttons so that they could be pulled up when moused over.
Eventually, they all made it in.
I even added the audio as a seperate button. That way, viewers could choose to read the letters, listen to the letters or even do both.
Below, are three examples of the recordings as created by the SeaDog Slam Studios.
I added an Easter Egg to the upper right corner. It really engages the episodic memory and promotes further research.
See the final product. I actually created two versions. One with the video completely embedded and another with just a link. Sometimes you need to conserve space.
