By Nathan Lenaghen
Objectives/Purpose
I work for the state of Idaho under the Department of Agriculture, for the past 6 years I have worked with boat inspections, aquatic invasive species, and various boating laws. My years working in this field have given me a lot of experience working with boaters and other employees, gaining an understanding of what areas of laws lead to confusion. I saw this project as the perfect opportunity to help solve this confusion.
The purpose of this project was to create a series of infographics designed to inform and educate people regarding Idaho boating laws and general facts regarding invasive species. I wanted these infographics to be designed to help educate both boaters and new employees regarding facts they should know. The infographics would cover various topics and would be able to be printed out for posting in watercraft inspection stations or posted online.
Project
For this project I had to choose a number of topics to cover on my infographics, and design them in Adobe Illustrator. I wanted all of the infographics to be consistent in design and style so it was apparent they were a part of the same set. This would involve designing a consistent style for the infographics, sketch and design all of my assets and logos, conduct thorough research on Idaho laws to assure accuracy.
Process
I initially set myself a schedule for completing this project in a timely manner. I broke down the project into a few phases.
October 14th – Have chosen and researched all of my topics
November 1st – Completed rough drafts, either on paper or digitally
December – Have all infographics completed
Results
Challenges
This was a large project for me to undertake, although I had taken a class previously on how to use Adobe Illustrator, it had been long enough since that that I no longer had the skills necessary to set out what I planned to do with this project. It took me essentially relearning how to use to software to get the infographics to the level of quality I wanted from them. Having to start of Adobe Illustrator from the ground up slowed me down a lot and meant I had to invest more time into being able to properly use the program.
I had never designed a set of infographics before, so I had to work to design a consistent style and layout that worked for all of the infographics I would be making. It involved remaking some logos and icons as well as designing my own from scratch.
Takeaways
I expected this project to help me with design principles and general skills in Adobe Illustrator, and it did both of those things. What I did not expect was how much in Adobe Illustrator I had forgotten over time and needed to relearn. This helped me a lot in time organization. I underestimated the amount of research and study that I needed to do, this combined with my already heavy school schedule made me have to strategically organize my time in order to meet my previously established goals.