Illustrator development

The initial image after I began to map put my sketches onto Illustrator. I used a image from the internet to provide a template for scale of the map. It provided a template so that I could draw more accurate layout for the line destinations. Once I had blocked out all  features I had sketched, I realised I would need to play with affects and colour schemes to give it depth and movement.

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I then decided to make it more abstract by hiding that map layer so all you could see was the lines leading to destinations. I preferred this as it had a more abstract and elegant effect. The negative space although was being used to define the spacing of the map did create too much white space. The white space made the image look too empty and flat. 

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 I then went back to the original background with the map layer on but I changed the opacity of the map to try and emphasise the lines on top as they were meant to be the focus feature, which wasn’t clear with the map having the same weight as the lines on top.

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 The image of the map that I used as a template was from the internet so it wasn’t a vector which meant that changing scale would cause it to pixelate.  I used a drawing tool to trace over it. This then meant I could play with different effects/shapes of the line. This  was when my original sketches began to take shape as the added colour gave the image more depth as it wasn’t all monochrome and the opacity of the background map emphasised the abstract lines leading to destinations above it.

 

 

 

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Design sketches

Having chosen my title from the task sheet and investigating some other infographics on similar topics , I used the background information I had collected and began drawing out some sketches and making notes on my initial ideas. 

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The sketch above shows a rough shape/layout that I want to follow up on and develop further. I made small notes around the edge of the page on ideas that I could integrate into the design to show different sets of informations in an aesthetically pleasing way.

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The sketch below is a development of the information that I want to represent in the infographics poster. The title only specified when and where you went but I wanted to include my own more personal categories. This list is the first draft of ideas and small sketches of how I could represent them.

  My thoughts behind the timeline and problems that I encountered when thinking of the logistics of displaying the date and location clearly.  I needed to make sure it was both easy to read for information and also visually/graphically well spaced. I needed to work out how spaced out the dates where going to be so they weren’t cramped but they went up in something like 2s or 5s so it s easy to understand. The places were harder to structure as the words are longer so harder too all fit in the correct time stamp. I used airport abbreviations to shorten the word length so it would be easier to fit in. 

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This was the final draft before I began to use illustrator to draw out the image on the computer. It outlines the 3 design features that I want to include: colour key at the top, timeline along the bottom and an abstract linear shape in the centre that connects my current locations to all the places I have visited.