Information Design / Project 1
Derin / 0354969 / Design in Creative Media
GCD 60504 / INFORMATION DESIGN
Project 1
INSTRUCTIONS
Instructable Infographics Poster (10%)
For this project, we were assigned to create an instructable poster infographic and an animated infographic video from video recipes explaining how to cook/bake a dish of our choice from the Pasta Grannies YouTube channel. I started this project by binge-watching multiple videos from Pasta Grannies and decided on this video of how to make frascarelli :). As it is claimed to be 'the world's easiest pasta,' the process and steps are naturally short and straightforward to understand. It would be easier to figure out the infographic poster layout.
Fig 1.1 Pasta Grannies' video recipe on how to make frascarelli - YouTube link
After watching the video, I started breaking down the video and typing down the ingredients and instructions for making frascarelli. I took note that since the infographic will have limited space to put words in, I simplified the wording of the steps as much as possible while staying within the source.
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| Fig 1.2 Ingredients and Instructions |
Before starting the sketch, I searched for references on Pinterest to find visual inspiration for my infographic poster. The following is a mood board I created for reference use.
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| Fig 1.3 Infographic reference mood board - Mood board link |
With the recipe and references taken care of, I started creating the sketch for my instructable infographic poster. I began by separating the process into three parts: Step 1 is making the dough, Step 2 is boiling the crumpled dough, and Step 3 is putting in all the other ingredients. The frascarelli dish is the end result of this infographic, so I made it the focal point by making a staircase effect by arranging the pots in the middle like one, ultimately leading the viewer's eyes to the frascarelli. The content will be in diagonal form because of it. I made the color of the text and drawings contrast with the background. The background is a complementary color to make the content stand out more.
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| Fig 1.3 Infographic sketch |
I sent the infographic sketch to Mr. Hafiz, who suggested that the icons should be more prominent. I digitalized the sketch in Adobe Illustrator with his feedback in mind. I start by creating vector art of utensils and ingredients. Those vector art are later reused in the making of the step imagery sprites. The vector art creation process was relatively easy since we've done this multiple times in previous tutorials and practicals from last semester. I separated each vector art into different layers to make it uncluttered when creating separate artboards for the animation process. After making them, I align all the vector art according to the sketch.
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| Fig 1.4 Digitization process |
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| Fig 1.5 Aligning vector art according to sketch |
Lastly, I put in the instructions for the making of frascarelli. I used Object > Transform > Shear to align the texts diagonally (thinking back, I should have used InDesign for this process). This step was so time-consuming, but I managed to do it! I used the font 'Elephant' for the title and 'Futura Std: Book Oblique' for the text content. The golden accent of the text managed to stand out thanks to the background. :D
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| Fig 1.6 Putting in the content texts |
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| Fig 1.7 First Draft for Instructable Infographics Poster |
Final Outcome
Mr. Hafiz commented that my infographic poster looks interesting from the perspective. However, he also comments that the infographic poster becomes harder to read because of the perspective. To counter this, I changed the font's weight from 'Futura Std: Book Oblique' to 'Futura Std: Heavy Oblique.' I have also changed the title design to 3D to make it stand out and added tiny stars for decoration and emphasis. 
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| Fig 1.8 Instructable Infographics Poster - "Pasta Grannies Frascarelli" - JPEG, Week 6 (19/02/2023) |
Animated infographic (10%)
I start the animation process by separating the sprites into different artboards. Thankfully I created the vector art in its layers beforehand, so this process took less time than it should have. Afterward, I exported the artboards as PNG. One thing I regret doing is not exporting them as AI files instead since vector images are high by nature, even when zoomed in. This realization came just after I finished animating the whole infographic. :(
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| Fig 2.1 Separating vector art into its own artboards. |
I used royalty-free music as the background music for this animated infographic. The background music I chose is Les Souvenirs de Demain, composed by Magnus Ludvigsson. It has a nice, laid-back, and upbeat feel, which is suitable for the video's atmosphere I have in mind.
Afterward, I dragged all the files into After Effects and started arranging them in order. I didn't want the video only to be bombarded with texts of instructions, so I animated everything into action.
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| Fig 2.2 Process work |
The following is the first outcome of the animation.
Fig 2.3 First Draft
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| Fig 2.4 Feedback from Mr. Martin |
Final Outcome
Fig 2.3 Animated Infographic - "Pasta Grannies Frascarelli", Week 7 (24/02/2023)
FEEDBACK
Week 5:
Mr. Hafiz said that the layout for my infographic poster 7 is interesting. However, the icons need to be upscaled.
Week 7:
Mr. Hafiz commented that the infographic poster looks really nice and said that he likes how it's looking now. But, while the perspective is interesting, it makes the infographic hard to read. To counter that, I changed the weight of the text to a bold type family.
Week 7:
Regarding the feedback on my animated infographic, Mr. Martin pointed out that there are occasions when texts and vector arts appear huge. Moreover, I should instead implement the subtitles into a part of the composition. Upon receiving feedback, I made changes to the infographic animation.
REFLECTION
Project 1 might be my favorite project from this semester :D. I started working on the infographic poster 1/2 weeks late because of the time constraint of Project 2, though I could still enjoy the creative process of this project. I appreciate that we were given a theme with many choices. I learned a lot about compositing and techniques in animating using After Effects. I finished the animation within a day (around 9 hours straight...) because of how much I enjoyed the process hahhah!!! There were some regretful instances where I could have done things differently, such as not using InDesign to input the texts and not exporting the sprites in AI files. But overall, I am satisfied with my outcome. :)