2. 33
L
C NO
L
NE ST T
ABOUT ME
2
INFLUENCE
4
INFOGRAPHIC
10
JUST THE FACTS
14
REFERENCES
24
3. 32
L
OB TA U
L
EM
I am a designer who enjoys focusing
on clean type and design with raw
hand drawn elements. Creativity is a
valuable skill which is important not
only in artistic fields. It can be an asset
in many fields and across all industries.
Being able to think creatively leads to
an emphasis on expression, and this
can generate thoughtful designs that
draw the observer into the work and
leave the viewer wanting to know more.
I am currently studying at the University
of Queensland, working towards a
Bachelor of Multimedia Design with
a focus on user experience, user
interface and user centred design.
Throughout my time completing this
degree, I have come to understand
more than I thought possible when
it comes to design and the many
thought process involved. Many of my
courses have tasked me with thinking
differently when it comes to being able
to iterate quickly and look for the best
solutions for open ended problems.
This portfolio answers some of the
questions that were asked of me
during the first semester of my second
year. Some of the tasks asked of me
were based around data interpretation
and visualisation, both simple and
complex.
A focus on learning new design skills
and methods are the driving force
behind my work. This leaves me
constantly hungry to work on more
interesting pieces. I take great pride in
my visual design work and present you
with this portfolio for your perusal.
4. 54
L
FN UI L
L
NE EC
AARON
TURNER
As a musician and graphic designer
myself,Iamdrawntoothermultifaceted
creatives. Aaron Turner is a great
example of this. The first experience I
had with Turner’s work was in through
his band Isis, who were a post-metal
and atmospheric group from the
United States. Apart from his musical
contributions to the group, Turner
also handled all the graphic design
elements for the group’s releases
and merchandise. These two fields of
creativity always went hand in hand,
with one reflecting the other.
Turner’s work in graphic design and
his musical endeavours extended to a
music label he started and ran called
“Hydra Head Records”. Through this
label, he was able to create work
for a lot of my other favourite bands
at the time. His use of mixed media
such as hand drawn illustrations and
lettering, paired with clean design and
photography had a strong influence on
my work as a graphic artist.
The ideals and aesthetics that I started
to admire within Turner’s work started
to influence my own work. The use of
recurring themes, mixing course with
clean elements and textures to create
a sense of wear and rustic stylisation is
something that I connect with.
5. 76
L
FN UI L
L
NE EC
AARON
HORKEY
A few years ago, I started to notice
some amazingly detailed illustrations
interlaced with hand drawn designs
for movie posters, events and band
artwork that always left me thinking,
“these are beautiful”. Around that
time, Isis (previously mentioned
Aaron Turner’s band) toured Australia.
Through OMG Posters I saw Horkey
had produced a tour poster for them
and from there I was able to put a name
to this recognisable style. I quickly
familiarised myself with his catalogue
of work, and after researching his style,
I began to feel influenced by creative
layouts, high level of detail and
elaborate and intricate decoration.
At the time, all of Horkey’s work was only
being posted on by a select number of
individuals whom he trusted. Horkey
was keeping a very low profile online,
his presence could even have been
non-existent. I admired this mentality
and how this affected his work - he
had a raw and pure dedication to his
art. This only made me want to find
out more about him, his work and his
processes.
Every piece that Horkey produces is
completely hand drawn with no digital
influence. As I began to explore his
work, I started to think about more
elaborate and stylistic layouts of
lettering to create decorative text
pieces.
Horkey’s work is by far my biggest
influence in terms of modern artists
and designers.
6. 98
L
FN UI L
L
NE EC
THE ART DECO
MOVEMENT
Sometimes drawing influence from a
single designer can be too precise,
and can lead me to focus too closely
on their particular efforts. Only by
stepping back and looking at their
contemporaries can I get a better grasp
of the characteristics of a complete
style.
The Art Deco style to me embodies a
lot of the design aspects which I aim
to achieve in my digital design work.
The use of harsh grainy gradients from
early works, strong geometric shapes
and repetitive use of symmetry and
angles really stand out to me.
One of my first memories of noticing
something as Art Deco was in my
childhood in the cartoon “Batman: The
Animated Series”. This stylised look
was amazing to me and completely
different to other cartoons that were
around the time. It seemed so simple
and bold, yet complex and elegant at
the same time; a perfect juxtaposition
for design.
Over the next few years, I began to
notice the style more and recognise
it in many different creative forms. I
noted its use through repetition of the
same characteristics; through graphic
design, typefaces, architecture and
structure all around me. All of these
aspects made it very identifiable and
inspiring to me as young designer.
7. 10
THE 2013
SEATTLE
SEAHAWKS
This piece was selected
to be displayed at the
2016 Physical & Interactive
Design Exhibtion held by
UQ at The Edge in SLQ
L
CI
NI OF
L
AR HG P
11
Using the statistics located on the
National Football League’s website, I
was able to create an infographic based
around the 2013 Seattle Seahawks.
The infographic focused on their
performance and path to becoming
the Super Bowl XLVIII champions.
The aim was to build a narrative of
the journey which lead the Seahawks
to a 13-3 record and becoming the
first team to qualify for the 2013 post-
season. Through this narrative, I was
to visualise complex data into quickly
interpretable images.
The key focus of the infographic is the
regular season win loss ratio where
the observer can view all 12 post-
season qualifying team. This shows a
wide array of data through the use of
a line graph over a timeline to illustrate
how each team finished against each
other and other points of reference.
Visualising this information became
a difficult task when needing to make
each team visible against each other as
lines intersected and group together
into similar patterns. The design
choice of the darker background takes
an approach of stocks on the market
and their performance over a period
of time.
There are other elements that help
contribute to building the narrative
of the Seahawks success. A sectioned
pie chart displaying the points for &
against by each game. The pie chart
showing the allocation of who scored
the points for the Seahawks during
the regular season. A comparison bar
graph of the number 1 rated players in
the league versus their Seahawk rivals.
Lastly, a progression chart of the play-
off bracket for the 12 qualifying teams.
8. 12
THE 2013
SEATTLE
SEAHAWKS
This piece was selected
to be displayed at the
2016 Physical & Interactive
Design Exhibtion held by
UQ at The Edge in SLQ
L
CI
NI OF
L
AR HG P
13
9. L
CA SF T
UJ TS
L
T EH
1514
“Minimum number of
remains of World War I
casualties uncovered in
northern Italy since 1990
because of retreating
glaciers : 40”
Harper’s Index, Harper’s Magazine
Vol 328 Issue 1969 (2014) p11
The first of the fact related places and
was eager to see what I could achieve
with the given information and my own
personal design ideas. I chose the
visual elements to help drawn focus to
the fact to help the observer identify
the location and meaning behind
the fact. The colour scheme was also
designed help with these details.
The structure of the main element is
a great example of how I can think
about design in ways of geometry
and symmetry. By constructing the
design using triangular numbers, it led
to a strong area focus. Instinctively,
I was able to work in the reworded
fact into the design and maintain the
original design concept. The typeface
selection of a typewriter style font
helps the visualisation of the time
period referenced and the underlining
having a hand drawn feel to continue
the period focus aesthetic.
The colour scheme has a very cool
palette bought across from the fact
to visualise the cold and icy elements
of glaciers and Northern Italy. The
gradient of the triangular element
to give the minimal appearance of a
snowcapped mountain. A drop shadow
was added to help bring the design to
life and give a sense of reality to the
image and the context of the fact.
10. L
CA SF T
UJ TS
L
T EH
1716
“Factor by which the
brightness of a recent
supernova exceeded that of
all the stars in the
Milky Way : 20”
Harper’s Index, Harper’s Magazine
(April, 2016) p9
Even though the appearance of this
design is very simple, a lot of thought
into elements and meaning went into
this piece. This was also the piece of
the 5 Just The Facts where I really
started to settle into a more consistent
approach.
From the original fact I decided to
research the population figures of
South Korea to give me better idea
of the portion of population that was
being addressed. Once addressed,
ideas of representation of that portion
werebrainstormed.Awi-fisymbolwasa
stand out choice due to it connotations
to the internet and internet usage.
While the portion highlighted in the
representation is accurate to the
percentage, it also resembles an
exclamation mark. This was a small
design choice on my part to show a
growing concern of internet based
issues that are going on a global scale.
The colours chosen are taken from
the South Korean flag. The Blue
was purposefully removed from the
design as it clashed with the red and
did not stand out against the black.
This decision to withhold its use help
create a cleaner design. Adding to the
simplicity of and internet theme of the
design, a modern monospace font was
selected for the wording. A new ‘M’
in ‘program’ was created to replace
the standard ‘M’ of the typeface and
seamless added in it’s place.
11. L
CA SF T
UJ TS
L
T EH
1918
“Estimated number of
South Korean teenagers
who attend Internet-
addiction-prevention
programs each year :
4,000,000”
Harper’s Index, Harper’s Magazine
(April, 2016) p9
Even though the appearance of this
design is very simple, a lot of thought
was put into the various elements that
make up this piece. This was also the
first of my five “Just The Facts” pieces
of where I started to settle into a more
consistent approach.
From the original fact, I decided to
research the population figures of
South Korea to give me a better idea
of the portion of the total population
that was being addressed. Once I had
a grasp on this, I brainstormed ideas
on how to best represent this. A wi-fi
symbol was the stand out choice due
to its connotations to the internet and
internet usage.
While the portion highlighted in the
representation is accurate to the
percentage, it also resembles an
exclamation mark. This was a small
design choice on my part to show a
growing concern of internet based
issues that are going on a global scale.
The colours chosen are taken from
the South Korean flag. The blue from
the flag was purposely not included
in the design as it clashes with the
red and did not stand out against
the black. The decision to withhold
use of the blue helps create a cleaner
design. Adding to the simplicity of the
internet theme of the design, a modern
monospace font was selected for the
wording. A new ‘M’ in ‘program’ was
created to replace the standard ‘M’ of
the typeface and seamlessly added in
it’s place.
12. L
CA SF T
UJ TS
L
T EH
2120
“Portion of Americans in
1966 who said that they
trusted the government
most of the time : 2/3
Who say so today : 1/5”
Harper’s Index, Harper’s Magazine
(April, 2016) p9
This piece is a stand out in my recent
work that focuses on the differences
in proportions over time. The
representation is confined and flows
nicely as the eye travels through the
piece.
Itookinspirationfromearlyadaptations
of the United States flag where the stars
formed a circular pattern instead of the
modern box cluster. As the wording
in the original fact used fractions with
uncommon denominators, I used
simple mathematical logic to reduce
these to percentages. I was then able
to achieve an effective way to present
the numbers so that the observer could
interpret them more quickly and easily.
The decision to have the highlighted
stars flow in a clockwise direction is to
separate the two figures and still allow
the design to flow.
The typeface used was selected due to
it’s stately and official appearance. The
capitalised nature of this font bears a
strong resemblance to monuments
located around Washington D.C and
other governmental emblems.
I used the colours of the United States
flag due to relevance to the fact. The
two figures were placed in different
coloured sections to differentiate
between the two figures, but keep the
common theme through the highly
recognisable red, white and blue
colour scheme. This choice helped
tie the design together in a concise
manner.
In 1966,
U.S. citizens
that trusted their
Government was 66%
Today,
that number
is only 20%
13. L
CA SF T
UJ TS
L
T EH
2322
“Number of emergency
room admissions for
fireworks-related injuries
in 1983: 8,278
Number of these injuries
that resulted in the loss
of fingers: 126”
Harper’s ; Jul 1, 1984; Vol. 269
(1610)
As the original fact information was
from 1984, I deemed it appropriate to
work with more relevant information
but still keep the same theme. Through
some research, I discovered a report
regarding the reported injuries due to
fireworks in 2014.
The scales of size and colour were
designed to relate to each other.
The scale of colours was created by
generating a specialised palette for
this design through using blends and
defining each step in the transition. I
selected the appropriate colours in the
scale depending on their value. This is
to show a visible difference between
larger gaps in percentage and only
slight between closer values.
The minimalistic human figure helps
the observer visualise the areas that
are injured most frequently, whilst
not distracting from the data being
displayed. The coloured areas relate
back to the circled percentages and
their size relation to each other.
The strong, bold typeface was selected
to alert the observer, and draw their
attention to the information. This
representation, due to it’s nature, takes
on a sense of caution and warning, and
shows that these injuries do happen,
and can affect the victims in a variety
of physical ways. Inspiration for this
design was taken from warning posters
that are located in hospitals and
doctor’s surgeries displaying easy to
interpret statistics regarding a variety
of health risks.
BREAKDOWN
OF REPORTED
FIREWORKS
RELATED
INJURIES IN
THE U.S.A.
IN 2014
