j u an va a m o nde
who are we?
MAJOR PROJECT TASK 6
EXPL O R I N G AUSTR A L I A N ID E N T I T Y
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w h o a re we?
I N T RO D U C T I O N Who are we? A simple question perhaps, but certainly not a simple answer. Ours is a nation in a state of flux, religiously, linguistically and culturally. As a direct result, the people of Australia struggle to form a comprehensive identity which truly represents us all. This stems from the fact that there still exists remnants of the previous Australian identity, one of entirely Anglo-Saxon origin, which of course is no longer relevant in its original state. There still exists a notion that to be Australian, you must be of Anglo-Saxon origin, which explicitly alienates those who are not, which comprise an increasingly larger portion of Australian society. As the memories of an Anglo dominated Australia recede into the past, and an Australia which recognises and acknowledges its culturally diversity erupts into the light of day, we see tension and issues arising. I believe we can break this process down into, firstly a lack of education, which causes ignorance, which in turn leaves room for the festering of racist and negative attitudes. With this project I aim to use the power of visual communication to present relevant facts and anecdotal evidence to create a book on the state of Australia today. Do you have to be an Australian citizen? Do you have to be born here? Or can you be considered Australian just by loving it and feeling like an Aussie? I want this book to enlighten and educate those who would like to know more about our multicultural nation and thus help them form a better picture of who we are.
“CAN YOU BE CONSIDERED AUSTRALIAN BY JUST LOVING IT & FEELING LIKE AN AUSSIE?�
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H OW W I L L YO U D E V E L O P T H E PROJECT L I T E R AT UR E R E VI E W
In order to convey a wholesome view of Australian people, I thought that having information graphics and interviews within the one book would be an excellent way of providing two alternate methods of viewing and interpreting the state of our society. The information graphics shall be perfect for communicating complex and simple facts and data in a concise and powerful manner, catering to visual learners. On the other hand, a collection of questionnaires shall be given out to a sample of Australian people and the results shall be presented in word form, with a photo of the participant to allow the reader to connect a face with the text. These questionnaires will give a more emotional and personal insight into the lives of 21st century Australians. I think presenting the viewer with the qualitative and quantitative is an effective way of providing a wholesome view of a topic. It learners of different types to connect, and it puts faces and feelings to sometimes statistics. The statistics for the information graphics shall be collected from such sources as the latest online issue of ABS Australian Social Trends, the Sydney Social Atlas and the Australian Institute. These sources are comprehensive, detailed and the result of professional data collection. There would be no point to creating an information graphic on unreliable information. I shall trawl through their extensive archives, looking for data that is relevant to my project. Relevant would be defined as being related to one or more of the following topics: religion, racism, language, country of origin and other connected areas. These topics form the basis of the issues Australia is dealing with at the moment, the idea of differences between people hinder the development of a unified nation. But in highlighting similarities, celebrating differences and revealing truths I can hopefully educate.
A D esi g n er ’s r es e arch m an ual , Gr ap h i c s Secondary Res e arch
p r es en ta ti on .
B OOK & P R I NT I NG RESEARCH D i f fer en t app r o aches to p r i n ti n g an d b o o k d esi g n .
P r i m ar y Res e arch
FORMATIVE RESEARCH
DATA COLLECT I NG
Q UE ST I ONNAIRE
>Go through
> Take p h oto
archi ves of r e l i-
of p ar ti c ip an t P OSS I B L E Q UE ST I ON S
abl e s tatis ti c s sources for r e l-
>W her e wer e
evant s tatis ti c s
you b or n? >D o you fe e l
to the proj ec t .
to en h an ce the ab il i ty for a r e ad er to con n ec t wi th
Aus tr al i an?
thei r s tor y.
>W h a t do es i t m e an
> P r ovi d e qu es-
to b e Aus tr al i an?
ti on s th a t p r o-
>Have you ever FINDINGS SO FA R
en coun ter e d r ac i s m
>Indigenous si g ni fi c an ce
i n Aus tr al i a?
not significan t en ough .
>S h oul d Aus tr al i a
>Mapping hom op h o b i a i n Aus tr al i a .
b e a r ep ub l i c?
>Minori ty gr oup s tar g e t of vil i fi c a ti on .
W h y / W h y n ot ?
>Aus tralian s o c i al tr en d s .
vo ke th ough t an d p r o b e the p ar ti c ip an t ’s ex p er i en ces an d op i ni on s toward s r e levan t top i c s .
>Sydn ey soc i al a tl as . >Equali ty of opp or t uni ty i n Aus tr al i a . Con ten t
CREATIVE PROCESS
GR A P H CREAT I ON >Utilise the
P R I NT DE S I G N S >Wor k on s ke tch i n g an d
things l ear n e d
con cep ts for
from the li ter-
l a you t , ch o i ce
ary review to
Con ten t
of fon ts , l a y-
create effec ti ve
ou ts , d i f fer en t
inform a ti on
app r o aches
graph i c s .
to c r e a ti n g a p r i n te d b o o k .
FINAL PRODUCT
P UR P OS E > The fi n al p r o d u c t m us t ach i eve i ts go al of e d u c a ti n g th r ough the
P R I NT I NG > P r ofessi on al s tan d ard fi n al produc t is
us e of the tr u th i n
p r i n te d a t a
an or g ani s e d an d
qual i ty p r i n t
e f fi c i en t m an n er.
pl ace.
Str u c t ur e
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W H AT S P E C I F I C TASKS A R E N E E D E D & HOW WILL T H E Y B E AC H I EVED >INFORMATION GRA P HI C S For the quantitative section of the book, information graphics need to be designed from data found on topics relevant to the subject of the book. First I must search through the archives of reliable sources for relevant data, and then once I have found some that I believe strongly relate to my book’s purpose, I shall proceed to create clear and effective information graphics that fit in with the overall aesthetic of my book. I have gone through several pages of the Australian Institute’s archives
design principles in my design decision making, hopefully resulting in quality graphics that would make William Playfair proud. A decent amount of detail and actually interesting content is vitally important if they are to truly connect with the book, in other words the graphics have to speak the truth, speak it well, and speak a truth that matters to the reader. Two great examples of this can be seen firstly in figure 1, which utilises a simple colour palette, sans serif text and a distinct visual hierarchy to achieve its goal of effectively communicating
and yet retaining a certain style can be seen in figure 2. An example of a cosmograph from Willard C. Brinton’s “Graphic Presentation.” It was create from one thousand strips of actual paper. > Q UE ST I ONN A I R E For the qualitative section of the book, I was originally going to use interviews to engage with participants that represented a sample of the Australian population. After some thought I came to the conclusion that since that would require interaction between myself and the test subject, it may perhaps become
already and it is obvious that there is a wealth of relevant data out there within those sources. Finding the data is one thing, creating information graphics that communicate clearly and effectively is quite another. I must admit I am not as knowledgeable or practised in the area of information design as I would like, but through the extensive studying of my recently purchased “The Information Design Handbook,” by U.S. graphic designers Jenn and Ken Visocky O’Grady and the magnificent book “Graphic Presentation” by Willard C.Brinton which I literally came across five minutes ago, I aim to adhere to practical information
the global consumption of goods. The entire graphic is centered around a literally and yet simplified global map, with certain countries displaying their statistics. By not choosing to display too many countries the designer has left himself room to organise elements in a balanced and harmonious manner. The graphic also states its source for statistics, something which must always be included to maintain absolute transparency and minimise the chance of errors or inaccuracy. And the second example of an information graphics that communicates efficiently and effectively using minimal elements
difficult to carry out if my participants lived at a great distance, if they or myself were too occupied or purely because they do not know me too well. I have decided to utilise questionnaires for the qualitative section instead. This does not require that I am present for the actual responding, which I believe is a more feasible approach considering my time-intensive semester at university. For the photo of the participant I shall try to take photos of participants myself, but I shall use participants own photos when appropriate. In week 3 as indicated in my timeline I shall begin to organise a list of people I think are suitable for the questionnaire due to ethnic or religious beliefs. I would like an even spread of people, for example a protestant Anglo, a Lebanese Muslim and Hindu Indian and so on. I shall provide open ended questions to allow the participant to really express themselves. Another advantage over the interview is that the participant is given time to think and therefore responds with more thought. I believe I shall be able to cover many demographics with people I already know, but I will need to ask for friends and family of people I know to participate as well. For the results of my questionnaire to be useful, I must first give the participants
Fi gur e 1 > http://awesom e.good.is/transp arency/014/014-buying -wh o s - b u y i n g -wh a t . h tm l
appropriate questions. I mentioned earlier the main topics which I intend this project to grapple with, religion, language, ethnicity, racism and so on. Open ended questions that I think could be used in my questionnaire include: Where were you born and does it have a special significance for you ? What
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languages do you speak and what do they mean to you? Do you feel/consider yourself Australian and why or why not? Have you ever encountered racism or discrimination of any sort and if so, how? Should Australia become a Republic? Questions like these shall be the core of my questionnaire, I shall work through these over the next few weeks and ask for feedback from teachers and peers, slowly developing what I hope will be a thought provoking list of questions. >PRINT AND BOOK DE S I G N In the area of printing I am sorely lacking
incorporate some of these things into my book. I love tactile things, elements the human hand can interact with and feel. Another important thing to keep in mind is the impact on the environment, this affects a lot form my choice of paper, (considering how far the paper has travelled and whether it is from a plantation forest) to my choice of printer. It was during Design Research Training that sustainable design really grabbed me, and I would like to play my part, especially when it comes to my ma jor project. I believe everyone needs to do
tasks might need. Of course these are all approximates, and there shall be things I will be doing for the first time, or perhaps better put, doing for the first time while aiming to complete them at a high standard. I have worked on publications and dealt with professional printing before, but on the only large scale print project, in publications the printing was out of my hands. This shall be my first attempt at a professional print for my project for a while and I want to produce the best work possible. This timeline shall definitely help me organise that time
in knowledge, an in-depth literary review should be the antidote for my inexcusable affliction. Every graphic designers the deals with print media should naturally be keenly aware of the world that makes the works come to life. There are some great books at the library where I can start. At the moment I really only a basic knowledge of printing, and for a project like this I really have to get used to all the jargon. In terms of book design, I know even less to be honest. I know I want this book to stand out, I am inspired by the endless creativity shown by the designers at IDN and Spook mag and Slanted. I love their use of different textures, cut outs and print effects. I would love to
their bit and as designers we really set an example about the amazing creative possibilities of sustainably minded design. > T I ME L I NE Over the duration of the creation of my timeline, I roughed out my approach for the semester. Using the organisational style of the Gantt chart I immediately begin to see when I would be working on what task. Because comparisons can easily be made, I began to change my plan as I went along, relating to important factors such as the week break and the deadline. With these in mind, and the experience of working on components present in this project before, I was able to predict how much time some of the
effectively. At the end of the day, it is an organising tool, and it comes down to me whether it is used to its full potential or not. One thing can probably be seen, this timeline has a lot of overlapping tasks that relate to each other. This is because my working style in the creative process is very a much a process of links and relationships. I shall continue to read books and blogs relevant to a project throughout the duration of it, I will go from sketching ideas to a digital rough and back to sketching. My mind works in a very fluid manner, jumping from idea to hunch and back to reference from a book, and so my timeline reflects this fluid work ethic of mine.
“MY MIND WORKS IN AVERY FLUID MANNER� Fi gur e 2 > Graphic Presentation, Williard C.Brinton. Printed 1939.
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3 V I S UA L P RO C E S S E X A MPLES Essentially I haven’t done anything practical or creative in my project yet. The only things I have done is look up the Australian Institute for relevant statistics and read as much as I can about information design and statistics and scour the net and book stores for inspiration. Here is a complete list of the topics on which I have found statistics so far: >Attitudes to Nuclear Power >Australian social trends >Commuting in Australia >Equality of opportunity in Australia
> S L A NT ED A magazine and yet so much more. I came across this wondrous object (figure 3) in my local Borders. I immediately fainted as I realised how rare it was for a Borders to stock a magazine all about typography, let alone from Germany and let alone a magazine that is released quarterly and is mostly in German and French, Then I found out that Borders stocked 8 copies a year. So even though the price tag would have been a bit much for most, I knew the significance of the magazine I held in my
>How to give all Australians an equal start in life >Indigenous significance not significant enough >It’s life but certainly not as we want it >Mapping homophobia in Australia >Mapping loneliness in Australia >Minority groups target of vilification >Poorer boomers aren’t looking forward to retirement >Sydney social atlas >The attitudes of Australians to happiness >The repression of the bleeding hearts >The state of the Australian middle class >Who drives 4WDs? >1 INSIGNIFICANT DOT There is one idea I’ve had in my head for a while, since the Cronulla riots to be exact. Amongst all the fully sick aggression and arrogant southern crosses making trouble, I thought that perhaps an information graphic could sum up the stupidity and ignorance that had happened, and indeed is happening all over Australia. The idea that popped into my head was a timeline that would convey the message that is the arrival of the English and all the immigrants that followed up until present day, were placed on a timeline that included the presence of the Aborigines... the English AND all the other immigrants
hand and I skipped all the way home. A magazine that includes a mixture of graphic design and illustration, with gorgeous customised type and amazing print designs, Slanted does not wait for you to flick through its pages to amaze you. Its dust jacket, also impeccably designed, displays the theme of each quarterly issue and unravels into a poster. What it reveals beneath is one of the most beautiful cover designs of anything I have ever seen, granted I haven’t seen much. Topped with undulating soft card reminiscent of corrugated iron, the cover and back cover have custom type cut out. I am absolutely fixated and I haven’t even arrived at the first page. Now I know I won’t be able to achieve anything of the same order of magnitude, but to go in that sort of direction would be interesting. > W HO ’ S COM I NG TO U. S . A? I’ve been searching through information design related blogs and websites like FlowingData, Best Design Options and information aesthetics reading articles to help me form a grounding in today’s state of information design and to see if I could find some inspiration as well. On one of these blogs I found the graph in figure 4. Titled “Who is coming to America?” it tackles an issue that is very relevant to
would be the same insignificant dot. Now I think I have a great opportunity to bring that timeline to life. I might even make a T-shirt out of it. Although I haven’t gotten to sketching ideas for print layouts and information graphics, there are things that shall definitely influence me.
my project, immigration. It breaks down statistics of those going to the U.S. into the parts of the U.S. flag, it demonstrates a strong use of colour and form, and it’s highly legible and distinctive. It is a great example of the sort of information graphic I shall be aiming to create.
Fi gur e 3 > Sl an te d M ag az i n e, p r i n te d i n G er m any.
Fi gur e 4 > W h o ’s com i n g to A m er i c a?
“WHAT IT REVEALS BENEATH IS ONE OFTHE MOST BEAUTIFUL COVER DESIGNS”