Earthartifact by Klaudia Cios

Earth Artifact project

Klaudia Cios 1

Original Earth Artifact Golden Record

The original material on the Golden Record - Earth Artifact was very unemotional, what at some point became a bit scary. The reason it was like this was, because it has been made by a scientists, who only included there things connected to science. The record was full of scientific equasions, which wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be understanded by ordinary people; but also a pictures explaining what the life on the earth looks like. Most of my group didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t really liked the video, because its parts was either too scientific, so no one could understand; or too obvious. Overall I think that the Golden Record needed some emotions in there, so in my Earth Arifact I am going to include some important for our planet thinkg, but also some emotional staff, because it would improve my project, but also because emotions are part of being human so I think it should be included.

My Ideas for Earth Artifact

I had lost of ideas of what to do my earth artifact about, however at the early stage of my mind-map, most of my ideas were quite similar to the ones on the original earthartifact- such as human body build and tdevelopment; parts of earth nature; and our architecture. the group disscussion week after the annouced brief helped me to imprve my mind map and look at other important aspects of our earth life. Since then I also looked at some things that might lead to the earthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s end - such as polution, population growth or global warming.

Info Graphics ideas research

I have never produced a info graphic before and did not really know how are they supposed to be looking like, so I have decided I will start of with some research...

concluding ideas

Now I needed to choose the best ideas from my mind-map, as I would not be able to do them all, and there was few of them I did not like. I decided to do a graphic infos about pollution, population growth, archtecture, global warming and humans.

what will i need to create my graphic infos?

To create my graphics infos I will need some key facts and statistics about my ideas and the ideas their visualizations.

Research about my idead

As I was searching for the facts and statistics, I decided to revise my ideas to only 3 graphic infos.

My graphic infos visualisation ideas

My first idea was to make an earth full of people, and make out of them a pie chart, by changing the colour of their shirts, and use this as a way of delivering an information. However I did not like this idea after making the visualisation, as after making the earth full of people, it does not look like an earth anymore, but as a circle, because there are no wisible continets; and if I put the people only on the continents and if I then change their shirt colours, it would not give the same effect as it would not be a full circle and the statiscticsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; visualisation would be in the worse quality.

more visualisations...

Another visualization for the population growth was to make an earth full of people (but this time peple would be only on the continents); and one person would mark out as it would have a different shirt colour than the others. He would be showing his sadness because of not having enough place. There would be also a message saying one of the statystics about population grwoth underneath of the image or at the speech cloud, comming from the marking out person.

More visualisations...

The next visualisation is about global warming and ice melting. In this info graphic I tried to show what happens when we does not care about our planet and dump the rubish wherever we can. It causes the ice melting, what can destroy the earth because of too much water. To make this information more emotional for the viewer I decided to show a trapped animal on the broken ice, drifting in the sea. I think this visualisation is quite emotional, because people react worse on the hurting animals in the movies than on the hurting humans.

and more visualisations...

Another idea for the global warming, by partly also on the water polution, is an earth drowning in the water coused by global warming and the rubish we - people produced. At the bottlom of the image would be a statistic fitting to the image.

and more visualisations...

The next visualisation is about water polution. I decided to show how the huge industries are pouring the toxic waste to the lakes, rivers and seas just to not pay for the extermination of them; what kills the water-animals leaving in those waters. At the bottom of the image would be a suitable statistic quote.

decision of connecting few graphic into one

After one of the morning workshop I have decided it might be a good idea to connect all the 5 visualisations into one - like in the â&#x20AC;&#x153;body partsâ&#x20AC;? info graphic from my research. I have also made a plan of how this one big graphic would be looking like...

And some more visualizations...

I though it might be a good idea to add some visualisations about human emotions to my graphic ideas; and the first thing I though would symbolise the most of the happiness and love emotion, was a mother holding her newborn son on the arms for the first time.

and some more visualisations...

If I was doing a graphic info about a good emotions, I also had to do one about a bad emotions such as sadness, so I though about something opposite of borning a child - funeral...

Experimentations...

I have firstly decided to test out how my population growth idea with earth full of people would look like. I have made an earth and then a symbols of people, and made the earth full of them. The next part would be to put some quote about population growth, however I did not like how this design turned out, so I though it might be a good idea to do this design in 3-D.

Before I could create a 3-D sphere, I had to design a rectangular texture for my earth. I also decided it might be a better idea to sybolize the population differently than by making lots of people, because it did not look effective enough, and it would be hard to fit them to the 3-D earth, so I decided to do my rectangular texture from the circles at different radiour, to explore the population in different parts of the world. I put the circles around the continents- I used map for to make sure they creating some kind of image of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s continents, and when I finished, I just deleted the map layer. I also made some bigger circles and put some statistics inside, telling the population of some of the countries.

Making 3-d earth

I have created the sphere and then covered it with the texture I previously made, however it turned out that the texture I have created might be better as a 2-D graphic, as it was impossible to position the earth so there would be more than one statistic wisible, and in 3-D it did not as sharp and effective as before. I have still added some statistics at the left just to see how it lays down, however I am not sattisfied with it, and I think it looks better in 2-D...

Making graphic out of texture...

I have texted the texture against diffrent background colours, and chosen th light gray, as I decided it brings out the made of circles continents, and makes them very eye-catching. Then I have added a single, statistic quote at the right bottom side of the graphic. I used a very dark gray, but not black colour for the text, as it makes it fitting well, and not disturbing the graphic itself- it makes the suplement of the whole. Now we just need to compare those two versions...

comparing 2-d and 3-d designs

The 3-D version has more quotes on it, and the font I have used makes it look quite serious. I also like the effect of bright white text on the dark blue background. I also like the shadows I have created on the sphere, as it creates a nice affect with the background colours. However this texture doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t really fit this design, as the statistics and the teture itself is not visible enough. I also think that the texture is quite modern and sharp, and the sphere does not makes it as effective as it is designed to be, and in the matter of things it destroys it.

I like in this version that it is very sharp and modern graphic. I also like the colour mix, as it is also the part of the reason why the graphic looks so modern and sharp; however the use of coulour are also making it very eye-catching. It looks a bit simple, and I have a feeling that itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s missing out something, but after a deeper reflection I think this might be the thing that makes it very effective. I decided the 2-D version is much better than the 3-D one.

Water polution design...

I have made simple drawings, representing the cycle of what we do as a humans, and what we cause because of our acts. The drawings reprezent industrial waste, dumping garbage to the ocean, dying water animals, earth sinking in the garbage, creation of ozone hole and ice meltings. I have decided to use a dark, gray background kto add sadness and seriousity to the image. I am going to play around with some additional effects to the image, however not too much as I am trying to keep this graphic simple as the problem is itself. I am also going to play around with the arrows from one thing to another, however I keep in mind the pocibility of leaving the image without any arrows; and place to put the information in - I am thinking of putting them on the top of each thing, or on the top of the arrows.

experimentations with effects...

To find out which effect is the most appropriate to my graphic, I have tested it on all of them and screenshott the ones that I liked, to be able to compare them afterwards, and choose the best one, or just decide not to use any of them. 1. When I was previewing this effect, I have considered it as a quite interesting one. I pertacullarly liked how the water looks like in it, as itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s probably the most important thing in this graphic. However when I know comparing it with the other effects I also liked, I think this effect makes this graphic look much worse and it makes it unreadable, so I will definitelly not use it. 2. I like the way this effect adds a black outlines - it makes the graphic a lot sharper, and at the same time it keeps the simplicity of it. The black outlines make this graphic also bolder and more eye-catching. I will definitelly considerthis effect as I think it brings out the best of this graphic.

And more experiments...

3. This effect makes the colours a lot brighter and eye catching. I like the way water looks in it, however I think this effect makes this image too bright and it would be fine if not the purpose of this graphic. It is not a happy image, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s supposed to be showing the sadness and serious of the situation, so this effect definitelly does not fit to this graphic and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s purpose. 4. This effect on the other hand makes the image a bite darker but also smudges it a little and I do not like this as it makes it unclear. I only like how the background looks with this effect, so I might just use it on the background.

and more experiments...

5. I really liked this effect because it made my graphic loook so simple and at the same time, it used the very calming colours. I really like the mix of the colour used in this effect as they fitting each other very well. As much as I love this effect, I don’t think I will use it, as it makes my image unclear and many things are unnoticable in it. 6. This is an interesting effect as it makes my image guite simple with the grannite, however at the same time I’m not sure if it isn’t also disturbing the graphic, so I don’t think I will use it. I think that the 2nd effect was the best so far, however I am thinking about mixing some effects together, because there was few effects that I really liked, but there was always something that was bad about it, so I could not use it.

Arrows testing

This arrow is made out of tripple, very consistant lines. It looks very sharp, what makes it look very modern. The sharpness is the thing that makes it look good, however I am not sure if it’s not too sharp, so it might be too eye catching.

This arrow is made from much bolder brush, however unlikely as previous arrow, this one is made of one very bold line instead of few thin ones, linking together. I used a lower opacity in this arrow. I think this arrow completely doesn’t fit my graphic as it’s too bold.

I decided I wanted to do the arrows with the brush toll, as the big part of the whole graphic, so it fits the whole composition. The only thing was that I didn’t know which type of brush to use, so I used few of them and the best ones I have put together to compare them. I used the same background colour as I did in my graphic, and the one of the shades of blue, that I used in water, so the arrows won’t get the whole attention from the whole image, as they not important part of it. Using those colours helped me with deciding wchich arrow to use...

This arrow is something inbetween of first two arrows, as it’s made out of three lines as the first one, however is not as sharp as the firstone, and lines are more bold, and more smudged. I think it’s the best arrow so far, as it’s not too eye-catching, but also not too bold and smudged.

This arrow is a connection of the first and the thord arrow, it’s head is quite sharp but not too much, and the end of it is kind of smudges what makes it look, like it’s fading from the move, and I really like kthis effect. If I use arrows in my graphic, it will be this one.

testing the arrow in the graphic...

The graphic is already shown with the effects I have decided to use. Now I have added the chosen arrows - in the firstone the arrows are added to the eddited already graphic, so they just as they were at the testing, in second screenshot the arrows are added before the graphic is being editted, so the effest are applied to them as well, andthe third screenshot is the option without arrows. 1. The arrows are quite smooth and not as eye-catching as the rest of the graphic, however the difference between them and the rest of image might make them more important than they really are, and get more attention than I want them to get. 2. The arrows also has the black outlines as the rest of the image, it makes them as eye-catching as the rest of the image, but at the same time, they fitt there more. 3. The omage is without arrows. In the images with arrows, I wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t quite suer if they fitt there at all, however when I see this graphic without any arrows, it seems to be quite empty. CONCLUSION: I think mI will use the graphic with arrows, as the graphic without them looks quite empty, and the arrows aret the thing that makes it look more like an infographic, as it makes those illustration look more like a cycle. I think I will use the arrows without effects applied, as they seem to be less eye-catching. I might also lower their opacity to put them more to the back.

Adding information...

Information I am going to add...

1. 80% of water pollution in seas and oceans comes from land based activities. 2. 14 million pounds of grabage are dumpt into the ocean every year. 3. Over 1 million of seabirds and water animals are killed by pollution every year. 4. Every year, Americans throw away enough paper and plastic cups, forks, and spoons to circle the equator 300 times. 5. Unchecked, the depletion of atmospheric ozone will eventually affect all life on the surface of the earth. 6. Consequencess of global warming include drought, severe hurricans, massive fires, and ice melting of the pollar caps.

I have added white text to my graphic so itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s clear to read. It is a bit eye- catching, however not too much, as itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s only an extension of my graphic. I have chosen a very simple font for it, as the graphic is simple itself, and that way it fitts it. I have also made the text quite small however big enought for being able to read it. The text is small so it fits tha small spaces, however also, because itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not the most important thing in this graphic, so this way I put it more at the back. I have possitionet it dependly which side of graphic it was - when it was a right side of it I have aligned it to right; when at the centre, I have aligned it to the centre; and when it was at left side of the graphic, I have aligned it to the left. This was a very simple design, and I fell like this short pieces of text are filling in all the blanks.

Developing Happiness Graphic...

The first thing I thought of when I was thinking about the first time the mother holds her newborn baby in her arms. I wanted to make my graphic simple as the previous one. In the simple drawings I tried to express her happiness, but at the same time tiredness after the labour, so I wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t trying to make this image very impressive; and now when I look at it I am not pleased with it at all, however Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll try to make it better with adding some effects to it, as it really helped the previous graphic.

experimenting for improvements...

I have tried different effects to make this image better. When I was drawing it, I didn’t want the woman to be beautiful, as the woman after labour is too tired to be beautiful, however I just couldn’t stand this image. 1. This effect makes the image a bit darker and smudged. This effect makes the image look a bit better however it’s still not what I am looking for. 2. This effect smodges the image a bit, but at the same time makes it brighter and less crea, what also doesn’t help. 3. This effect makes this image look weird, but at the same time, I don’t think of this image asugly anymore, just as weird, and much better than the others. What I also like about this effect is that, in some kind of very weird way it makes this ugly woman look very happy, and that was all I was aiming for, so I think I might try to work on this image a bit before giving up on it completelly.

Experimentations, experimentations...

First thing I did after adding this effect, was changing the colour of the outline from cold blue, to very warm orange, as this graphic was supposed to be expressing happines, and I need to express that in every possible way- even with colours, as this is very strong thing. Then I have created another layer where I have created a big, orange rectangle, which has covered the whole space, and the turned its opacity down to be able to see the image - that warmed up the graphic even more.

1. I have changed the type of fill of the rectangle, to the linear, to see how it works- I am quite pleased with the effect, as the graphic is not as flat as before. 2. I have also decided to try the radious fill, just to compare the effect and decide which was better. I think radious fill works out also quite good, however I think that the linear look better. 3. As I have chosen which fill looks better, now I can play around with the opacity of the reactangle, just to see how it works. I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t make the opacity much higher as it was destroying this innocent effect, however I think this little change made a significant difference. At the end just adding some facts and statictic to our image, maybe not facts as itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s nothing scientific, however itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just the way it is.

developing sadness graphic...

The first thing what I thought about when I thought about sadness was a opposite of happiness, so I thought about a funeral, but to make it even more sad I have drew a little boy, who doesn;t want to say goodbye to his mother, when he stands over her grave with his father. I have decided to not to draw this image in details, how I did in my sketches, but more as a profile side of the image in shadows. I think it was a good call, as it doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t need the face expression details, or any detail in fact to understand the situation in this graphic. To make those two people and the grave to stand out even more, I have used a smudge tool to smudge everything else, so the boy with his father and the grave catch all of the attention. However I also think that this smudge effec, especially on the tree, it make it look like the tree cries, what also improves the sadness effect.

Experimenting for Improvements...

To make this graphic even sadder, I have added a grey rectangle at the top of the previous layer and lowered its opacity so we can see the graphic but in darker and sadder option. I have also made the fill linear, so I could control where the darker side of the graphic will be. I wanted to make the background of the boy with his father a little bit brighter, so theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re more visible and eye-catching. I have also tested a different options of opacity, just to be able to compare the darker and brighter option of the graphic. The brighter option is a bit clearer, however the darker option brings out the sadnes of the graphic and the situation on it, so I will use the darker option.

experimentations, experimentations...

To make this graphic more effective I have decided to add to it some filters, but before I did that, I have tested all of them and brang out the best options to compare them. 1. This filter doesn’t really do much however I have considered it as an interesting because it made a brush smudges which made it look a bit like it’s raining what would bring out the sadness even more, however I don’t think this effect does enough to this graphic for me to use it. 2. This filter gives an effect like we’d look on this image throught the wet window, as it smudges the graphic a bit. It would give the effect of the rain, however I think it actually would destroy the graphic.

3. This filter gives the nice smudge effect to my graphic, however it also makes it much brighter, what I don’t like. I could obviously make it darker affter applying the filter, however I don’t think I will use it anyway. 4. As I couldn’t find any acceptable filter when applied it to both layers at the same time, so I have decided to apply it only to the layer with the graphic, and then it might be looking better. This filter makes my graphic really bold and nice, so I might probably use it , if it’ll look good with the rectangle layer.

5. This filter gives the nice pastel effect to my graphic. It also makes it very dark, however after seeing it with the rectangle layer it might be a bit brighter. I will definitely consider this filter to my graphic, if it lays out alright with the second layer. 6. This filter smudges my graphic a little bit and makes it brighter as well. The clouds look very well in it, however theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not the most important part of this graphic, so I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think I will use it.

Last corrections...

At the end I have play around with the opacity of the rectangle agains, as the effect of the filter wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t fully noticable, so I decided to turn the opacity down, to make it more visible however it became too bright now, so I think I need to play around with contrast and sharpness and the up the opacity again, so itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not too bright.

adding some text...

I have added some text in, so it will informing people not only visually. I have used a very simple font again, as itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a very simple matter and it also needs to fitt to the rest of my graphics. Instead of using white colour as I was planning at the begining, l made it a bit grey so it wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t stand out as much.

The Final Graphics...