ABOUT ME On days that I don’t have a cup of coffee in my hand, my friends often ask “what’s wrong.” My collection of vinyl records has, according to my Dad, grown “slightly out of control,” and I have an original 1978 model of the Millenium Falcon that I would basically consider my most prized possession. My design process often includes what people have dubbed “starfishing” on the floor, a little bit of the Pina Colada Song and forgetting that I’ve had my earphones on the whole time that my music has been paused. My first love is the art of data visualization and data analysis. There is something about turning an endless spreadsheet of numbers and information into something readable and understandable that is incredibly satisfying. I’ve worked on projects ranging from magazine production to way finding design to corporation-wide style guides. I take my inspiration from whatever is around me I am passionate about what I do and I enjoy doing it every day.
WHAT IS INFORMATION DESIGN? “Information Design is the practice of presenting information in a way that fosters efficient and effective understanding of it. The term has come to be used specifically for graphic design for displaying information effectively, rather than just attractively or for artistic expression.” Now that my good friend, Wikipedia has broken the proverbial ice, Information Design means that I hardly ever do the same kind of thing twice. One day I could be designing acrylic signs for a solar powered house and the next I might be figuring out how to make a portfolio website work. This diversity fuels my creativity and my desire to exceed expectations on everything that I do. From usability testing, UX design, data visualization, graphic design, photography and sometimes even construction, Information Design encompasses it all. Although harder to explain than “graphic design,” or “web design,” Information Design is one of those things that I don’t mind explaining. I love what I do and I’m excited that I get to share it with you.
//INFO //READ //DESIGN
CONTENTS
02 WAX MAGAZINE 08 THE HIPPIES 10 REBEL OF THE EMPIRE 14 BOREALIS 22 PERSONAL IDENTITY 26 OCTOBERFEST 28 EDWARD T. HALL 30 CAKE MAGAZINE 35 ROB FORD 36 BEHIND THE WALL 40 EDUCATION 42 BOUNDLESS ENERGY 46 MRU EVENTS
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READ // W A X M A G A Z I N E
december
46 pages
//READ
WAX MAGAZINE My record collection has been slowly creeping out of my room for a couple of years now. From another Ikea shelf in the hallway and eventually my floor. I remember when the only records that I had were Def Leppard’s Hysteria, Led Zeppelin’s Houses of the Holy and Steve Miller Band’s Greatest Hits 1974-78. I also remember not even having a turntable to play them on. Vinyl has been a part of my life for a very long time, and I wanted to use my knowledge to create the magazine for “vinylphiles” of all ages. The feature story is on an incredible man and artist, Storm Thorgerson; from his lifelong partnership with Pink Floyd to a slightly infamous pyramid incident Inspiration for Wax came from many different places; the UK’s Classic Rock Magazine, the ubiquitous Rolling Stone and some classic rock and roll photography.
2014
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READ // W A X M A G A Z I N E
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READ // W A X M A G A Z I N E
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR It was a cold and rainy day and I found
It’s been almost 10 years since that ex-
Wax Magazine is for all of these nich-
myself in Victoria, B.C. I was 12 years
perience, and I still marvel in how much
es and more. It’s for vinylphiles by vi-
old visiting my grandmother for one of
it’s influenced my life since then. Being
nylphiles. It’s for the young enthusiast,
the first times on my own. We were walk-
involved in the record collecting com-
the nostalgia aficionado, the dealer
ing through Chinatown and took a de-
munity has introduced me to the most
and everyone else who appreciates the
tour through the infamous Fan Tan Al-
interesting and eccentric people, it’s
grooves and sometimes even the smell of
ley. A couple of months earlier, my Dad
helped me be closer to my Dad (here’s
the sleeve.
had taken me to a Def Leppard concert
to our “yearly” Recordland adventures),
and the songs, the majesty of their one-
and it’s also led me down some very in-
Wax contains articles and sections on all
armed drummer and the theatricality of
teresting alleyways (no pun intended).
components of records, their history and of course, record collecting. From turn-
the whole thing was still ringing in my ears. My grandmother and I passed The
Record collecting has changed in the 21st
table buying advice to a list of the 100
Turntable, a record store specializing in
century. No longer the primary means
greatest album covers of all time, Wax
rare and vintage vinyl. Out of the corner
of music procurement, the “vinylphile”
has the story.
of my eye, I could recognize the sharp,
community has branched out into differ-
angular letters of the Def Leppard logo
ent niches. You have the young enthusi-
So what are you waiting for? Put anoth-
so I forced my grandmother to come in
ast, a young man who hates being called
er one on the platter and enjoy the ride.
with me. I found Def Leppard’s Hyste-
a hipster and insists that the sound is
ria poking out from one of the rock and
better than an electronic download;
roll sections. I was, and still am a pretty
the nostalgia aficionado, a young wom-
impulsive person and my mother wasn’t
an with rockabilly hair who listens to
there to say “do you REALLY need that?”
Chuck Berry on a Saturday night; there
A couple minutes later, the album was
is also the dealer, a man who scours flee
in a blue plastic bag and we were on our
markets and thrift stores to find that
way down the street.
one album.
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INFO // T H E H I P P I E S
2015 24 x 36 inches march
//INFO
THE HIPPIES I have sort of a fascination for the sixties. The music, the hair, the people, it was all so very interesting. Not that I’m about to jump in a VW Wagon and travel down to Haight-Ashbury and live out my hippie fantasy though, unfortunately this is the 21st century and Chris Farley has already done that skit. This infographic is meant to be based off a book called The True Believer by Eric Hoffer. It’s a manual of sorts that describes mass movements and what makes them so attractive, in some cases attractive enough for people to give up their entire lives for a cause. The Hippies tracks the 1960s counterculture movement from it’s roots in Germany, to the political turmoil of the 1960s and the leaders who led a generation of flower-wearing, peace-loving, drug influenced youngsters.
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READ // R E B E L O F T H E E M P I R E
december 2014 155 pages 75 photographs
//READ
REBEL OF THE EMPIRE In 2011, I bought my first action figure, a 4� Stormtrooper, who I named Frank (technically he’s a Sandtrooper, I know, my sincerest apologies). Frank has been with me from California to Amsterdam, and like it says in the forward of the book, I really do not like getting my picture taken. The collection of photographs grew exponentially after I returned from a six month stint in Europe and I wanted to do something with them. For the same class as Wax Magazine, we were also tasked with creating a book on a topic of our choosing so I decided to curate the pictures I took and do a book on Frank and our adventures. Rebel of the Empire will hopefully continue to expand as I travel, so right now we could say that this is merely Volume 1.
AMSTERDAM
BERTCHESGADEN
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READ // R E B E L O F T H E E M P I R E
CROATIA
VIENNA
VENICE
MONTREUX
PHOTO: © JESUS MARTIN RUIZ
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PRINT // B O R E A L I S
january-october
21 signs 3 posters 2 banners 1 brochure 1 tshirt
//DESIGN
BOREALIS TEAM ALBERTA SOLAR DECATHLON 2013 In 2013, I was recruited by Team ALberta to join their Communications Team as an Information Designer for the Solar Decathlon held in Irvine, California. During the 10 months on the project as a Visual Communication Co-Lead, we developed materials such as signage, promotional materials, wayfinding, brochures and deliverables that were all expected by the U.S. Department of Energy. The largest undertaking was proabbly the design, construction an installation of the interior and exterior signage. We were faced with the task of not only making the system educational, but we also were in charge of deciding on mounting systems, sizes and the overall direction. Our system was informative to visitors from all over the world and it also managed to handle the tarmac and hot Californian sun. Borealis performed well in the competition, coming in 9th out of 19 teams.
2013
EAST SIDE SIGNAGE
WEST SIDE SIGNAGE
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PRINT // B O R E A L I S
EAST DECK SIGNAGE
SOUTH DECK SIGNAGE
WEST DECK SIGNAGE
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PRINT // B O R E A L I S
BROCHURE (FRONT)
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PRINT // B O R E A L I S
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DESIGN // P E R S O N A L I D E N T I T Y
february
1 identity
//DESIGN
PERSONAL IDENTITY It’s a designer’s worst nightmare, the conception of their personal identity. The word itself is sort of loaded, we’ve spent four years mastering our trade and now we are faced with designing something that is supposed to represent us. I’ve fooled around with the idea of my ‘logo’ for a long time, but the “S” and “L” seem to be nearly impossible to integrate without ending up with some kind of corrupted looking dollar sign. I was doodling “L” after “L” in my sketchbook and started to notice that they had a really elegant, geometric symmetry to them, and my logo was born. Much of my work tends to be colourful and energetic, so this black and white motif is slightly different. In the end though it makes it a slightly easier to pair with my other work.
2015
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DESIGN // P E R S O N A L I D E N T I T Y
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INFO // O K T O B E R F E S T
february
2013
11x17 inches
//INFO
OKTOBERFEST Technically I’ve only ever been in Germany for maybe a total of 12 hours. I’m always passing through, but I never do anything more except wait for a connecting flight or visit a salt mine that straddles the Austrian-German border. Bavarian culture is in my blood, my grandfater is second generation and my Mom has that certain German charm, I also of course enjoy a nice beer at the end of the day In partnership with an event at the Calgary Farmer’s Market, our class was tasked with creating infographics that had to do with food. I apparently use that term incredibly loosely. Often, people can rarely get past the beer fueled free-for-all that the festival seems to be, but it actually has quite the history and someone in fact did lose a Playboy Magazine on the Wiesn once.
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INFO // E D W A R D T . H A L L
march
2013
18x24 inches
//INFO
EDWARD T. HALL I’ve always enjoyed infographic based assignments. I think I’ve said this at some point, but I really enjoy turning bland information into something that is easy to understand and looks really really good. For this one in particular I wanted to figure out how circular data visualization worked. Over the course of the semester we had been reading The Dance of Life: The Other Dimension of Time by Edward T. Hall. I decided to make a infographic about his life with the inclusion of worldwide events to bring some kind of context to his work. The inner ring describes wars and conflicts while the outer two rings describe his life and academic accomplishments.
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READ // C A K E M A G A Z I N E
september
- december 2014
1 spread/arcticle
//READ
CAKE MAGAZINE As a fourth year group, one of our final projects was to develop, design, print and launch as full fledged magazine. This year our theme was Information Design, our mission: to celebrate Information Design - our passion for it, our journey with it, and the characteristics that make it a unique profession. I guess it really isn’t a suprise that I decided to write an article on the evolution of data visualization; from the beginnings as military charts and epidemic graphs, through it’s mainstream success as the keystones to many news and design sites. As the world becomes busier, louder and more saturated with information, sometimes infographics are the only way to get certain things across.
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READ // C A K E M A G A Z I N E
NEVER TELL ME THE ODDS, SHOW THEM TO ME data visualization is an invaluable tool in
21 st
century communi -
cation , but why does it work ? why does our brain crave the charts and graphs that we claim to hate ?
Imagine if you will, a farmer in 1786.
Fast forward a few decades and Apple ha
better term): “the whole is greater than
He cannot read. He knows what year it
introduced the Apple-1, the first graphic
the sum of its parts” holds that human’s
is and what crops he grows, but that’s
interfaced computer. Like the printing
perception of reality considers objects in
about it. Looking at the bar graph by
press, this also changed things forever.
their entirety and finds patterns within.
William Playfair, the reader can see
Data visualization wasn’t left behind in
that the farmer would know instinctive-
the shadows of hand-drawn and mea-
Another explanation comes from the Di-
ly what the relationships are between
sured diagrams. Anyone with computer
rector of Data Visualization Research
the blocks. This is the bar graph, a hall-
experience could create a graph.
Lab at the University of New Hamp-
mark of data visualization.
shire. Ware has described the simple Currently, all kinds of data visualiza-
building blocks of what the visualiza-
The practice continued to skyrocket in
tion are used to explain and give context
tion process is, called “preattentive at-
the 1800s with help from 18th century
to every kind of topic imaginable. Heat
tributes.” These attributes immediately
innovations like Gutenburg’s printing
maps tracking the spread of Ebola, in-
catch the audience’s eye perceived in
press. Every single form of statistical
teractive poll-tracking infographics on
less than 10 milliseconds. The attri-
graph that exists today was developed
elections, I’ve even seen infographics
butes include orientation, line length,
during this time; William Playfair’s pie
comparing Bronies to Trekkies.
line width, size, shape, curvature, added
chart, Dupin’s cartogram and of course
marks, enclosure, intensity, hue and 2-d
Florence Nightingale’s Rose Graph. In
So why does this work? Why has it
position. For this particular set of prin-
1869, we saw Charle’s Minard’s graphical
worked for hundreds and hundreds of
ciples, only position and length are use-
illustration of Napoleon’s disastrous cam-
years? It’s not a Jedi-mind trick and it
ful when understanding quantitative
paign against the Russian during 1812.
certainly isn’t any kind of wizardry. The
data while the other attributes are bet-
This also happens to be the graph that
answer is really quite simple, Neander-
ter for analyzing categorical or relation-
is used to explain to terrified freshmen
thal really. In a White Paper published
al data. A pie chart and a bar chart may
Communications students what informa-
in 2012, our vision is described as “the
portray the same data, it’s clearer in the
tion design and data visualization is.
most important faculty that humans
bar chart which is bigger as it relies on
use to communicate information.” We
the pre attentive attribute of length.
The advent of World War I and World
are actually hard-wired to analyze vi-
From these pre attentive attributes, our
War II meant a stalemate between data
sual information in a certain way. We
minds form what Ware describes as an-
visualization and innovations. Tradi-
are “pattern seeking creatures,” trying
alytical patterns. Without making this
tional graphs were used to narrate mili-
to find meaning in everything we see.
article sound overly technical, the ana-
tary exploits which meant that improve-
The most common example of this is
lytical patterns are the words formed by
ment in anything other than military
the existence of Gestalt principles. Ge-
the letters of pre attentive attributes.
power was deemed unnecessary and of
stalt psychology describes the world as a
The visual information that we take in
course, unaffordable.
global whole, which has self-organizing
is combined into patterns that we draw
tendencies. Their motto (for lack of a
the desired meaning from.
//33
INFO // R O B F O R D
november
2013
11x17 inches
//INFO
ROB FORD Our task was to create an infographic on a social issue. It just so happened that this assignment was during a certain mayor’s drug problem. I was being bombarded with stories about Rob Ford and his escapades and it isn’t very often that Canada becomes as scandalous, so I couldn’t pass up the chance. I didn’t just want to start at the crack confession, I wanted to start at the beginning of Rob Ford, with why he was even elected in the first place. I did this by implementing a timeline of his action on the side leading up to the most recent events. From there, I was able to extrapolate some data for the graphs on the scandal like how many allegations there were towards him, or how much Torontonians really like him now.
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READ // B E H I N D T H E W A L L
october
2013
5 spreads
//READ
BEHIND THE WALL The Wall by Pink Floyd is one of the best selling albums of all time (before digital downloads of course). And yet, audiences rarely go past the music and into the story of what is actually a main character’s epic rise and fall. For this spread, I wanted to bring attention to the story by bringing in the characters and introducing them by name. It is important to know the characters because then the songs and the whole album begin to make sense. When the characters are officially introduced in the third spread, I wanted to make them the overwhelming force on the page as well as reflect their role in the story. They sit atop a the wall all turned toward Pink, the majority of them with looks of dissaproval or making obscene gestures. The characters loom over the text, place on top like they are keeping watch over everything.
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INFO // E D U C A T I O N
october
2013
3 spreads
//INFO
EDUCATION Done in conjunction with a programming class, this infographic was meant to portray the differences in education according to gender across a few different countries.
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PRINT // B O U N D L E S S E N E R G Y
october
2013
3 invites
//DESIGN
BOUNDLESS ENERGY During this Typography class, we had just finished learning about the Post-Modern era of design and type. The invitations that we designed were meant to mimic this style in whichever way they could. Post-Modern design, much like the hair bands of the 80s, was known for being uncomfortably random and abstract. For my three iterations, I chose to base them off of phenonenons that played a part in shaping the 1980s; the Modern Age of Comic Books, the graphic user interface of computers and the end of the punk era.
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PRINT // B O U N D L E S S E N E R G Y
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PRINT // M R U E V E N T P O S T E R S
october
- november 2014
3 posters
//DESIGN
MRU EVENT POSTERS Through a partnership with some of the clubs on campus, I had the opportunity to design posters for events happening around campus.
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PRINT // M R U E V E N T P O S T E R S
THANK YOU MOM & DAD (AND ZACH)
THANK YOU BEN, GLENN, BRIAN, MILENA, RICHARD, GIL & PAT