Case Study: Flora and Fauna of the Mojave Desert

Personal Passion Project in Design and Research

A series of five educational posters was designed around the subject of flora and fauna of the Mojave Desert. Each poster features a species of vegetation or wildlife, with photography, written research, and design original to this project. The project was intended to function as an environmental awareness tool to engage and inspire others about the native Mojave Desert ecosystem.

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Design Problem

Stage 1

Stage 1: Design Problem

As a recent member of the local chapter of the Audubon society, my interest and observations of local desert wildlife increased shortly before beginning this project. However, not being a native Californian myself, my lack of knowledge of the local wildlife spurred my curiosity. This project was designed to serve as an educational tool for future new members of the chapter, like myself, and could be easily displayed in meeting places to pique the interest of others. This project has three components—photography, written research, and design. My goals for the project included providing a series of five posters as educational aids for flora and fauna of the Mojave Desert. An auxiliary (and more personal) goal was to discover, photograph, and learn more about the plants and animals native to my region of the country. From a design perspective, I endeavored to engage others through effective visual presentation and communication in a unique and interesting style that would promote environmental awareness of the Mojave ecosystem.

Stage 2: Photography

The photography would consist of raw images, captured specifically for this project and be edited using an Adobe Camera Raw and Photoshop workflow. The photography would be central to the project and would conform to industry-standard digital photographic processes.

Stage 3: Research

The textural information would consist of original writing that would be the result of research into the flora and fauna featured in the photographs. It would be arranged in a way that provides information but does not distract from the imagery.

Stage 4: Design

The design would be photography-driven, but would also incorporate geometric shapes or text set into each picture to make the graphics appear to be part of the natural layering and depth of the image. The final layout and text was completed in InDesign.

Stage 5: Outcome Presentation

The final designs are photography-driven, but also incorporate geometric shapes into each picture to make the graphics appear to be part of the natural layering and depth of the image. The compositing was performed in Photoshop with the final layout and text completed in InDesign.

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