Brief
The objective of this project is was to redesign the icons for the 15 principles of permaculture design. Then, create an infographic poster utilizing the icons in a visually engaging manner. This redesign was intended to recenter these icons around a theme of choice, in my case making a cake.
Role
Research, Illustration, Visual Design
Tools
Illustrator
Client
School Project
Cake as Permaculture
Viewing the process of baking a cake through the lense of permaculture feels natural when considering the inherent connection between food and the earth. This is multiplied by the fact that cake specifically, is a very versatile food that can take an endless number of forms. For example, because of the versatility of cake, there are many opportunities to incorporate home or locally grown ingredients that promote the use of renewable resources and waste reduction. Additionally, when baking a cake, one must pay careful attention to the ratios of ingredients and steps in the process to ensure a successful product.
Infographic Poster
My approach to the poster was to give it a very lively a dynamic feel. This was a big factor in my choice of typeface as I felt that it conveyed the handmade nature of cake making. I also explored how the primary graphic that represents several of the 15 principles of permaculture split the poster into natural sections.
I used this to group together related icons.
I used this to group together related icons.
Icons
After working on sketches for the icons, I quickly decided to combine several of the principles into one larger illustration. I feel that this allowed me to more clearly and effectively highlight the part of that cake that relates to a particular principle rather than trying to jam a lot of detail into individual icons. I think that this was the right decision as having one main illustration allowed me to create a more interesting composition for the final poster.
Research
My research mainly focused on visual elements and styles associated with cake as well as infographic layout inspiration. During my sketching process I sketched out any many ideas as possible for each principle. To decide on the final icons,
I eliminated any overlapping ideas and then considered how sets of icons could be grouped together through a unifying theme.
I eliminated any overlapping ideas and then considered how sets of icons could be grouped together through a unifying theme.
Image bottom left: These are the icons from permacultureprinciples.com that I was tasked with redesigning.
