An exploration of the scientific process of dopamine in the body in context to drug addiction. Both pamphlet and poster is designed to communicate with everyday people and distill information in a unique format.

Duration

April - May 2018

Tools

Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, Invision

In modern society, the conversation of addiction is prevalent in a private sphere; as a community we develop opinions on this disease without considering the scientific aspect of its frequent reoccurrence in our society. This information design assignment was to pick a topic, find statistical evidence and design infographics to explain what you found in different forms.

For this particular assignment, research was key therefore I analyzed Statistics Canada, scholarly journals and foundations built around the research of addiction. My research resulted in my curiosity in developing a visual system to communicate the science behind dopamine. The data was extremely dense and difficult to follow without aids, how could information be presented in an engaging way without dissuading the public to read it? 

After I accumulated my data, there was a larger issue that needed to be addressed before the  beginning of the designing process. The target audience was for the public, but due to the compact nature of the information, it could be hard to read and understand. If the designs aren’t friendly or engaging enough, the average person wouldn’t be compelled to observe the pamphlet.

My goal was to create a piece of work that was informative but exciting to see; the imagery are dominate so the viewer can understand general information based on the graphics alone. The text is condensed down and easy to read, including pronunciations of different anatomical parts of the brain.

Designing a poster based on hope was essential to this project, it is meant to encourage and inspire the viewer to desire change in our practices against addiction and the potential future of dopamine research can bring to our modern society. The images are bright and dynamic; the concept was: If we pursue dopamine research, we’ll be building up people, preventing lives lost and inspiring a new generation of scientific research.

In addition to a pamphlet and poster, developing a digital platform for this information allowed a larger distribution of this project’s research. The tablet version has more details than the paper formats allowing for better depth and understanding of this concept.