AAD Assignment 2- Post 3, Illustration and product development

 So I can't really draw.

I made a digital sketches in Procreate and two pencil sketches (only 1 pencil sketch attached).

The concept was to show two people using caution around hazards and then reporting it, warn people from doing hazardous activities, and a hand and foot. The hand was not used. The foot is designed to be used to demonstrate a hazardous activity. 

For backgrounds I had two photos that I took years ago. While both were in North Africa, the colouring in these could be altered to show different environments as there is both ground and vegetation present.

So I struggled with the sketches, finally I decided to try the Generate Vectors function in Illustrator 2025. This produced very happy people with no legs, but it was a something I could work with. I changed the faces to be more serious, and added legs. I applied the Generate Vectors to my foot and it produced a nice bright beach sandal that just needed a colour adjustment. With these assets in hand I set about altering the background of pictures and adding generic graphics in the form of mines and rocks, highlighting the hazards present in the photos, and a chicken that met an unfortunate end. I also incorporated traffic signs as regionally understood symbols.

Musings and lessons learned.

The production of the end product was fairly straight forward. I discovered, that in addition to glue, the vinyl backing does not take toner on the shiny side.

Overall I'm pleased with them. I now understand how difficult this project would be to implement on a worldwide basis. Having an illustrator or graphic artist on staff is not high on the priority list of most de-mining companies. Larger organizations like GICHD have the resources to have someone who can do that, probably in addition to another job. I believe the UN has a publishing section in Geneva, maybe GICDH leverages them (https://www.ungeneva.org/en/meetings-events/official-meetings/organizers/member-states/coordination/publishing).

A larger challenge than publishing material would be building the database of images. A dedicated illustrator and graphic design would probably take around year to do this. This would be after identifying the regions, sub-regions, and ethnic groups that would be depicted. Then a database structure would be needed to hold the info. I think you get the idea, not even considering the political (corporate and governmental) hurdles to overcome.

I think this was a success, I had to make a concession on not using logos; I decided they were key identifier to the users of educational material and consumers of food. They help build trust. I still believe a lack of type helps communication as the product can be understood by more people.

From a skill set development view, I do get better every time I sketch. I just have to find time. Discovering the Generate Vector function was interesting, I can see its use, but am still a bit uncomfortable using it. A necessary evil that may prompt more practice. A fun assignment.