Flying insects
This project is about structuring complex information by creating a transmedia narrative: The most interesting aspects of flying insects are presented differently in an app, a magazine and on a poster.
Contributions:
- Transmedia concept
- Editorial design
- UX/UI design
1. Concept & Narrative
Topics like camouflage, social – almost human – patterns of bees or the ability of the stag beetle to carry 850 times its own weight open up promising possibilities for information design.
Potentially over 90% of the animal life forms on earth are insects.
Erwin, Terry L. Biodiversity at its utmost: Tropical Forest Beetles (1997)
Bees? Camouflage? Beetles?
Three other students (Dimitra Konstantinidou, Stephanie Roller, Stefan Weimeier) and I reduced the extensive insect topic to the development of wings and thus to flying insects. This allowed us to deal with the topic in the necessary depth.
The Red Thread
The taxonomy (first double page) forms the concept’s red thread and introduces the topic in each of our three chosen media: app, magazine and poster. It gives an overview over the various orders of flying insects.
Creating a Flat Plan
To determine the magazine’s content, we developed a flat plan. While some content was important for every medium, we had to define which content to use for magazine, app or poster exclusively.
Series of Magazines
Our idea was to present the eight orders of flying insects in one magazine each. In order to show the general development of wings and similarities of all eight, we decided to design a general ninth magazine as an example for the narrative.
Benefits of the App
To compare insects from two different orders with each other and learn more about their similarities and differences, we wanted to enable the user to swipe through different insects representing the orders.
The prototype on the left shows the idea’s functionality: a split screen with two sides that can be slided against one another in order to directly compare the insects.
2. Visual Language
Evolutionary theories of the wing, different wing veinings that serve to divide the insects into species, and the wings‘ functionality were of particular interest to us.
To show and explain details, the insects‘ wings had to be visualised in a very filigree way.
For the taxonomy’s design in magazine and app, we compared a variety of forms and colour schemes.
The illustrations of insect orders were given a certain degree of iconicity to secure recognition even when presented in a smaller size.
3. Drafts & Iterations
In different variations, we structured the information on the poster to see which structure and hierarchy work best and came to the conclusion that showing one of the flying insects‘ representatives in detail would be much more interesting than giving a general overview.
Therefore, we decided for the stag beetle to be this representative and to use it as a reference in the app, too.
The next step was to develop a storyboard for the app to see which transitions we would need from one screen to the next.
4. Outcome
Magazine Design
The general magazine contains the topics taxonomy, evolution, wing theories, metamorphosis, wing structure and flight movement.
Some pages include additional facts, for instance about the respiratory system.
Poster Design
The poster serves as an example for a series of eight, each matching one of the magazines.
App Design
Users start by choosing one of the flying insect orders to learn more about – in this case – the order of beetles.
They receive details about the stag beetle’s habitat, life cycle and wing folding and can switch between male and female insect.
5. Lessons Learned
Communications is Key
Being a group of four designers, we had to coordinate who takes over which tasks in order to avoid that something is done twice. Knowing what the others in the team are currently working on and regularly exchanging information about the state of work formed the basis for our workflow.
Different Media, Different Approaches
During the concept phase of the three different media’s narratives, it was revealed once again: Each medium (magazine, poster and app) needs the appropriate approach in order to be used in the best possible way.