Illustrated icons for the Urban Institute's report on the state of public schools versus charter schools in a particular neighborhood in Washington, DC. The icons serve as visual intros to each of the report's sections, with the designs based on the main theme and driving metrics of each section. Designed for presentation to Congress, the figures are kept racially and ethnically neutral, hence the lack of facial and other anatomical features. The colors and fonts are borrowed from the non-profit's branding guidelines, with yellow serving to emphasise postive and beneficial metrics, grey for negative and detrimental metrics, and blue as the overall thematic and binding color.
Two-generation effect that poverty has on families, focused particularly on female single parent-led households.
Long distances traveled to school by youth living in a particular neighborhood of Washington, D.C.'s Ward 7.
Usage and non-usage of local neighborhood schools by residents and non-residents.
Comparison of students perception of school cleanliness and resources between local charter and public schools.
Increase and decrease of parental involvement in their children's education as the child gets older.
Decrease in parental involvment with their children's school as the child gets older.
Parental education status.
Comparison of neighborhood owner-occupancy rates and renter-occupancy rates compared to the rest of the city.
Food insecurity; cheaper, unhealthier food is available nearby, while healthier - and pricier - food is located further away from the neighborhood.
Perception of school safety by location within the school, and by subgroup.
Perception of neighborhood safety.
Residential perceptions of the neighborhood.
As an infographic and mapping illustrator, I enjoy creating buildings and elements in isometric view, while rendered people without too much deviation from the initial sketches, keeping a sense of movement and a human touch in order to liven up the digital vector landscape.
Earlier versions of the two-generation effect on childhood poverty illustration. Here, I explored color options, ranging from monochratic blue to full color, based on the branding colors. This version also had a developed background. Originally, I was going to use a generic wallet for the money, but since the emphasis was on female-led households, I researched, and then rendered a woman's purse-style wallet. I used the moth coming out of the empty wallet to represent poverty, while adding a little illustrated humor to strengthen the emotional response.
Early versions of the charter school versus public school comparitive illustration, and also the neighborhood school usage illustration. For the charter school, I had to do a stylized illustration of the actual charter school, while using the stack of books to represent student perception of instructional materials available in each school. For the neighborhood school usage illustration, you can see the exploration of using the branding colors to emphasis particular metrics. Both illustrations show the vector buildup, all based on extensive sketching to plan out the design, aesthetic, and eventual digital construction of each element.
Rough concept sketches from early on in the client-engagement process. For the illustration on the left, I got to use my mapping experience to render different wards of Washington, DC, and eventually the neighborhood outline. A lot of paper and pencil lead goes into these early concept sketches and doodles, and throughout the project in as well (as does quite a few cups of coffee!)
Initial concept sketches of the charter school versus public school perception comparitive illustration.
Initial concept sketches of the food insecurity illustration.
Big thanks to Brainstorm Creative for keeping the creative and visual element alive in Washington, D.C.
Thanks for viewing, and stay tuned for more projects to come...
Thanks for viewing, and stay tuned for more projects to come...
