Daryl Pung Xi Ern (0333743) Information Design Final Project INSTRUCTIONS
PROJECT 1 For our first project we have to create an infographic in an A3 format of a recipe of our choice. It was a little hard for me to choose a recipe as some of them can be too complicated to convey in an infographic, I eventually opted to make an omurice (Japanese omelette rice). I initially wanted a omurice recipe where the egg could be sliced open in half and melt on the rice, but I couldn't find any specific recipe for this technique. However, I did find a recipe where the egg is creamy and fluffy, which is my favorite way of cooking omurice.
I didn't want to go for the typical infographic style with the solid vectors. I tried something a little different and I wanted a more traditional, almost painted style. This was because I found a few Japanese recipe designs that are drawn using watercolor or some other painting method. It's also a way to subtly show the Japanese influence and culture through my recipe.
Fig 1.1 Meat inspiration
Fig 1.2 Colors inspiration
Fig 1.3 Layout inspiration
Fig 1.4 Japanese style inspiration
I quickly got to work with the sketches. Since there were a lot of steps in the original recipe I decided to condense it to fit into the infographic, and to make space for other visual elements.
Fig 1.5 Sketches
I decided to go with the 2nd design with a few minor changes. Ms Anis was fine with me going the painted route, but she was slightly concerned that my style wouldn't be similar to the examples I showed her. Taking that into consideration, I looked at a few tutorials and did a closer inspection on how to blend colors to make it more realistic.
Fig 1.6 Omurice digital painting
It was a little hard at first, but I slowly got the hang of it. One important thing that I had to keep in mind was to be patient. The process of building colors and blending them together can be tedious, but the outcome was quite satisfying.
Fig 1.7 Raw chicken painting
Fig 1.8 Ingredients set 1
Fig 1.9 Ingredients set 2
Fig 1.10 Omurice 1st set of steps
Fig 1.11 Omurice 2nd set of steps
After I finished drawing all the ingredients and steps, I went on to combine all of it into a A3 layout. I realised that my drawings were a little too big so I struggled with resizing everything to fit the space. I had to change a few things around with my original idea, for example, the plate of omurice had to be relocated to the bottom of the page instead of the top. I decided to reserve the whole upper part of the poster just for ingredients. I added some bamboos in the background to give it a more Japanese feel.
Fig 1.12 Ingredients at the top section of the layout
Fig 1.13 Plate of omurice relocated to the bottom
The final result of my infographic:
Fig 1.14 Final Omurice recipe infographic
The next part of the assignment was to create a infographic animation that lasts for about 60 seconds. I wasn't very familiar with after effects, so I quickly went on youtube to learn the very basics. Once I got a hang of it, I went to work.
