Please visit the link below (copy and paste it into your Firefox browser) and press the play button to view my Visitor's Guide to Kruger National Park, created in Photoshop. This project was created before I was familiar with Indesign, which is a much more effective layout tool than Photoshop. If I were to re-do this Visitor's Guide, I would use all of the photos, which were taken by myself in South Africa in February 2011 with a Canon Rebel SLR and manipulated in Photoshop (usually for tones and contrast to increase the intensity of the colours), and create the book in Indesign, which would add a more professional feel to the overall appearance. While the project could definitely be improved, I still feel it showcases my ability to use digital photographic equipment, photoshop, and dreamweaver. Please note, the link will only work in a FireFox browser. It will not work in Safari.
A Visitor’s Guide to Kruger National Park
Renee Thomson
South Africa’s largest National Reserve, Kruger Park, is home to an impressive number of species: 336 trees, 49 fish, 34 amphibians, 114 reptiles, 507 birds and 147 mammals (Map Studio, 2003). To cater to its visitors, the park’s shops carry pamphlets identifying each species with a hand-drawn visual. These pamphlets are what Barthes calls “informational;” they communicate a message. My objective was to redesign this pamphlet using the images I took with the techniques provided by the Canon Rebel T1i manual and the Scavenger Hunt lab assignment while visiting the park. Within the photo book is a removable leaflet, titled “Table of Contents” that organizes animals by type and identifies which page to go to in the book to find more information and photographs; therefore, the intended use of the design is for visitors to keep track of their sightings and learn additional information about each animal while visiting the park. It also serves as a keepsake that visitor’s can treasure for a lifetime.
Each individual page is 11x8.5in. Most of the documents are created to represent two pages at 22x17in. If the book were to be printed, I would use 100lbs gloss cover pages without coating, and the inside pages would be printed on paper made in Africa from elephant dung, with perfect binding (Johnson & Prijatel, 2007). All images are original, taken in Kruger National park with a Canon Rebel T1i, with contrast and brightness adjustments done in Photoshop. The green colour accenting the black pages was chosen based on “Cedar” from Pantone’s fall 2011 fashion colour pallet (Pantone, 2011).
The design problem I am addressing in this project is the representation of small multiples, which Edward Tufte deals extensively with. Small multiples are thumbnail sized representations of multiple images displayed all at once, labeled and ordered by data not used in the single images themselves, which allows to reader to compare differences (Tufte, 1990). Tufte claims that
“At the heart of quantitative reasoning is a single question: Compared to what? Small multiple designs, multivariate and data bountiful, answer directly by visually enforcing comparisons of changes, of the differences among objects, of the scope of alternatives. For a wide range of problems in data presentation, small multiples are the best design solution.” (Tufte, 1990)
The thumbnail graphics used on the Table of Contents in my Visitor’s Guide depict comparisons and contrasts between each animal in the book. As Tuft says, “Clear and precise seeing becomes as one with clear and precise thinking.”
The images are organized on the Table of Contents by type. The mammals are organized according to their taxonomic order: Primates, Carnivora (Felis Catus and Canis Lupus), Herbivora (Proboscidea, Artiodactyla, and Perissodactyla), while the birds are organized by Birds of Prey (Vultures, Owls, and Eagles) and Birds (Hornbills, Rollers, Other). The remaining pictures are organized by vegetation and insects. This organizational scheme communicates meaning that doesn’t exist in the photos themselves, as well as provides a coherent context for the design idea. Within the photo book, the images are loosely ordered by type, with each species appearing near each other.
I also referred to Tufte’s principals of analytical design when creating this pamphlet, in order to convey the information as logically and systematically as possible. Comparison (between animals), causality, multivariate analysis, integration of evidence (words, numbers, images, diagrams, graphics, charts), and documentation (see bibliography for thorough references) are included in the design and played a large roll in the process of creation. I believe these design conventions, along with the conventions for small multiples, are highly effective in representing the data for this particular design. I believe I could have benefited from leaving more time to fit in the descriptions of each of the animals on the pages in a more uniform manner. Dealing with as many words as I had proved to be more difficult that originally thought.
I referred to different sources of information and inspiration for the design process of the Visitor’s Guide, other than Tufte’s principles of analytical design and small multiples, as well. The inspiration for the design came from Map Studio’s Official Visitor’s Guide to The Kruger National Park (Map Studio, 2003), which contains illustrations of each species in the park. I felt that photographs would communicate the information more effectively and accurately, as well as provide visitor’s with a sleeker looking keepsake than the original Map Studio book. Prior to starting the design, I did some research on the environmental history of South Africa by Jane Carruthers. The book I have created celebrates Kruger National park, and as Carruthers claims, “celebrating places is a way to negotiate African identity, pride, and vision and to take ownership of past, present, and future” (2006). Furthermore, she claims that current popular literature about Africa’s national parks and other protected areas continues to reflect an ideology of African inaction, inertia, and helplessness. I believe my design will not reflect these negative qualities, as it will be made by Africans and much of the information within it was provided by Africans (for example, the tour guide I had on my Safari imparted much of knowledge that I included in the writings). Carruthers also claims that “National parks … are instruments to enhance human economic development and to provide local, regional, and national services of many kinds” (2006) and I believe my book plays a role in this enhancement.
These readings encouraged me to focus my design away from notions of commerce and the cultural legacy of colonialism, as initially proposed. Social and cultural situations in Africa, such as poverty, lack of jobs, and racism encouraged me to think of ways that this visualization could give back to the community from which the animals come from. Many black South Africans feel the game parks are merely hobbies for affluent white tourists, and do not benefit the livelihood of the people who are the original residents of the territory. This influenced my decision to use elephant dung paper; on average an elephant will eat 200-250kg of food a day, which translates into 50kg of dung a day. 50 kg of dung can make 115 sheets of paper which is chlorine and bacteria free. Elephant dung is a waste product, which if left, creates more pollution, so turning it into paper has positive effects on the environment (Elephantdungpaper.com, 2009). Members of the community can be employed to make this paper, which will provide jobs.
Visual images and concepts can be used instrumentally to forge new consciousness. Poaching of animals is a reoccurring and detrimental problem in South Africa, and by socializing visitors to the animals and the culture through an informative photo book, it will hopefully teach them to advocate for these animals.
Resources
2009. Elephant Conservation Center: Elephant Dung Paper Facts. Retrieved from
http://www.elephantdungpaper.com/
2010. African Wildlife Foundation. Retrieved from http://www.awf.org/
Map Studio. (2003). The Official Visitor’s Guide to The Kruger National Park. South
Africa: New Holland Publishers Ltd.
Carruthers, J. ( 2006). Tracking in Game Trails: Looking Afresh at the Politics of
Environmental History in South Africa. Retrieved from http://envhis.oxfordjournals.org/
Johnson & Prijatel. (2007). The Magazine from Cover to Cover. New York: Oxford
University Press.
Pantone. (2011). Pantone Fashion Colour Report Fall 2011. Retrieved from
Shermer, M. (April 2005). The Feynman-Tufte Principle. Scientific AmericanVol. 292
Issue 4, p38-38.
Tufte, E. (1990). Envisioning Information. Graphics Press.
Tufte, E. (1983). Visual Display of Quantitative Information. Graphics Press.
Tufte. (n.d.). The Fundamental Principles of Analytical Design.
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