THE GREAT WINTER SLUMBER
The Great Winter Slumber: North American Grizzly Bear Torpor
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STORY
The North American grizzly bear enters a state of sleep for close to half a year each year, known as torpor. Despite spending over half of their lives in this state, torpor remains one of the least studied behaviors due to its elusive nature and the invasive nature of its study. For this reason, many people have difficulty envisioning what this process looks like.
The purpose of this project was to design and create a zoo poster display describing the events of grizzly bear torpor to a general public audience, including children, parents, and other zoo-attendees. The greater purpose of this infographic was to encourage the audience to partake in bear conservation by being respectful and responsible in bear country.
Audience: General public, zoo attendees
Software: Photoshop, Illustrator, Procreate
Format: Poster
Client: Dr. Jodie Jenkinson, University of Toronto
Key Skills: visual storytelling, science communication for the general public, scientific research, user-centered design, thumbnailing, illustration, writing
DETAILS
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PRE-PRODUCTION
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TOPIC & AUDIENCE RESEARCH
I began this project with thorough research into the topic of bear torpor and research into creating visual stories for public audiences. Moreover, I conducted a media audit to determine shared attributes of effective zoo graphics. Part of my research included learning about designing exhibits for zoos and writing with the intention of garnering support for conservation efforts. From this research, I distilled a list of key takeaways that would inform my writing and illustrations for this project. Some of these takeaways included using a conversational tone, using short and definitive sentences, limiting jargon, and creating a call for action with easy-to-achieve steps for the audience to carry away.
STORY IDEATION
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Following my research, I began the process of distilling this information into a cohesive story by mind-mapping out the key ideas I wanted to convey in this illustration. This included the stages of bear torpor, the various seasons involved in it, and a greater story about bear conservation and the effects of human activity and climate change on bear survival. I used the mind map to help me create hierarchy in this information as well.
THUMBNAILING
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I then created a series of thumbnails to quickly test out various layouts. The layout I eventually settled on is illustrated above. This layout centered around the bears in torpor, and described the journey of preparation for and emergence from torpor from left to right.
PRODUCTION
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COMPREHENSIVE SKETCH
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After settling on a layout, I proceeded to develop a comprehensive sketch, which included the graphic’s text as well as a general colour scheme.
RENDERING
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I rendered this final illustration using Procreate and Photoshop. I continued to iterate on the layout for ease of reading.