Information Design — Project 1

30.01.2023—05.03.2023 (Week 4—Week 8)
Rachel Madeline Purwanto / 0356994
Information Design / Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media
Project 1 — Instructable Poster & Video Infographic 

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❥INSTRUCTIONS 

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❥TASK 

For this first project, we were instructed to study one video from Pasta Grannies and chunk the preparation and cooking process into an instructable poster. We were ensured to try and capture each Grandma's personality and unique dish identity in the poster as a part of the narrative structure. The task at hand requires us to transmit a set of instructions and educate the audience while simplifying its context and representing the information graphically. 

Requirements 

- Practical : illustration software, animation software consisting of graph/charts/diagrams and animation principles

- Theoretical : information type, device, principles (LATCH), aesthetics 

Fig 1.1 Chosen video from Pasta Grannies

1. INSTRUCTABLE POSTER 

After choosing the video, I decided to note down all the steps and the ingredients. 

Steps for cooking the Raku

1. Chop up and fry the onions

2. Cut the pork and pork skin and put them into the pot

3. add the passata and salt in the saucepan

Steps for cooking the Macarruna 

1. Prepare 300ml of semolina flour

2. Crack 2 eggs and add it onto the dough and pour 150ml of tepid water onto the flour

3. Roll the dough to 1cm thick and spread olive oil

4. Fold it in half and slice it into rectangular slices 

5. Use metal rods to roll the dough

6.Boil them in salted water for 3 minutes

Last step : Put the maccaruna and add the raku and dress the macarruna with peocorino cheese.

Ingredients for Raku 

- Onions

- 600g of pork

- 600g of passata

- Salt

Ingredients for Macarruna

- 2 eggs

- 150 ml of tepid water

- 300ml of semolina flour

- Olive oil

- Ferro metal rods

Once I noted down the recipe and ingredients, I proceeded to make a rough draft of the layout of the design. After designing the layout of the first draft, I realized that the steps of the raku and macarruna were a bit jumbled up so I decided to redesign it in a different layout and separated the steps for the raku and macarruna.

Fig 1.2 Draft 1 for Instructable Poster

Fig 1.3 Final Draft

2. INSTRUCTABLE VIDEO 

Before proceeding with the animation on after effects, I decided to vectorize the visual elements needed for the necessary steps and ingredients. For the animation of kneading the dough, to make the animation simpler I decided to make it frame by frame, like how a stop motion is made, thus I vectorized 4 different frames of the dough being kneaded. 

Fig 2.1 First draft of vectorized elements of hands kneading dough

I then separated the elements for different scenes in different layers.

Fig 2.2 First draft of vectorized ingredients 

Fig 2.3 More vectorized ingredients

I imported the vectorized elements on After Effects. Most of the elements are animated using scale, position, and opacity keyframes. Transitions between scenes also use the shape tool with position and scale keyframes. To make the animation smoother, I made most of the animations with the bounce effect and easy eased them which was learnt in an exercise during class to achieve the animation of the bounce effect.

For the text, I wanted to try something new and something that I learnt from animating the Kinetic Typography. I used the wiggle expression effect and added a code in to animate the text to make it float in.

Fig 2.4 Progress of animating the text

I also decided to try something new by using the shape tool and the wave warp effect to create a wavy effect for the boiling water. I experimented with the settings and the keyframes to make the wavy water settle down as it reaches the top of the screen.

Fig 2.5 Progress of animating the wavy water

Fig 2.6 Final Outcome of Instructable Video

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❥REFLECTION  

Through this project, I learnt how to utilize basic design principles as well as chunking process to make the animation and the poster. I experimented with new effects and tools such as the wave warp and the wiggle expression to create a smooth animation. Creating this animation also drastically improved my skills and my knowledge on After Effects. Unfortunately, due to the time constraints I did not manage to achieve the outcome I expected for the poster since I focused more on the animation but overall I am still satisfied with how it turned out.