Image Credit : Michael Kai
www.michaelkai.net
Project Overview
Melbourne Water’s waterways are home to a wonderful and diverse variety of life ranging from the iconic platypus, elusive frogs to the busy worlds of waterbugs.
The challenge was to involve schools and community groups in on-going programs monitoring water quality and life below the surface. It was a matter of developing visually engaging inspiration and practical guides without information overload. Nature would do the rest.
Project Commissioner
Project Creator
Team
Melbourne Water:
Tiana Preston, Priya Crawford-Wilson and James Frazer
GrowCreative:
Graphic Design/Illustration - Glen Rowbottom
Project Brief
GrowCreative was engaged by Melbourne Water to make educational information compelling and engaging.
The organisation initially wanted just one publication based on the platypus that would stimulate curiosity and maintain interest and enthusiasm over the long term. This grew into a series of publications with compact brochures unfolding to posters to cover frogs, waterbugs and platypus all within the Waterwatch program.
Community groups were encouraged to get involved protecting habitat and conducting surveys of frog populations, taking part in the Waterbug Census and being aware of the threats facing the platypus.
Project Innovation/Need
The audience starts in primary school with information pieces designed to allow the illustration to do most of the talking.
We developed vibrant infographics with a simplified illustration style that would work with this younger audience without talking down to older groups. Together with an existing colour palette we were able to infuse a level of storytelling and characterisation in our illustrations - kids love searching out details.
A key innovation developed by GrowCreative was creating an A5 brochure format that transformed into an A3 poster to dramatically extend the use of the material from weeks and months to years.
A more practical innovation for an environmentally conscious program was using Carbon Neutral paper (ecoStar uncoated) and printing via Waterless technology.
What started out as one publication has now expanded into four pieces and has become a standard format across the Waterwatch program.
Design Challenge
The bold illustration style was key to creating pieces that were engaging to all audiences from children to adults.
We wanted to maintain the initial enthusiasm and develop programs around the waterways for years to come.
The various projects each has a serious intent in protecting and maintaining habitat - but we wanted to search out the magic and diversity of the natural world to encourage children and community groups to take ownership and commit to understanding and protecting the natural environment.
Effectiveness
The value of GrowCreative working in partnership with the team at Melbourne Water really came to the fore here as the project expanded dramatically from the initial briefing.
What started as one publication for the platypus has grown into four pieces across the Waterwatch series - and has added value in creating an engaging format usable for years to come.
The material produced has been to key to boosting interest and involvement in the Melbourne Water Waterwatch program and helping the organisation to live up to its tagline - enhancing life and liveability.
The effectiveness of the programs have been overwhelming, with community members actively involved in monitoring water quality, waterbug activity and platypus and frog populations.
Since its release in late 2016, The Guide to Frog Friendly Habitat brochure/poster has been distributed to 31 community native nurseries and used as a resource by 7 local government wildlife gardening schemes. All brochure/posters in the series have been popular with community groups and schools, with over 10,000 hardcopies distributed to date, and numerous downloads of the digital version.
Graphic Design - Publication
This award celebrates creative and innovative design in the traditional or digital visual representation of ideas and messages. Consideration given to clarity of communication and the matching of information style to audience register.
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