My thesis is a publication about the harm of invasive plants. The format is a zine or small booklet that can be turned into a poster. This project aimed to inform the public about invasive plants and propose alternative native plants to use instead.
This publication was designed using Illustrator, Indesign, and a few other methods. The informative text was done in Indesin, and the plant illustrations in Illustrator. The text in the background was done by sending the paper through a printer multiple times. Of course, this was a new method for me that helped me broaden my skills and knowledge.
My thesis helped me learn how to design fast. This project helped me push my limits and see what I could complete quickly since I only had two weeks to complete it. Knowing my limits will be helpful knowledge for managing my workload in the future.
Thesis Process
Aside from my limited time frame, I could do whatever I wanted for my thesis. I chose to make a booklet or handout to educate the public about invasive plants. Since I had a rough idea of the subject and audience of my project, I started researching.
The primary focuses of my research were common invasive species and alternatives to invasive plants. I also did research to see what other organizations have done to educate the public about invasive plants. Furthermore, I learned that guilting my audience wouldn’t work to get them interested in my thesis.
Once I had completed my research, I started on the background of my thesis’s design. To begin, I made illustrations of the invasive and Native plants I decided to focus on.
For the text in the background, I used another process. I wrote the names of my chosen plants in a Word document in multiple formats and orientations. Then, I sent the paper through a printer numerous times, flipping it to ensure maximum randomness. This process gave me an interesting base for my design.
The next step in my design process was adding the informative text along with a few icons. To help ground my text, I used the scientific name of my plant to line the left of the text vertically. In addition to the common name, this gave the text a solid upper left edge to ground it.
Once I had finished the design, I printed and folded it into a booklet.
