Jules Goreing
My skills as a graphic designer are focused around data visualisation and editorial design. These skills also aided me in creating brochures, documents and proposals within the defence industry during my placement year.
My skills as a graphic designer are focused around data visualisation and editorial design. These skills also aided me in creating brochures, documents and proposals within the defence industry during my placement year.
The goal of this project is to rejuvenate the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) magazine which ended in 2007. This project presents an excellent opportunity to combine data visualisations with informative text, enhancing the readability and impact of the content. By incorporating data visualisations, I aimed to create compelling visuals that capture the viewer’s attention, complemented by modern design elements to ensure clarity and comprehension.
Rationale for the project
Creating Awareness – 2023 was mainly focused on the events taking place in Ukraine and Gaza. However, across Africa there are devastating conflicts taking place, thousands of people are dying from civil wars, militia crossfire, and targeted civilian attacks. The projects key focus is to highlight the extreme number of events that breed an inevitable environment in which high fatality numbers are common.
Making data easy to understand – The data used for this project comes from the same spreadsheet which has been provided by The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED). The data provides incredible detail about individual events and allows me to transform the emotional lacking statistics which have a restricted capability in delivering complex information.
Providing truthful and informative context – Within the dataset, ACLED has provided information about the events that have taken place. This includes the location, event type, aggressor, fatalities, etc. Some of the events that have taken place are disturbing. However, ensuring that the text tells the truth is important, instead of masking the event details, this ensures that the book is much more informative and accurate.
Armed Forces Reserves Campagin
Rationale for the project
Lack of knowledge about the reserves and the purpose they serve – As someone interested in the possibility of joining the Armed Forces Reserves, I found it difficult to find clear and precise information about the different aspects of the Reserves. I found myself searching through different websites to build up and accurate picture about what life is like when in the Reserves. I wanted to compile all the information available into one easy to understand document that will talk about the different aspects of the Reserves. Furthermore, through talking to my peers about this project, I discovered that the existence of the Reserves was unknown to some people which is what led me to consider how an ‘update’ to the current Reserves recruitment campaigns was necessary to make people aware that could be interested.
Pursuing a sense of military life does not mean giving up your current life – During a recent poll, Britons agreed that there is a very high level of respect for those that join the Military and sacrife a lot in order to protect the UK and its interests. However, with this idea of sacrafice, people may believe that any life involving the military means constantly being on the move at home and abroad and a sense of settling down is uncommon. However, being a reservist allows you to take one step through the door, but remain firmly planted where you are in your life, gaining the experience one might get when join the military full-time, but completing this in your spare time. This was one of the key elements to this project that I need to get across successfully.
Current reserve recruitment campaigns lack the right creative direction – The final reason I felt this project was important was because of the current state of UK Armed Forces Reserves recruitment campaigns. Firstly, there are very few campaigns that directly target those who may be interested in joining the Reserves, the focus is mainly on regulars. Secondly, when the campaign is solely for the reserves, there is a lack of design designated for highlighting information and providing a true sense of excitement around the possibility of joining the Reserves.
As well as creating a brochure which provides all the information which is scattered across different service branch websites, this project presented me with the opportunity to create a quick, 1-minute kinetic typography animation which could be used on social platforms such as YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram. Lastly, a series of posters to help boost the excitement and adventure of joining the Reserves was created.
This project is dedicated to conveying information through data visualisation, shedding light on the profound impact of the war in Afghanistan, reaching beyond those on either side. It’s essential to clarify that the information presented does not take a stance on the justification of the war. Instead, the project’s purpose is to bring into focus the heart-wrenching loss of life experienced by all parties involved and to bring to light the often unspoken, deeply traumatic consequences.
