Visual Essay

Original

 

For my visual essay I chose to reconstruct the instructions of how to toast a pop-tart.  It took me forever to finally decide which image I was going to use to edit.  I wasn't sure if I wanted to simplify an idea or make a simple graphic more complex.  I chose to make a simple visual more complex.  With the instruction that are typically on the side of a pop-tart box, which is three or four simple steps, I turned it into a more visual, step-by-step graphic.  Instead of just showing the picture of the pop-tarts in the toaster, I showed more words and steps with more graphics of what the process should look like. 

With the old graphic I thought that it was very plain and simple and wouldn't be very easy for a child or person using the product who didn't know how to read.  When I made my new model, I used more color and representations of actual materials that one would find in their kitchen.  I also used the actual pop-tart label and pictures of pop-tarts so that a user would actually know what the pastry looked like.  The main reason I redid this particular graphic was because I wanted the graphics and the written instructions to correspond and relate.

In my first reiteration of the instructional diagram I originally drew it by hand.  Then I decided that maybe it would be better if it wasn't a cartoon because a user would more clearly recognize such materials.  It was also easier to incorporate the actual colors used in the products.