Tag: Illustrator

  • Algorithmia White Paper

    Algorithmia White Paper

    Problem

    Algorithmia’s marketing team had a collection of technical content they wanted to share, but they needed a way to make it visually engaging and easier to understand. The challenge was to compile the content into a series of technical white papers, designing graphics that clarified complex concepts while staying true to their established brand.

    Process

    I began by diving into the content provided by their marketing team, identifying the key ideas that would benefit from visual explanation. From there, I developed concepts for diagrams and illustrations that could simplify the messaging without losing accuracy.

    [Images of sketches from Algo. marked with yellow stickies. Show next to final graphics]

    Sketch of the Machine Learning Lifecycle, and finalized graphic prepared for publication.

    Throughout the process, I worked within Algorithmia’s brand guidelines, collaborating with their marketing manager to make sure every design aligned with their color palette, typography, and overall tone.

    Algorithmia’s brand color palette (above) and the type palette. Headings, captions, initials, table text, and chart/graphic labels are set in Nunito Sans; body text is set in Georgia.

    Solution

    The final deliverables were a cohesive series of technical whitepapers supported by custom graphics that highlighted the core concepts. Each visual was designed to reinforce the text and guide readers through technical material more smoothly.

    Result

    The project gave Algorithmia a set of high-quality, brand-consistent whitepapers that not only looked polished but also made their content more approachable for their highly technical target audience.

    Click the thumbnails below to view at larger size.

  • Selective Sovereignty

    Selective Sovereignty

    Most people in the United States are familiar on some level with the existence of Native American and American Indian tribal entities, and to some extent the history of Native American/United States relations over the past several hundred years.

    However, there are a great many people who are unaware of the process by which over 560 tribal entities have gained federal acknowledgement of their sovereignty. Indeed, many people in the U.S. don’t know that Native American tribes with recognition are considered to have a country-to-country relationship with the United States government… that those tribes are sovereign nations in and of themselves.

    Furthermore, there are many people who don’t know that next to these federally acknowledged sovereign tribal entities, there are even more non-acknowledged tribal entities who do not have the visibility or benefits conferred by federal acknowledgement. They are not entitled to funds from the U.S. government targeted at bolstering dedicated tribal education and healthcare services; they do not receive the benefit of land reserved for that tribe. The federal government does not consider them sovereign entities.

    This project was the perfect combination of my interest in mapmaking, data visualization, and the social issue facing hundreds of tribes across the U.S. By delving into research surrounding the process and history of federal recognition, as well as the numbers and locations of many non-acknowledged groups, I was able to create a high-level view of the Pacific Coast and the locations of 114 different tribal groups which are currently not acknowledged by the Federal Government. Some of these groups—including the Dxw’Dəw?Abš (Duwamish) Tribe which is local to me here in Seattle—have received recognition, which was then rescinded. These tribes and many others continue to fight lengthy legal battles in order to gain that recognition.

    The map was created in Adobe InDesign using shorelines from data provided by OpenStreetMap, with additional elements from the USGS HydroSHEDS project. Listing of non-acknowledged tribes was based on research by Troy Johnson, Cal State, Long Beach, with geographic locations estimated by searching for registered addresses of each entity.

    Detail of entity listing.
    Detail of Puget Sound region.
    Detail of Southern California region.
    Detail of infographic map.

    Details

    Selective Sovereignty—American Tribal Entities of the Pacific Coast without Federal Recognition

    • W 18in x H 24in
    • Built using QGIS, Adobe Illustrator, and Adobe InDesign.
    • Original version, 2017; last updated 2023.