Download - Sarah Lamoureux 2015 Portfolio
A B O U T M E
On days that I don’t have a cup of coffee in my hand, my friends often
ask “what’s wrong.” My collection of vinyl records has, according to
my Dad, grown “slightly out of control,” and I have an original 1978
model of the Millenium Falcon that I would basically consider my
most prized possession.
My design process often includes what people have dubbed “starfish-
ing” on the floor, a little bit of the Pina Colada Song and forgetting
that I’ve had my earphones on the whole time that my music has been
paused.
My first love is the art of data visualization and data analysis. There
is something about turning an endless spreadsheet of numbers and
information into something readable and understandable that is in-
credibly satisfying. I’ve worked on projects ranging from magazine
production to way finding design to corporation-wide style guides.
I take my inspiration from whatever is around me I am passionate
about what I do and I enjoy doing it every day.
W H A T I S I N F O R M A T I O N D E S I G N ?
“Information Design is the practice of presenting information in a way that fosters
efficient and effective understanding of it. The term has come to be used specifically
for graphic design for displaying information effectively, rather than just attractively
or for artistic expression.”
Now that my good friend, Wikipedia has broken the proverbial ice, Information De-
sign means that I hardly ever do the same kind of thing twice. One day I could be
designing acrylic signs for a solar powered house and the next I might be figuring
out how to make a portfolio website work. This diversity fuels my creativity and my
desire to exceed expectations on everything that I do.
From usability testing, UX design, data visualization, graphic design, photography
and sometimes even construction, Information Design encompasses it all.
Although harder to explain than “graphic design,” or “web design,” Information De-
sign is one of those things that I don’t mind explaining. I love what I do and I’m
excited that I get to share it with you.
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0 2 W A X M A G A Z I N E
0 8 T H E H I P P I E S
1 0 R E B E L O F T H E E M P I R E
1 4 B O R E A L I S
2 2 P E R S O N A L I D E N T I T Y
2 6 O C T O B E R F E S T
2 8 E D W A R D T . H A L L
3 0 C A K E M A G A Z I N E
3 5 R O B F O R D
3 6 B E H I N D T H E W A L L
4 0 E D U C A T I O N
4 2 B O U N D L E S S E N E R G Y
4 6 M R U E V E N T S
CONTENTS
//01
/ / R E A DW A X M A G A Z I N E
My record collection has been slowly creeping out of my room for
a couple of years now. From another Ikea shelf in the hallway and
eventually my floor. I remember when the only records that I had
were Def Leppard’s Hysteria, Led Zeppelin’s Houses of the Holy and
Steve Miller Band’s Greatest Hits 1974-78. I also remember not even
having a turntable to play them on.
Vinyl has been a part of my life for a very long time, and I wanted to
use my knowledge to create the magazine for “vinylphiles” of all ages.
The feature story is on an incredible man and artist, Storm Thorger-
son; from his lifelong partnership with Pink Floyd to a slightly infa-
mous pyramid incident
Inspiration for Wax came from many different places; the UK’s Clas-
sic Rock Magazine, the ubiquitous Rolling Stone and some classic
rock and roll photography.
READ // WAX MAGAZINE
december 201446 pages
//03
READ // WAX MAGAZINE
//05
// WAX MAGAZINE
READ // WAX MAGAZINE
It was a cold and rainy day and I found
myself in Victoria, B.C. I was 12 years
old visiting my grandmother for one of
the first times on my own. We were walk-
ing through Chinatown and took a de-
tour through the infamous Fan Tan Al-
ley. A couple of months earlier, my Dad
had taken me to a Def Leppard concert
and the songs, the majesty of their one-
armed drummer and the theatricality of
the whole thing was still ringing in my
ears. My grandmother and I passed The
Turntable, a record store specializing in
rare and vintage vinyl. Out of the corner
of my eye, I could recognize the sharp,
angular letters of the Def Leppard logo
so I forced my grandmother to come in
with me. I found Def Leppard’s Hyste-
ria poking out from one of the rock and
roll sections. I was, and still am a pretty
impulsive person and my mother wasn’t
there to say “do you REALLY need that?”
A couple minutes later, the album was
in a blue plastic bag and we were on our
way down the street.
It’s been almost 10 years since that ex-
perience, and I still marvel in how much
it’s influenced my life since then. Being
involved in the record collecting com-
munity has introduced me to the most
interesting and eccentric people, it’s
helped me be closer to my Dad (here’s
to our “yearly” Recordland adventures),
and it’s also led me down some very in-
teresting alleyways (no pun intended).
Record collecting has changed in the 21st
century. No longer the primary means
of music procurement, the “vinylphile”
community has branched out into differ-
ent niches. You have the young enthusi-
ast, a young man who hates being called
a hipster and insists that the sound is
better than an electronic download;
the nostalgia aficionado, a young wom-
an with rockabilly hair who listens to
Chuck Berry on a Saturday night; there
is also the dealer, a man who scours flee
markets and thrift stores to find that
one album.
Wax Magazine is for all of these nich-
es and more. It’s for vinylphiles by vi-
nylphiles. It’s for the young enthusiast,
the nostalgia aficionado, the dealer
and everyone else who appreciates the
grooves and sometimes even the smell of
the sleeve.
Wax contains articles and sections on all
components of records, their history and
of course, record collecting. From turn-
table buying advice to a list of the 100
greatest album covers of all time, Wax
has the story.
So what are you waiting for? Put anoth-
er one on the platter and enjoy the ride.
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
//07
/ / I N F OT H E H I P P I E S
I have sort of a fascination for the sixties. The music, the hair, the
people, it was all so very interesting. Not that I’m about to jump in a
VW Wagon and travel down to Haight-Ashbury and live out my hip-
pie fantasy though, unfortunately this is the 21st century and Chris
Farley has already done that skit.
This infographic is meant to be based off a book called The True Be-
liever by Eric Hoffer. It’s a manual of sorts that describes mass move-
ments and what makes them so attractive, in some cases attractive
enough for people to give up their entire lives for a cause.
The Hippies tracks the 1960s counterculture movement from it’s
roots in Germany, to the political turmoil of the 1960s and the leaders
who led a generation of flower-wearing, peace-loving, drug influenced
youngsters.
march 201524 x 36 inches
INFO // THE H IPP IES
//09
/ / R E A DREBEL OF THE EMPIRE
In 2011, I bought my first action figure, a 4” Stormtrooper, who I
named Frank (technically he’s a Sandtrooper, I know, my sincerest
apologies). Frank has been with me from California to Amsterdam,
and like it says in the forward of the book, I really do not like getting
my picture taken.
The collection of photographs grew exponentially after I returned
from a six month stint in Europe and I wanted to do something with
them. For the same class as Wax Magazine, we were also tasked with
creating a book on a topic of our choosing so I decided to curate the
pictures I took and do a book on Frank and our adventures.
Rebel of the Empire will hopefully continue to expand as I travel, so
right now we could say that this is merely Volume 1.
december 2014155 pages
75 photographs
READ // REBEL OF THE EMPIRE
//11
AMSTERDAM
BERTCHESGADEN
READ // REBEL OF THE EMPIRE
CROATIA VIENNA
VENICE MONTREUX
//13
PHOTO: © JESUS MARTIN RUIZ
PRINT // BOREALIS
/ / D E S I G NB O R E A L I S TEAM ALBERTA SOLAR DECATHLON 2013
In 2013, I was recruited by Team ALberta to join their Communica-
tions Team as an Information Designer for the Solar Decathlon held
in Irvine, California. During the 10 months on the project as a Visual
Communication Co-Lead, we developed materials such as signage,
promotional materials, wayfinding, brochures and deliverables that
were all expected by the U.S. Department of Energy.
The largest undertaking was proabbly the design, construction an in-
stallation of the interior and exterior signage. We were faced with the
task of not only making the system educational, but we also were in
charge of deciding on mounting systems, sizes and the overall direc-
tion.
Our system was informative to visitors from all over the world and it
also managed to handle the tarmac and hot Californian sun. Borealis
performed well in the competition, coming in 9th out of 19 teams.
january-october 201321 signs
3 posters
2 banners
1 brochure
1 tshirt
//15
EAST SIDE SIGNAGE
WEST SIDE SIGNAGE
PRINT // BOREALIS
EAST DECK SIGNAGE
WEST DECK SIGNAGE
SOUTH DECK SIGNAGE
//17
PRINT // BOREALIS
BROCHURE (FRONT)
//19
PRINT // BOREALIS
//21
/ / D E S I G NP E R S O N A L I D E N T I T Y
It’s a designer’s worst nightmare, the conception of their personal
identity. The word itself is sort of loaded, we’ve spent four years mas-
tering our trade and now we are faced with designing something that
is supposed to represent us.
I’ve fooled around with the idea of my ‘logo’ for a long time, but the
“S” and “L” seem to be nearly impossible to integrate without ending
up with some kind of corrupted looking dollar sign. I was doodling “L”
after “L” in my sketchbook and started to notice that they had a really
elegant, geometric symmetry to them, and my logo was born.
Much of my work tends to be colourful and energetic, so this black
and white motif is slightly different. In the end though it makes it a
slightly easier to pair with my other work.
february 20151 identity
DESIGN // PERSONAL IDENTITY
//23
DESIGN // PERSONAL IDENTITY
//25
/ / I N F OO K T O B E R F E S T
Technically I’ve only ever been in Germany for maybe a total of 12
hours. I’m always passing through, but I never do anything more ex-
cept wait for a connecting flight or visit a salt mine that straddles the
Austrian-German border.
Bavarian culture is in my blood, my grandfater is second generation
and my Mom has that certain German charm, I also of course enjoy a
nice beer at the end of the day
In partnership with an event at the Calgary Farmer’s Market, our
class was tasked with creating infographics that had to do with food.
I apparently use that term incredibly loosely.
Often, people can rarely get past the beer fueled free-for-all that the
festival seems to be, but it actually has quite the history and someone
in fact did lose a Playboy Magazine on the Wiesn once.
february 201311x17 inches
INFO // OKTOBERFEST
//27
/ / I N F OE D W A R D T . H A L L
I’ve always enjoyed infographic based assignments. I think I’ve said
this at some point, but I really enjoy turning bland information into
something that is easy to understand and looks really really good.
For this one in particular I wanted to figure out how circular data
visualization worked. Over the course of the semester we had been
reading The Dance of Life: The Other Dimension of Time by Edward
T. Hall. I decided to make a infographic about his life with the inclu-
sion of worldwide events to bring some kind of context to his work.
The inner ring describes wars and conflicts while the outer two rings
describe his life and academic accomplishments.
march 201318x24 inches
INFO // EDWARD T . HALL
//29
READ // CAKE MAGAZINE
/ / R E A DC A K E M A G A Z I N E
As a fourth year group, one of our final projects was to develop, de-
sign, print and launch as full fledged magazine. This year our theme
was Information Design, our mission: to celebrate Information Design
- our passion for it, our journey with it, and the characteristics that
make it a unique profession.
I guess it really isn’t a suprise that I decided to write an article on
the evolution of data visualization; from the beginnings as military
charts and epidemic graphs, through it’s mainstream success as
the keystones to many news and design sites. As the world becomes
busier, louder and more saturated with information, sometimes info-
graphics are the only way to get certain things across.
september - december 20141 spread/arcticle
//31
Imagine if you will, a farmer in 1786.
He cannot read. He knows what year it
is and what crops he grows, but that’s
about it. Looking at the bar graph by
William Playfair, the reader can see
that the farmer would know instinctive-
ly what the relationships are between
the blocks. This is the bar graph, a hall-
mark of data visualization.
The practice continued to skyrocket in
the 1800s with help from 18th century
innovations like Gutenburg’s printing
press. Every single form of statistical
graph that exists today was developed
during this time; William Playfair’s pie
chart, Dupin’s cartogram and of course
Florence Nightingale’s Rose Graph. In
1869, we saw Charle’s Minard’s graphical
illustration of Napoleon’s disastrous cam-
paign against the Russian during 1812.
This also happens to be the graph that
is used to explain to terrified freshmen
Communications students what informa-
tion design and data visualization is.
The advent of World War I and World
War II meant a stalemate between data
visualization and innovations. Tradi-
tional graphs were used to narrate mili-
tary exploits which meant that improve-
ment in anything other than military
power was deemed unnecessary and of
course, unaffordable.
Fast forward a few decades and Apple ha
introduced the Apple-1, the first graphic
interfaced computer. Like the printing
press, this also changed things forever.
Data visualization wasn’t left behind in
the shadows of hand-drawn and mea-
sured diagrams. Anyone with computer
experience could create a graph.
Currently, all kinds of data visualiza-
tion are used to explain and give context
to every kind of topic imaginable. Heat
maps tracking the spread of Ebola, in-
teractive poll-tracking infographics on
elections, I’ve even seen infographics
comparing Bronies to Trekkies.
So why does this work? Why has it
worked for hundreds and hundreds of
years? It’s not a Jedi-mind trick and it
certainly isn’t any kind of wizardry. The
answer is really quite simple, Neander-
thal really. In a White Paper published
in 2012, our vision is described as “the
most important faculty that humans
use to communicate information.” We
are actually hard-wired to analyze vi-
sual information in a certain way. We
are “pattern seeking creatures,” trying
to find meaning in everything we see.
The most common example of this is
the existence of Gestalt principles. Ge-
stalt psychology describes the world as a
global whole, which has self-organizing
tendencies. Their motto (for lack of a
better term): “the whole is greater than
the sum of its parts” holds that human’s
perception of reality considers objects in
their entirety and finds patterns within.
Another explanation comes from the Di-
rector of Data Visualization Research
Lab at the University of New Hamp-
shire. Ware has described the simple
building blocks of what the visualiza-
tion process is, called “preattentive at-
tributes.” These attributes immediately
catch the audience’s eye perceived in
less than 10 milliseconds. The attri-
butes include orientation, line length,
line width, size, shape, curvature, added
marks, enclosure, intensity, hue and 2-d
position. For this particular set of prin-
ciples, only position and length are use-
ful when understanding quantitative
data while the other attributes are bet-
ter for analyzing categorical or relation-
al data. A pie chart and a bar chart may
portray the same data, it’s clearer in the
bar chart which is bigger as it relies on
the pre attentive attribute of length.
From these pre attentive attributes, our
minds form what Ware describes as an-
alytical patterns. Without making this
article sound overly technical, the ana-
lytical patterns are the words formed by
the letters of pre attentive attributes.
The visual information that we take in
is combined into patterns that we draw
the desired meaning from.
data visualization is an invaluable tool in 21st century communi-cation, but why does it work? why does our brain crave the charts and graphs that we claim to hate?
NEVER TELL ME THE ODDS, SHOW THEM TO ME
READ // CAKE MAGAZINE
//33
/ / I N F OR O B F O R D
Our task was to create an infographic on a social issue. It just so
happened that this assignment was during a certain mayor’s drug
problem. I was being bombarded with stories about Rob Ford and his
escapades and it isn’t very often that Canada becomes as scandalous,
so I couldn’t pass up the chance.
I didn’t just want to start at the crack confession, I wanted to start
at the beginning of Rob Ford, with why he was even elected in the
first place. I did this by implementing a timeline of his action on the
side leading up to the most recent events. From there, I was able to
extrapolate some data for the graphs on the scandal like how many
allegations there were towards him, or how much Torontonians really
like him now.
november 201311x17 inches
INFO // ROB FORD
//35
READ // BEHIND THE WALL
/ / R E A DB E H I N D T H E W A L L
The Wall by Pink Floyd is one of the best selling albums of all time
(before digital downloads of course). And yet, audiences rarely go past
the music and into the story of what is actually a main character’s
epic rise and fall.
For this spread, I wanted to bring attention to the story by bringing
in the characters and introducing them by name. It is important to
know the characters because then the songs and the whole album
begin to make sense. When the characters are officially introduced in
the third spread, I wanted to make them the overwhelming force on
the page as well as reflect their role in the story. They sit atop a the
wall all turned toward Pink, the majority of them with looks of dis-
saproval or making obscene gestures. The characters loom over the
text, place on top like they are keeping watch over everything.
october 20135 spreads
//37
//39
//33
INFO // EDUCATION
/ / I N F OE D U C A T I O N
Done in conjunction with a programming class, this infographic was
meant to portray the differences in education according to gender
across a few different countries.
october 20133 spreads
//41
PRINT // BOUNDLESS ENERGY
/ / D E S I G NB O U N D L E S S E N E R G Y
During this Typography class, we had just finished learning about
the Post-Modern era of design and type. The invitations that we de-
signed were meant to mimic this style in whichever way they could.
Post-Modern design, much like the hair bands of the 80s, was known
for being uncomfortably random and abstract.
For my three iterations, I chose to base them off of phenonenons that
played a part in shaping the 1980s; the Modern Age of Comic Books,
the graphic user interface of computers and the end of the punk era.
october 20133 invites
//43
PRINT // BOUNDLESS ENERGY
//45
PRINT // MRU EVENT POSTERS
/ / D E S I G NM R U E V E N T P O S T E R S
Through a partnership with some of the clubs on campus, I had the
opportunity to design posters for events happening around campus.
october - november 20143 posters
//47
PRINT // MRU EVENT POSTERS
THANK YOU MOM & DAD (AND ZACH) THANK YOU BEN, GLENN, BRIAN, MILENA, RICHARD, GIL & PAT