Visual Explaination

Computer DrawingLeah Ettenhofer

Project Statement

1. BackgroundWhat is the background for this intervention? Why are you doing it?I am doing this visual explanation illustration to accompany an article that is featured on The Nest’s website, called Budgeting for Baby.

2. Target AudiencesWho do you want to reach with your communication? Be specific.With this illustration, I want to reach the Nest’s readers who may not want to read an entire article that talks about budgets, but would rather see a visual explanation of the article instead to help them get an idea of how much to budget for a new baby.

3. ObjectivesWhat do you want your target audience to do after they hear, watch, or experience this communication?I want my target audience to be able to get the information that they need to effectively plan (or decide not to plan) for the addition of a baby into their household.

4. ObstaclesWhat beliefs, cultural practices, pressures, and misinformation stand between your audi-ence and thedesired objectives?An obstacle could be the fact that there is such a difference in price of the various items on the list. I am going to try and make it more assessable with lower budget couples.

5. Key BenefitSelect one single benefit that the audience will experience upon reading the objective(s) you have set.A benefit that the audience will have is having a more clear and concise idea of how much money it will take to raise a newborn baby during it’s first year.

6. Support Statements/ Reasons WhyThese are the reasons why the key benefit outweighs the obstacles and the reasons that what you are promoting is beneficial. These reasons often become messages.The reason why this project would be to show a more clear view of budgeting for an addition to your family. This will also make the information that the Nest has a lot more approachable to readers and may earn them more readers due to the easy accessibility of information.

7. ToneWhat feeling should your communication have? Should it be authoritative, light, or emo-tional? Pick a tone.I want the tone to be fun and home-y. I want it to have an illustrative, cartoon feel, not so realistic.

8. MediaWhat channel(s) or form will the communication take? Television? Radio? Newspaper? Poster? Pointof-purchase? Flyer? All of the above?My goal would be for this illustration to replace the article on the Nest’s website.

Original Article

Sketches

Changed topic...but still used sketches for layout

Process

Final Illustration

Will you actually spend $30,000? Hopefully not. But the baby bucks can add up quickly, especially when you factor in things like lost wages and child care -- not to mention the optional luxuries, like a doula or night nurse. Of course, some of you living in large urban areas may wind up spending even more than this huge chunk of change, while others across the country may get away with spending much less. The out-of-pocket expense can vary dramatically based on the cost of living in your area, your health insurance plan, the amount of gear received as gifts, whether or not your MIL is up for babysitting, and so on.Check out the figures below -- we worked with financial experts to get a handle on the basics. Let this be your inspiration to write down some numbers of your own and do a bit of math with your better half. Happy baby making!

$30k for the first year? Maybe.

Application