Teacher Report Infographics

Recently our creative team was tasked with creating an info-graphic for the 2011 Teacher Report for Share Our Strength. It was a part of a larger initiative for Share Our Strength. They wanted something themed for teachers, statistics and an outcome. We interpreted this as a chance to design on the whiteboard…a whiteboard themed info-graphic.

Excited, our designers grabbed some markers (orange and black to match the SOS brand colors) and went to the whiteboard to start drawing. They began drawing the statistics that were easiest to define, at least in our heads. Then they created a milk carton, a school house, a few characters and the ideas flowed easily after that. We we’re having fun while making something truly unique.

 

The client came back excited, but naturally had some feedback. As soon as you present something in color, you can almost guarantee a response. We took their good input and then erased, re-drew and re-presented the idea. Again the client came back very courteous and had the same type of feedback but elongated a little more stating that the drawing was lacking the impact.

Being passionate about an idea is great…it means you care about what you’re doing. And when you are not hitting the mark, there is emotion. But as a professional you have to have a great poker face and really take a step back. The most important thing is to try to understand where the client is coming from and respond to that.  When you don’t hit the mark in the first few rounds, something is up. We took the client’s feedback and readily jumped into a whole new direction.  This can be a time-saver; that way, you don’t keep rehashing something the client is not head over heels about. We came up with a grade card theme that complemented the brand, but was something a little more one-off, and campaign focused.

The new direction got their attention and started a whole new conversation. This time it was not about the visual but about the content. In my mind, it was a success. They were now looking at their information and liked the look and feel.