Space Needed
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Space needed is a project I started in my 3rd year of college; it was born out of a data visualization class. For the class we were tasked with finding a social cause or topic that merits a lot of data and can easily be turned into interesting info graphics. I’ve always been fascinated with space, so I decided to make my topic about the various aspects of the U.S.’s involvement in the exploration of space. The first part of this project is the branding and objective of this campaign. Once that is established the aspects of the data visualizations, or infographics start to take shape. The infographics are the backbone of the campaign that lay the foundation for the rest of the project. Next are the educational materials that aim to better help the American public better understand space in a general sense and provide further context to the infographics. Lastly is the ad campaign for Space Needed, the way the space exploration campaign could get the word out about the need for space exploration.
OBJECTIVE & BRANDING
Introduction
Space exploration may seem like an unattainable goal and too lofty of a goal. However, it is paramount to the further existence of the Human race. As much as we may like earth it won’t always be in this great, habitable state. The threats to the well-being of earth are diverse and great, from meteors and exploding stars (our sun) to human caused afflictions like climate change and over population, the danger to the survival of the human race is great and real. Space is often called the “Final Frontier” for good reason, it is in our nature as humans to constantly innovate and desire to explore the farthest reaches of the universe. There have been many trips to outer-space and plenty of research has been collected but the capital provided by governments to continue this research is slowly decreasing in size. Because of this campaign is born. The necessity of space exploration cannot be ignored. This campaign aims to enlighten the general population about the need for space exploration.
Objective
The objective of this campaign is to educate the American populous about the importance of space exploration. This campaign will tackle various issues surrounding the topic like role of private companies excelling space exploration. It will cover the drop in federal funding of space programs and the budgets allotted to various countries space programs. Viewers will come away with a desire to further the causes of space programs here in the U.S. The target audience for the campaign is rather wide. In more specific terms the target are people who are eligible to vote in the United States. Ideally the target is people who are politically engaged and are willing to contact their local government official to push for space exploration initiatives being proposed.
Color Pallete
#330033
#000033
#cc9933
“Space is for everybody. It’s not just for a few people in science or math, or for a select group of astronauts. That’s our new frontier out there, and it’s everybody’s business to know about space.” – Christa McAuliffe
Logo Guidelines
For the branding of this campaign, I wanted to go down a road that screamed future and technology. I decided to use the typeface “Input” because it uses an interesting kerning system, and the numbers have that unique futuristic feeling.
The main colors for this campaign are a deep purple that makes the viewers think about the vast deepness of space. The primary orange color contrasts with the purple perfectly. It has a bright vibrancy that sticks out like a star in the sea of blackness in space.
When developing the logo, I used the black version of the Input typeface and I made sure to space out all of the letters evenly. This helps put a simple subliminal message into the logo that reinforces the emphasis on “space”. Also in the logo is a black circle that can be left black to represent a planet or can be replaced by an illustration of a planet in our solar system. Below the logo is the interchangeable tagline: “Space Exploration Campaign”. The alternate version of the logo has the name “Space Needed” orbiting around the planet.
The main colors for this campaign are a deep purple that makes the viewers think about the vast deepness of space. The primary orange color contrasts with the purple perfectly. It has a bright vibrancy that sticks out like a star in the sea of blackness in space.
When developing the logo, I used the black version of the Input typeface and I made sure to space out all of the letters evenly. This helps put a simple subliminal message into the logo that reinforces the emphasis on “space”. Also in the logo is a black circle that can be left black to represent a planet or can be replaced by an illustration of a planet in our solar system. Below the logo is the interchangeable tagline: “Space Exploration Campaign”. The alternate version of the logo has the name “Space Needed” orbiting around the planet.
Primary Logo
Secondary Logo
INFOGRAPHICS
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Data Blocks
Budget of NASA compared to other space programs.
Objective
The objective of the first design is intended to highlight the amount of money allotted to each program of various countries. The goal is to show how little of the total government budget NASA gets, despite their influence on humanity.
Research
As you can see by the graph the U.S. has severely more capital than other countries with space programs. It nearly has more than all of the programs combined, despite only having .47% of the federal budget. To the right I listed the budgets that I’m going to include in the design for the first poster.
Space Programs
- NASA Budget $19.0b
- ESA Budget $6.1b
- Russia Budget $2.5b
- China Budget $2.0b
- India Budget $1.4b
- Japan Budget $1.4b
Background
NASA’s rise in the mid 60’s is due to the space race that the United States took part in against Russia. The race started as most people know had to do with putting a man on the moon, which the United States did do in July of 1969. During this year NASA had 2.31% of the federal budget which accounted for nearly $15 Billion (2014). NASA’s budget peaked in 1964–66, when it consumed roughly 4% of federal spending. The agency was building up to the first Moon landing; the Apollo program involved more than 34,000 NASA employees and 375,000 employees of industrial and university contractors. ESA and NASA are by far the highest funded agencies. The Russian space agency has an annual budget of $800-900 million dollars, about the same for India and Japan. The American public, on average, believes NASA’s budget has a larger share of the federal budget than it actually does. A 1997 poll reported that Americans had an average estimate of 20% for NASA’s share of the federal budget, far higher than the actual 0.5% to under 1% that has been maintained since the late ‘90s.
Sketches
Many of the sketches I did of the posters have to do with earth and various space missions. I believe that using iconic inventions like the space shuttle and satellites help make the topic of space exploration more understandable. I’ve been finding it hard to incorporate bars of data with the rest of the illustrations. I think that separating the parts of rockets might be the best way to show percentages of the particular countries differing budgets. I think it is important to also include secondary information about the cost of other projects that the various agencies did. Personally, my favorite design so far is the use of 2 different rockets to show the difference in the budgets of the various countries. This also works in the sense that the NASA budget nearly adds up to all of the other budgets combined. I also messed around with the idea of projects floating in space that could visualize the budgets of the countries.
Iterations
For this poster I came to the conclusion that using the space shuttle would be the best visual element to use for two reasons. Firstly, it is very recognizable and secondly the rockets on the side would be perfect places to showcase the amount of money each program is given. In many of the iterations I experimented with blues, reds and whites to give the poster an American theme. I did that hoping it would have a strong appeal to the target audience, whom are American. I also did a few versions that were intended to look like sketches or blue prints. This would give the poster an authentic feel. But the more fun illustration style on the others is easier to replicate for other posters.
Final Design
For the final design I choose to go with the more colorful option. It is illustrative and fun, the orange of the rocket contrasts well with the purple sky which creates an eye-popping combo. I decided that these two colors can fit any situation for any of the ideas I have for the other posters in this project. I also think it would be best to keep the text in the two different colors also. As you can see by the poster the budgets of the five other countries almost adds up to the single year budget of NASA, because of this I was able to separate them entirely on the two different rockets. This also plays into the scale of the budgets being drastically different. This poster definitely succeeds in trying to squash the idea that many Americans have about the actual amount of money we spend on space.
Data Circles
Asteroids & their beneficial implications.
Objective
The objective of this design is to highlight the vast amount of resources that can be extracted throughout the universe and the uses these resources have in relation to bettering humanity.
Research
I intend to highlight the different resources found on the over abundant amount of asteroids that are within our reach. There are 3 different primary types of asteroids, C, S & M. They each have different types and balances of resources on them. The data to the right shows the percentage of resources found in each specific asteroid type.
Space Programs
- C-Type
75% of Known Asteroids
High abundance of water, organic carbon & phosphorus. - S-Type
17% of Known Asteroids
Little water, they contain numerous metals including: nickel, cobalt and more valuable metals such as gold, platinum and rhodium. - M-Type
8% of Known Asteroids
Rare but contain up to 10 times more metal than S-types.
Background
Earth’s natural resources are already under pressure from the planet’s growing population, estimated to reach nearly 10 billion by 2050. Rising demand for resources will eventually push the economic balance in favor of harvesting resources from space to sustain our lives on Earth. Mining space resources may well come surprisingly quickly. Expeditions to near Earth asteroids and to the Moon have already yielded remarkable discoveries. There are over 16,000 near Earth asteroids that share a similar orbit to Earth. Asteroids contain the resources that make it possible to fuel and sustain life in space. Harvesting materials like Nickel, iron, cobalt and aluminum can not only bring in billions of dollars but also resources that could better human existence.
Sketches
Many of the sketches I did of the posters have to do with earth and various space missions. I believe that using iconic inventions like the space shuttle and satellites help make the topic of space exploration more understandable. I’ve been finding it hard to incorporate bars of data with the rest of the illustrations. I think that separating the parts of rockets might be the best way to show percentages of the particular countries differing budgets.
I think it is important to also include secondary information about the cost of other projects that the various agencies did. Personally, my favorite design so far is the use of 2 different rockets to show the difference in the budgets of the various countries. This also works in the sense that the NASA budget nearly adds up to all of the other budgets combined. I also messed around with the idea of projects floating in space that could visualize the budgets of the countries.
I think it is important to also include secondary information about the cost of other projects that the various agencies did. Personally, my favorite design so far is the use of 2 different rockets to show the difference in the budgets of the various countries. This also works in the sense that the NASA budget nearly adds up to all of the other budgets combined. I also messed around with the idea of projects floating in space that could visualize the budgets of the countries.
Iterations
For this design I decided that keeping particular elements from the last design would help the whole project feel more cohesive. So, I kept the purple background, the title, subtitle and the key in similar spots. This infographic inherently has more information to cover than the previous one so the initially it appears a bit more cluttered. Taking inspiration from my research I used relatively bright colors to highlight the different materials found in each asteroid. I also decided to keep the same line work that was in the last design. This design also requires a key so people can decipher the different materials found in each of the asteroid types.
Final Design
For the final design I choose to keep the background element s the same, purple background and stars scattered throughout the back. This design is definitely more crowded than the previous poster. It has 2 extra levels of information. It not only shows the value of the asteroids but also shows the composition. Because of this it requires a key that can be found near the bottom of the poster, color coded for easy viewing. It also features a description of the types of asteroids on the right side of the poster. Things it has in common with the previous poster is the placement of the title, subtitle, location of the annotation and the value key for the particular poster.
Data Waves
Evolution of the NASA Budget.
Objective
The goal for this poster is to explore the change in percentage of the federal budget that NASA receives from the U.S.
Research
The graph below was obtained from the NASA website. It shows the percentage of the federal U.S. budget that NASA is allotted. As you can see the budget peaks in the mid 60’s during the space race. It reaches just over 4% at that point. Ever since the space race, the budget has slowly declined to be consistently under .5% of the budget. After winning the space race the U.S. hasn’t valued NASA, primarily because of its low return on investment.
Background
As a federal agency, NASA receives its funding from the annual federal budget passed by the United States Congress. NASA began in 1958 during the beginning of the space race. As you may or may not know most of the U.S. space missions are led by NASA, such as the Apollo missions, the Skylab space station and the space shuttle. Apollo was one of the most expensive American scientific programs ever. It cost more than $20 billion in 1960s dollars or an estimated $218 billion in present-day US dollars. In comparison, the Manhattan Project cost roughly $27.8 billion, accounting for inflation. The perceived national security threat posed by early Soviet leads in spaceflight drove NASA’s budget to its peak. The U.S. victory in the Space Race erased the perceived threat, and NASA was unable to sustain political support for its vision of an even more ambitious Space Transportation System entailing reusable Earth-to-orbit shuttles, a permanent space station, lunar bases, and a manned mission to Mars. Only a scaled-back Space Shuttle was approved.
Sketches
The main focus of the sketches I did have to do with connecting the data points to look like a star constellation or something of that nature. I think the wave style of graphs will play well into the idea of a collection of stars. In some sketches I also played around with including other info into the poster like the projects NASA was working on at the time or the cost of those programs at that time. Also trying to narrow the list of covered projects down to a reasonable number. Another point I’m interested in exploring is the background elements, sticking with the background found in the previous designs or making it look like a landscape with the stars that create the graph in the background. Or plotting some of the galaxies captured by the Hubble Telescope into the background somehow.
Iterations
So far, I’ve been working with the same layout aesthetics for this poster that I was working on for the previous ones. I have contemplated working with a different size or ratio for this poster. I did a few iterations in a landscape format but quickly came to the conclusion that the way i wanted to layout the information wouldn’t allow it. Because of this I did a few iterations that are perfectly square. In this format I was able to space out the information enough to fit all on the poster. Eventually I landed on the decision to make this piece 48 x 36in, twice the width of the other posters. The timeline / wave graph needs this orientation of layout to truly capture the star constellation look. I also messed with the placement of the brackets. I put them at the bottom with explanatory text, facing up to the wave. Instead of putting the illustrations of the projects in a order I scattered them above the wave and wasn’t afraid to play with them overlapping the actual wave graph. In this design I choose to move the title of the campaign to the top right corner because there isn’t space for it under the title on the left side of the poster.
Final Design
As you can see from the design above, NASA’s budget has taken a sharp decline after the end of the 1960’s. NASA hasn’t had over 1% of the budget since 1990 when the Hubble Space Telescope was being worked on. I thought including the brackets at the bottom could serve as a timeline of sorts, displaying the place in time that the projects took place. I decided to do three illustrations of three big projects NASA has done, the moon landing, Voyager 1 and the Hubble Space Telescope. I designed them to fit the same illustration style that I used in the previous two posters. To give the illustrations more space I allowed the illustrations to cover parts of the wave graph. One obvious change to this poster is the orientation of the design. I decided that the landscape orientation would be the best for this design on account of the timeline and wave graph. So far, I’ve been working with the same layout aesthetics for this poster that I was working on for the previous ones. I have contemplated working with a different size or ratio for this poster. I did a few iterations in a landscape format but quickly came to the conclusion that the way i wanted to layout the information wouldn’t allow it. Because of this I did a few iterations that are perfectly square. In this format I was able to space out the information enough to fit all on the poster.
Data Maps
Where we are, have gone & plan to go.
Objective
The goal for this design is to showcase whereas a planet we are situated in the universe and where we have managed to get to in it. I would like to give the readers a better example of what is actually capable.
Research
To the right I have gathered a short list of man made space objects that can be essentially plotted onto a map of sorts. I think the best thing to do would be to use the measurement AU (Astronomical Unit) to show the distance between objects in space.
Background
As a general populous I believe we have very many misconceptions about not only space, but the objects found throughout space. With this design I intend to highlight the objects found in space, such as planets, stars and other galaxies. I believe it would be interesting to feature the programs that the world has done and where they are located in relation to Earth.
“Humanity’s interest in the heavens has been universal and enduring. Humans are driven to explore the unknown, discover new worlds, push the boundaries of our scientific and technical limits, and then push further. The intangible desire to explore and challenge the boundaries of what we know and where we have been has provided benefits to our society for centuries.” - NASA
For this design I intend to use this as an option to illustrate the distance between space objects and the time it would take to get there and the size of the planets in our solar system.
“Humanity’s interest in the heavens has been universal and enduring. Humans are driven to explore the unknown, discover new worlds, push the boundaries of our scientific and technical limits, and then push further. The intangible desire to explore and challenge the boundaries of what we know and where we have been has provided benefits to our society for centuries.” - NASA
For this design I intend to use this as an option to illustrate the distance between space objects and the time it would take to get there and the size of the planets in our solar system.
Object's Distance from the sun (AU)
1 AU = 92,955,807 miles- Mercury .38
- Venus .72
- Earth 1
- Mars 1.52
- Jupiter 5.2
- Saturn 9.5
- Uranus 19.19
- Neptune 30.09
- Pluto 39.48
- Voyager 1&2 120
- New Horizons 60
Sketches
When doing these sketches my main focus was on the layout of the solar system. I messed around with the scale of the universe as well as the contents in it. Eventually I wrote a list to narrow done what could or should be included in this design. I came to the conclusion to focus on the very observable universe, the planets the moons, asteroids and the sun. My next mission was to decide what level of information I wanted to include about each planet, Its diameter, distance from the sun etc.
Naturally the more information presents the more cluttered the design would be. This last design was certainty a game of where you stop when plotting out the universe. When laying out the solar system I first Used the sun as the center of the universe and building out from there. Also tried sketching out versions where the sun was on one end of the design and the other planets followed by it in a rather linear fashion. Lastly as far as layout is concerned, I tried laying out the design in a grid, perhaps each square inch is an AU. The last thing I tried conceptualizing in was other phenomena from the universe like orbits and paths that asteroids take. It also goes without saying that this also presents the problem of trying to limit what needs to be included into the design and what could stay out.
Iterations
One of the things I quickly noticed when trying to figure out the initial layout is the sheer size of things in space. For example, a square AU is the distance from earth to the sun. Simple. What isn’t is the fact that the sun itself is only .009 AU in diameter. So, plotting out the design in a grid fashion is nearly impossible. If the design had 1 AU equal one inch on the poster the Sun would be the size of a speck of dust. Not to mention that there are two other planets between the Sun and Earth so there would be a massive cluster of information. This fact also rules out the sun as the center of the design because of the farthest objects.The only option I was really left with was to go in a linear fashion where the sun is on one end and the planets make up the other end. To actually fit in all of the content I wanted to I had to crop out the sun, I think that people will get the idea. One thing I tried my absolute best was to keep the ratios in size of the planets as accurate as possible. Ultimately, I decided to convey a small blurb about each planet and the distance it is from the sun and the planets diameter. I also decided to include some of the other projects that we have sent into space, like the mars rovers and the probes that are now adventuring into deep space.
Final Design
For the final design I decided to cut down on the amount of information I provided in the design. I decided that the blurbs about each planet were too much and cluttered the design. I also decided to cut up the orbits, so they didn’t overlap with the text present. As far as the information presented in this design, for the most part I kept things to scale but ultimately had to change the distance from the sun to best fit it all on the design. When doing these sketches my main focus was on the layout of the solar system. I messed around with the scale of the universe as well as the contents in it. Eventually I wrote a list to narrow done what could or should be included in this design. I came to the conclusion to focus on the very observable universe, the planets the moons, asteroids and the sun. In keeping with the other posters, the background, text and information is similarly laid out.
EDUCATIONAL MATERIAL
Sharing the knowledge of space with everyone.
Planet Posters
To further educate the American populous and give a more insight into the complexity of our known solar system and universe, I created a series of Planet Posters. The posters give a quick snapshot of the basic details of each planet in our solar system. They show things like size comparisons to the nearest sized planet, their mass, volume and even their amount of moons each planet has in their orbit.
These posters can serve as a way to get a base amount of knowledge of our universe and provide further context to some of the previously shown infographics. They can be a little dense if you know next to nothing about space or our place in the universe.
To also benefit the public a series of posters could be made that go over other aspects of space. Things like important figures in the field of space and the discoveries they made. Other posters could go over some of the famous inventions that help us better understand our universe.
These posters can serve as a way to get a base amount of knowledge of our universe and provide further context to some of the previously shown infographics. They can be a little dense if you know next to nothing about space or our place in the universe.
To also benefit the public a series of posters could be made that go over other aspects of space. Things like important figures in the field of space and the discoveries they made. Other posters could go over some of the famous inventions that help us better understand our universe.
Informational Book
The Informational Book includes all of the information from the planet posters, spread out in a helpful book. The book also has sections that cover some of the amazing inventions that humanity has created and sent into space. Things like the New Horizons research device, that has many different functions such as collecting star dust to determine the age of the universe or its components used to study aspects of Pluto.
The book also covers world famous astronomers and their achievements they’ve made to advance the study of space. The book would serve as a space history book as well as an encyclopedia about the known universe. Education is the main focus of these two pieces. A smart public would make smart choices.
The book also covers world famous astronomers and their achievements they’ve made to advance the study of space. The book would serve as a space history book as well as an encyclopedia about the known universe. Education is the main focus of these two pieces. A smart public would make smart choices.
AD CAMPAIGN
Spreading the word about Space Needed throughout the universe.
Buttons & Shirts
The Ad Campaign is intended to work as a guerilla marketing campaign. Trying to start a grassroots campaign that aims to excite, inform and persuade the American populous about the importance of space exploration. This campaign includes things like shirts, buttons, stickers and adverts. They all include slogans and phrases that invoke a sense of wonder and excitement.
The parts of the campaign feature bold, contrasting purple and orange colors. They use the same typefaces as the posters and infographics, bold fonts that catch lots of eyes. The buttons have the different versions of the Space Needed logo, short quotes about space travel and fun bold colors. The shirts feature the same types of things as the buttons. Also working as walking advertisements for the Space Needed website that could give people further information about the
The parts of the campaign feature bold, contrasting purple and orange colors. They use the same typefaces as the posters and infographics, bold fonts that catch lots of eyes. The buttons have the different versions of the Space Needed logo, short quotes about space travel and fun bold colors. The shirts feature the same types of things as the buttons. Also working as walking advertisements for the Space Needed website that could give people further information about the
Stickers
The Stickers help provide a fun side to the campaign; they can be spread out in an urban area. They share many similarities with the buttons and shirts, same bold colors and typefaces. Unlike the buttons and shirts, some stickers have a more creative slogan like “Mars is closer than you think.” Or “Let’s find our place in the universe. These stickers also feature a lot of the illustrations that were used in the infographics. This creates a lot of brand cohesion.
Adverts
The adverts of this grassroots campaign have lots of similar features as the other assets of this campaign. They have the same colors, logos and typefaces. They utilize similar language to the stickers. They’re just made in a larger format and have more info and longer messages on them. They are all set in an urban setting where there would be a large amount of support for this kind of space exploration movement. This includes the sides of buildings, walls, in the subway and even on the subway. The more eyeballs that see these adverts the better. Some of the adverts make reference to the infographics that would also be out in the wild.
