College Stress Infographic

Process Reflection

This infographic was not at all my first idea.  Originally I wanted to display the crazy depths of the ocean by comparing it to common landmarks that we're all familiar with, but after a quick search I found hundreds of those.  My next idea focused on mental health statistics among college students, but that quickly got out of hand and many of the pictures I planned on using were...let's say insensitive.  That failed idea brought me to the stress infographic you see here, which I think most of us can relate to.  These statistics were incredibly easy to pull up, but the time consuming part was finding the right clip art and spacing everything in an aesthetically pleasing way.  I used a template in Piktochart, but ultimately made it my own by adding slides and making it more complex.  All of the available backgrounds were either wood textures or busy patterns, but I discovered that by making wood textures more opaque, it resembled lined paper which gave me the appropriate space to build on.

I felt that it wasn't enough to just display how many students are affected by stress, so I made my infographic somewhat useful by offering suggestions to counteract stress.  I thought it was interesting that my statistics revolve around making excuses, and ultimately buying more time in order to feel more relaxed.  I'm not sure whether or not this points to our generation being lazy, our society making unrealistic demands, or a combination of both, but I don't think this system is working out too well.  This is getting pretty off topic, but I read that Sweden just switched to a 6 hour workday, and productivity shot through the roof.  Perhaps a comparison between Swedish/American workers would make an interesting infographic...Anyways, this project was not difficult, just time consuming.  If I had to do this again, I would spend a little more time finding an engaging topic instead of looking for pictures.