What's the deal with design 166?

Data Visualization, Publication, Mobile Website
Team
Stephanie Chou
Tools
Illustrator
InDesign
Figma
Timeline
9 Weeks
‍‍
Instructor
Karen Cheng
Overview
In order to be admitted to the design program at the University of Washington, students have to take a class called “Design 166”. Known for it’s difficulty and effort required to succeed, there is a lot of misinformation surrounding the class. To help combat this, this 8-page publication provides answers to FAQs about the class that is framed in a “By-Students-For Students” manner, and hopes to help students along as they begin their design journey at the University of Washington. We were also required to create a mobile companion website in a "scrolly-telling" format, which hosts a condensed version of the information on the physical print publication.
Work Distribution
As this was a partner project, we had to work around the constraints of the programs we used. As Illustrator is not the best with group work, we figured out how to best split the work and pass the file back and forth. I was in charge of print production, most of the copywriting, and overall visual feel for the print side. We split actual work and design on the pages pretty evenly, I was primarily in charge of pages 4-7, with my focus being on the center spread. For our mobile component, I was in charge of most of the prototyping.
Visual Style
Because of the nature of our topic, we ended up using more qualitative data than quantitative. As a result we had to figure out how to best present the information without it feeling like a bunch of words. We ended up with this quote bubble format, as well as using call outs and framing boxes to give more visual emphasis.
Data visualization
In order to make sure the publication felt fun but still professional, we opted to use simple shapes and concepts for our graphs. We primarily used bar graphs to show our data, with one sankey!
Impact
After the conclusion of this project, we were asked if we would give our permission for our broadsheet to be printed and handed out to over 150 students in the next class for Design 166. Naturally, we said yes! Students really appreciated the help and advice this broadsheet gave them.
Full Publication
Here's a look at our eight-page publication!
To view digital publication, click here.