Chocolate and Holidays
Idea Development
When it comes to chocolate it can cover many different areas. It is such a popular food product that has been around for so long that it can be a tradition for some events. Along with being included in events and traditions there is also a lot of science behind chocolate, about it’s chemical and physiological effects.
Chemical and physiological effects of chocolate could be an idea to show the positive and negatives of eating chocolate to both your mental and physical health, what it does to you, how, and how it may effect you in your present and future.
Another idea is chocolate and holidays, showing how chocolate is used in different celebrations and whether it is a tradition or not. Chocolate is involved in religious and non-religious celebrations, such as Hanukkah and Diwali contrasting against Halloween and Valentine’s Day.
I decided to choose “chocolate and holidays” due to the possibilities I could create visually for the infographic.
Chocolate and Holidays
Chocolate is very commonly used in a number of holidays so I had to find the most relevant to myself and most popular. I came out with Easter, Valentine’s Day, Christmas, Hanukkah, Diwali and Day of the Dead. Each of these celebrations chocolate has a significant role.
Easter is largely celebrated by gifting chocolate eggs or by finding hidden eggs, often done by children.
Valentine’s Day was originally a religious day honouring early saints, but later has become known as a day to spend with romantically loved ones with little to no religious attachments. Chocolates along with flowers are a common gift.
Christmas is largely celebrated around the world but can be different for every country. Some countries might celebrate with large roast dinners and turkeys whilst others will keep it simple with soups. However, chocolate is a common occurrence whether as a gift, ornament or dessert.
The Day of the Dead celebrated in Mexico families will leave out their favourite foods on the altars to honour their family and often times this includes chocolate.
Sketches
To make the process easier and that I create something I’m happy with I sketched out each holiday visual with some of the information I may include.
Easter and Valentine’s Day are fairly self explanatory. Eggs and rabbits are most commonly associated with the holiday due to their association with rebirth and fertility as well as being a common chocolate gift among friends and family. They are usually hollow and wrapped in bright coloured foil, hence why I made different versions with the wrapping on, off and broken to showcase the hollow inside.
Valentine’s Day is all about gifting your loved ones. Flowers, cards, jewellery, etc. are other gifts one might give to a partner but as this is chocolate and holidays, I kept it minimal. Chocolates on Valentine’s are usually designed to look romantic, wrapped in brightly coloured packaging using pinks and reds due to their significance.
Christmas doesn’t so naturally have a significance with chocolate, more so roast dinners, turkeys and christmas puddings. However, chocolate desserts such as yule logs and other various chocolate sweets are usually gifted and eaten at Christmas.
Hanukkah is a little different. Over the years Jewish families would gift children money to celebrate their freedom. Once the chocolate industry got a hold of this tradition they soon came up with an alternative and created chocolate coins.
Whilst not traditionally chocolate Halloween is still a celebration that includes the chocolatey treats. It’s most commonly known for trick-or-treating and candy, but in that selection is often chocolate.
Colour Palette
Considering the topic of this infographic I wanted to go for something ‘chocolate themed’ which would likely be browns and creams. Unfortunately brown can be quite a boring colour, such as in the first colour palette I found. It has relevant colours but I didn’t like how dull it was.
Looking again I found another that includes both browns and some lighter colours. The browns work well for the chocolate theme whilst the lighter colours stand out and bring more attention to it. After some different attempts I decided on this palette.
Layout and Scale
The layout for this infographic had to be something that would draw in the viewers eye but also not be overly complicated. As I want it to have around equal visual and text I had to come up with a layout and scale that would work well. I tried to do something more appealing but in the end it still looked better in a ‘list’ layout, from top to bottom.
An idea I had in mind was creating a personalised background OR a gradient with light/day at the top and working down towards dark/night. Parallel to this could be holidays celebrated at the beginning of the year such as Easter declining towards Halloween and Christmas.
Production
For the creation of my infographic I used a drawing tablet and the pen tool due to the detailed style that I wanted. The objects were all free handed and would be somewhat tricky to replicate with only shape tools, but for some such as the easter eggs and christmas calendar I used the ellipse and rectangle tool.
Lines
The lineart was done with the pen tool and creating an outer layer in black. Then, I would add the details on the object and change the brush settings to one with pointed ends, giving the lines more flow and movement. Along with the line style I changed the inside line colour to a slighter darker shade of the base colour, so that it blends in more with the object.
Shading
I decided to add minimal shading to the visuals to give them some depth. It consisted of only one shading layer which I did by choosing a slightly darker colour than what I was shading and finding a point of light. In the example the light source would be the top left so the shade would be in the bottom right.
For the heading and rest of the text I chose one of the dark brown colours to contrast against the light backgrounds colours. I made sure that the top header spread across the entire length of the page with no empty space, along with spread out and easy to read letters. It catches your attention and is easy to read from afar.
I decided on two different colours for the panels used with each holiday to make it less boring. If I had used only one colour all the way down it wouldn’t have been very pleasing to look at. The colours stand out against the cream/beige background but don’t contrast too much with it or the visuals that it becomes too bland.
Final
Evaluation
The infographic is effective as it is sharing information in a visual way. The visuals are neat with a pleasing appearance due to the simplistic shading and is easy to tell what holiday the visuals are about even if there were no headers.
Overall I am happy with the outcome of this infographic. I wanted the design to be welcoming with soft tones and neat illustrations which I believe I achieved. The colours contrast well without being too striking or harsh. Whilst I originally wanted dark browns similar to the colour of chocolate the light, soft colours work much better against the bright coloured images.
To improve I would change the layout and find a way to include less text. Whilst the text has been kept short and neat I think it is too much for an infographic in one spot. Small facts using more visuals spread about would likely have been more effective and likely to catch someone’s eye. Whilst the layout I have used is easy to read I could have found a way to make it more interesting.
