Illustrations
At its core, illustration is a storytelling tool. What better solution than to use illustration as a way to bring the variety of Aotearos' people and homes together. Illustration is a vibrant and varied form of visual communication. At its best, illustration does something that photography can not. Vector illustration portrays what is familiar in a simplistic medium whilst added depth to a much wider much story.
At its core, illustration is a storytelling tool. What better solution than to use illustration as a way to bring the variety of Aotearos' people and homes together. Illustration is a vibrant and varied form of visual communication. At its best, illustration does something that photography can not. Vector illustration portrays what is familiar in a simplistic medium whilst added depth to a much wider much story.
People of Aotearoa was created within the existing style of the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB). We wanted the New Zealand housing to fit a similar colourful and friendly vision, but use a restricted Aratohu colour palette.
The native Aotearoa flora illustrations add the all important detail and texture, while showcasing something that is uniquely New Zealand.
Every content page has a character and home illustration. When the page is refreshed the illustrations randomly swap out/in, this creates an ever evolving view of the site.
Responsive website
One of the biggest challenges for this project was to present a wealth of information in a logical way, that is intuitive for the user to find. Our homepage houses six key topics, which in turn house many child pages. This upfront interface plays a key role in users finding the information that they need, and fast.
One of the biggest challenges for this project was to present a wealth of information in a logical way, that is intuitive for the user to find. Our homepage houses six key topics, which in turn house many child pages. This upfront interface plays a key role in users finding the information that they need, and fast.
The content pages have a set structure, so that they are easy for users to navigate. Next steps sit below the main content, this content block holds links to other pages within the Aratohu site and helps users follow a logical reading path. Another great content block is the external links panel that is pinned to the top of the page.
Work completed whilst at Somar Digital.