Brief: The Drug Policy Alliance worked with statisticians to identify various policies that entrench people who use drugs into the criminal legal system. The findings were organized into a series of causal loop diagrams to depict the interplay of factors that create these cycles of harmful help. The resulting intricate diagrams were not immediately understandable by the general public or government policy makers and needed to be made both more engaging and explicit.
Challenge: Transform confusing causal loop diagrams into a series of visually engaging and understandable infographics to appear on the DPA website and social media accounts.
Solution: I dissected the causal loop diagram into discrete cycles and created an icon system to illustrate the factors composing each cycle. Cycles appeared as both static images and animated builds. The distressed look and feel of the illustrated cycles followed established DPA brand guidelines.
Result: Still to appear on the DPA website and social media accounts, illustrated cycles of harmful help will be used to educate the general public and attempt to effect change in governmental drug policies.
Programs: Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign
Original causal loop diagram containing the series of harmful help cycles.