Illustrations that are inclusive are vital in design because they ensure that visual communication is accessible, representative, and respectful of various audiences. For many projects, I have struggled to find graphics that do a good job illustrating the diversity inherent in what I am trying to represent. As a result, I’ve had to create graphics and illustrations myself. Here are some examples of my work and the projects they were used in.
The purpose of this piece was to create housing profiles for West Michigan. Finding pictures that displayed the diversity of the region both in demographics and housing was next to impossible, so I created my own.
Bridging Research and Practice to Achieve Community Prosperity
Not only was I lead author on this report, I also did the layout, visualizations, and illustrations that accompany each feature.
Policies for Place: How to Make Sustainable Investments in Communities
Another report where I was the lead author while creating the layout, visualizations, and illustrations.
“Hot Jobs” Labor Market Intelligence Project
The purpose of this project was to prepare easy to use information for job seekers in the region to help them understand what jobs were growing. Again, finding non-stereotypical images was challenging, so I created my own.
Kathleen Bolter, PhD 