Growing up with grandparents living in California, summer trips to the west coast were a staple in my life. An hour south of where my grandparents lived there is a kayaking tour at Elkhorn Slough in Moss Landing. While kayaking, you are surrounded by beautiful nature scenes and many animals, including sea otters. It was here where I fell in love with the animals and have loved them ever since.

Unfortunately, sea otters have had their ups and downs. in the mid-1700s they were booming with a population of over 200,000, but by 1911, only about 50 sea otters remained, as they were hunted down for their pelts. Luckily, hunting otters became banded, and over the years, the population has started to grow again. The sea otter population reach a peak in 2016 with around 3,500 otters in the wild, but unfortunately, otters face many other dangers, besides just human hunting. Shark bites brought their population back down again in 2017 and as of now, sea otters still remain endangered.

Because of the dangers that otters face, I wanted to bring more awareness to these beautiful creatures through this infographic I made. I wanted to include their population size, the dangers they face, and all the otter important facts!

The article, Scientific Storytelling using Visualization, states that “thinking about visualizations in a narrative context can help make them more comprehensible, memorable, and credible to the general public.” I kept this in mind while creating my infographic, choosing specific data to include and creating an easily readable graphic to compliment it.

Following Dennison’s rules in his article, Practical visual literacy for science communication, I also wanted to use a diversity of visual elements, as that ensures different people will be engaged with at least some of the visual elements.

Before starting on the drawing of the infographic, I also wanted to first think through the design in terms of space and color. I used the Data Visualization 101: How to Design Charts and Graphs article to help me determine how I wanted to display the data. I want to make sure the more important data was the biggest and that everything was readable. I started sketching out different layouts and playing around with color combinations. Color theory is so important to consider when making these choices. In the article Web design color theory: how to create the right emotions with color in web design, Cao breaks down the important points to focus on, such as contrast, complementation, and vibrancy. I kept these things in mind when picking out the colors for the graphic. I wanted to use blues to represent the water, but I also decided to use the color browns in that are the color fur the sea otters have. I kept the browns a bit cooler in tone, to match with the blues in the graphic and not have competing tones and allowing the piece to be more visually appealing. I also used the Gestalt theory of design to help me form the layout. I kept in mind the idea of simplicity and tried to not overcomplicate the design. I wanted it to be clean, readable, and easy to understand. I also used the principles of proximity and similarity to group the data that is supposed to go together.

Sources:

California Sea Otter Surveys and Research, www.usgs.gov/centers/werc/science/california-sea-otter-surveys-and-research?qt-science_center_objects=0#qt-science_center_objects.

Cao, Jerry. “Web Design Color Theory: How to Create the Right Emotions with Color in Web Design.” TNW | Tnw, 27 Apr. 2021, thenextweb.com/news/how-to-create-the-right-emotions-with-color-in-web-design.

“DATA VISUALIZATION 101: HOW TO DESIGN CHARTS AND GRAPHS.” Hubspot, cdn2.hubspot.net/hub/53/file-863940581-pdf/Data_Visualization_101_How_to_Design_Charts_and_Graphs.pdf. 

Dennison, Bill. “Practical Visual Literacy for Science Communication: Blog.” Integration and Application Network, ian.umces.edu/blog/practical-visual-literacy-for-science-communication/. 

“For the Love of Sea Otters.” SeaOtters.com, www.seaotters.com/.

Ma, Kwan-Liu, et al. Scientific Storytelling Using Visualization. vis.cs.ucdavis.edu/papers/Scientific_Storytelling_CGA.pdf.

Megan Montemurno Author, et al. “What's So Special About Sea Otters?” Ocean Conservancy, 22 Mar. 2021, oceanconservancy.org/blog/2019/09/23/whats-so-special-about-sea-otters/#:~:text=Sea%20otters%20are%20also%20considered,removing%20excess%20algae%20from%20seagrass.

“Sea Otters: Incredibly Cute. Incredibly Important.” 4ocean, www.4ocean.com/blogs/blog/sea-otters-incredibly-cute-incredibly-important?gclid=Cj0KCQjw5uWGBhCTARIsAL70sLJqjN3SUI80oerFLPn8glcuYHDg6AYxvB8OZufx3FYekdExP1poZfEaAiXgEALw_wcB.

“Simplicity, Symmetry and More: Gestalt Theory and the Design Principles It Gave Birth To.” Canva, http://www.canva.com/learn/gestalt-theory/.

Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife. “Slight Dip in California Sea Otter Numbers, According to 2019 Survey Results.” Official Web Page of the U S Fish and Wildlife Service, www.fws.gov/news/ShowNews.cfm?ref=slight-dip-in-california-sea-otter-numbers-according-to-2019-survey-&_ID=36465.

“Southern Sea Otter.” Marine Mammal Commission, 13 Apr. 2021, www.mmc.gov/priority-topics/species-of-concern/southern-sea-otter/.