Moorea: the Illustrated Reef
The story
After creating the California Intertidal Infinity sticker, I was inspired to create one made for the incredible coral reefs I am so lucky to study.
The proceeds from sticker sales go towards supporting local non-profit Reva Atea.
While my first vision for the design came really quickly, I struggled to finalize the idea. Rather than the two versions that it took before I had a finished California Intertidal Infinity sticker, I made over a dozen attempts before completing a product I felt confident in.
Not so easy…
Pilot Prints
To test the colors and composition of the design, I printed a limited run of stickers, small enough to fit on a laptop, to test how the final product would look and feel once it was complete.
Bigger Mission
I wanted to make an impact with the stickers, not only in bringing this sometimes far away ecosystem to others, but also to support ocean programs in the place that inspired it: Moorea, French Polynesia. Part of the profits from sticker sales contribute directly to the local nonprofit, Reva Atea.
Interactive Dashboard
I wanted the design to speak for itself, and also be an opportunity for learning. This led me to design and create a fully interactive dashboard where viewers could engage with the physical sticker design.
Clicking on each animated creature in the sticker opens a pop-up window where readers can learn about the organisms featured and access additional resources. All writing on the dashboard was done by myself and participating graduate students who have studied the featured organisms firsthand.
This allows the design to travel beyond the physical realm of the sticker itself, and with fully reproducible and publicly accessible code on GitHub, transparency was the forefront of the creation.