Somerset Council: Climate Consultation
As part of a wider public consultation programme, Somerset Council hosted a series of workshops and engagement events designed to increase public understanding of climate action initiatives.
The brief
To design a series of visually engaging display boards and supporting materials that communicated complex environmental information in a way that was clear. The materials were to be designed for a wide-ranging public audience, including people with varying levels of familiarity and engagement with climate and sustainability issues.
The Challenges
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Communicating complex environmental information clearly for non-specialist audiences
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Creating materials suitable for viewers of different ages and levels of knowledge
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Balancing educational content with accessible and visually engaging presentation
The Solution
This was quite a project. I was handed raw text and given a largely open brief, so the visual concept was mine to develop from scratch. I started by sketching out the designs on folded A4 paper, making little concertina mock-ups to work out how the boards would flow before committing anything to screen. The idea I landed on was to create scenes of Somerset’s urban and rural landscapes, using architecture and countryside as visual anchors to draw people in and give the information a sense of place.
The result
With display boards in busy public spaces, the design had to work hard at scale - readable and engaging even in crowded, noisy environments, with illustration and infographics doing the heavy lifting to make complex climate concepts feel accessible to anyone who stopped to look.
