INvaso
Illinois State Senior Thesis and gallery exhibition
Harnessing Design to Protect Central Illinois’ Native Ecosystems from Invasive Species
The Senior Thesis project and gallery exhibition for the Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design program at Illinois State University asks us to explore our passions beyond commercial work. My project focuses on prevention and impact of invasive species in Illinois. Invasive species are a non-native plant, animal, or organism introduced to a new environment, where it thrives unchecked and disrupts local ecosystems.
I grew up in a rural community where nature was valued. Growing up spending a lot of time outside, camping, hiking, swimming, and kayaking grew a love for the outdoors and especially the local nature in Central Illinois. For this project I have explored three different invasive species that threaten the local ecosystem in central Illinois. These species are the emerald ash borer, asian cap and, kudzu vine.
My first car only lasted a few weeks before it was totaled. Crushed underneath the weight of an Ash tree that I had succumbed to Ash Disease. Ash Disease is the nickname given to the destruction caused by the Emerald Ash Borer. An invasive insect that eats away the inside of North American Ash Trees weakening them to the point of killing it.
My personal experiences and love of local ecosystem has spawned an interest in these species. I hope to use design to inform people of ways they can take action to mitigate the damage caused by invasive species. Invasive species are an ever increasing problem endangering billions of native plants and animals in Central Illinois.
brand guidelines
For this project I was tasked with creating several deliverables. To keep graphics consistent I created a set of guidelines on how graphic elements should be handled.
projection mapping
As part of this project I want to inform people how widespread invasive species are in Illinois. Through My projection mapping audience members were able to see where these species can be found in Illinois.
I printed a road map of Illinois the height of the gallery wall. Animations of where each one of these species can be found on that map was created and overlaid on the map. Buttons that switch between the animations were programmed to allow audience members to interact with projection.
Graphics were made in Adobe Illustrator, brought to life in After Effects, and projected using MadMapper.
I needed to ensure that the animations were accurate and the buttons were functual. The projection was tested numerous times in different lighting scenarios to ensure that it would work in the gallery space. The buttons were stress tested to ensure the projection would not freeze or slow down if they were clicked too much. I learned that I needed to rent a brighter projector from the gallery because my at home projector was too dim. I also learned that the files I was using for the animations were not the most efficient for the buttons and reconfigured the files to optimize them for real time playback.
app design
I hope to get into the UI/UX field after graduation. To strengthen these skills I created an app to inspire audience members to explore their local ecosystems and fight back against the spread of invasive species. My app scans, identifies, and reports invasive plants.
Users would be able to check if plants they found are invasive and have the ability to report them to a map. There are leaderboard points and challenges that encourage the use of the app.
During the gallery show a mockup of my app was running on an Ipad allowing audience members to interact with my designs.
This app was created in figma and made into a working mockup in Protopie.
Package designs
I wanted audience members to be able to take immediate action after visiting my gallery show. I designed three package designs, one for each invasive species covered in my project.
These designs included a weed killer that can be used on any plant, a net sized for catching asian carp, and a sticky bug trap that attracts emerald ash borers.
The only functional product was the weed killer which was a homemade solution. The other package designs were empty because it was too costly to give out fishnets and sticky traps to audience members.
The label designs were made in Adobe Illustrator.
For each package I created hand drawn repeating patterns. These patterns were assigned a color that best represented these species. Information that these products and the species they were meant for was put onto the package. To create labels on these package designs they were printed out then ran through a Exyron machine which turned them into stickers. These stickers were applied onto the product.
video documentary
To inform audience members I created a documentary style video about these species. The video explained personal stories with these species, how they were brought to the United States, their impact on local ecosystems and what is being done to mitigate the effects of these species. It was filmed in three different locations that are hubs for these spiece and held significance to me.
Mackinaw Illinois was my childhood home that I lived at for 15 years which had been greatly affected by emerald ash borers. The Illinois river flowing through Peoria; a favorite spot for Asian carp and the city I was born and lived in for three years. Normal Illinois is the city where I graduated college and lived for four years has had reports of the Kudzu vine.
These videos were filmed using a tripod and I would run out in front of the camera to say my script.
Edited in Adobe Premiere Pro with animations created in After Effect.
gallery show
April 22, 2025 the Bachelor of Fine Arts Graphic Design program’s senior thesis show was held at Julian Hall Galleries at Illinois States University. There were a variety of projects pertaining to the individual students interests and values in the same gallery space.
This show was held in two gallery spaces separated by a hallway. In the first gallery space I built a shelf out of wood and metal piping to hold my package designs, business cards and a tablet with my app mockup installed. A pedestal provided by the gallery held my button that allowed audience members to switch between the animations being projected onto my map. Across from the pedestal was my map mounted onto the gallery wall and on the agesten wall was a projection of video.
We filled the second gallery space with past projects of ours that we wanted to showcase. I presented my Indian x Irish Display Typeface. A type face combining design elements from my Irish culture and my professor's Indian culture. This project literally and metaphorically weaves together these two cultures through design. I also included my Headspace Repeating Pattern which was created as my high school design thesis. This infinitely repeating pattern was made to reflect the technical design skills that I had learned in high school.
We opened the exhibition by listening to speeches from each student explaining the significance of their projects and kept it open so audience members could explore the projects individually.
Audience members took home many of my spray bottles, tested my app, and interacted with my projection without me needing to explain.
Process book
This book was created to document creation of this three month long project. It shows how I was given a prompt and my process I took to coming to the final designed project.
