Designing and Archiving

Circle of Blue design intern Amanda Northrop explains how good design is timeless.

I have just finished my sixth week with Circle of Blue as a design intern, and I have certainly been keeping busy since my last post more than a month ago.

My most recent project, which published last week, is an infographic about the privatization of water in the Philippines. This graphic was created to accompany a story on water privatization in Manila’s East Zone by Circle of Blue contributing writer, Sarah Haughn, and stunning photos from Circle of Blue director J. Carl Ganter’s visit to the East Zone last September.

I have also been working on a few projects with fellow summer design intern Alec Aja, who is a classmate of mine at Grand Valley State University, where we are both entering our junior year in the Design program. We designed an infographic for our colleague Aaron Jaffe’s article on the effects of the mining industry in Australia’s Hunter Valley.

Alec and I are currently archiving all of Circle of Blue’s previous infographics, as well. In doing so, we have been able to check out all of the great work interns have done in the past. One of my personal favorite posts is previous 2010 intern Kalin Wood’s infographic on coal and water. Another favorite is Matt and Hal Watts’ graphic on urban water consumption using sponges. It was awarded a runners-up prize in last year’s Urban Water Design Challenge, a project in which Circle of Blue partnered with Visualizing.org.

Click on the first image above to enlarge the infographic that Alec and I made that shows how the expansion of Australia’s coal industry has impacted the economics of the Hunter Valley. Click the second image above to enlarge the infographic that I made last week about water privatization in the Philippine capital of Manila. Click the third image to see a fun infographic that I found in the Circle of Blue archives.

Interested in design? Want to know what it’s like to intern with Circle of Blue? Email me at circleofblue.org/contact or comment below.

–Amanda Northrop
Cirlce of Blue design intern