Part 3: working it out: diagrammatic illustration - giving instructions

The brief here was to create an instructional illustration from a choice of topics, from which I chose 'Making a cup of tea'.

I was talking to my sister about the exercise and she asked if the illustration could be used at the school where she's an infant teacher.

She needed a set of sequence cards for making a cup of tea that was to be used by a small group of children for whom English is not their first language.

This was marvellous!  I had a client brief - and I had to ensure that the outcome fitted the brief.

The brief: To create a set of sequence cards for making a cup of tea, suitable for primary school children where English is taken as an additional language.

• Must show the sequence of activities simply and clearly
• Illustrations should be attractive to primary school children and include enough detail to provide opportunities for language development
• Images should be in a suitable format to allow them to be cut up for using as individual cards

For inspiration I researched informational illustrations generally, and tea-making specifically.

http://www.fordillustration.com/Instructional-Illustrations

http://www.fordillustration.com/Instructional-Illustrations

From The Times online

The illustrations from Ford illustration are a real inspiration - they are so clear and attractively drawn.  They use a muted grey colour palette with small amounts of colour to highlight details.

The illustration 'It's you to a tea' from The Times online is also very attractive and in a similar style to those above with clean lines and a muted colour palette.

I like the simplicity and the clarity of these drawings.

If possible I would like to be able to sequence the tea-making activities without written descriptions.


I started to work out the steps required to carry out the task.  I really wanted to have 6 steps as these would fit conveniently on an A4 sheet at a reasonable size for clarity and be handy for photocopying.  However, 8 steps make a clearer picture sequence of the instructions, so I decided to create the illustrations to fit on 2 sheets of A4, with 4 steps on each sheet.

I started by making thumbnail sketches of the equipment and sequence of the activities.

sketchbook -sequencing and thumbnail sketches

For each illustration the main activity must be obvious - drawn in a simple and bold style with a subtle background image that doesn't detract.  I thought the best way to achieve this would be to use Adobe Illustrator - it would provide clean precise blocks of colour and sharp lines.

I started by creating a subtle kitchen-feel background - a tiled wall with a worktop in front - in pale grey.  Against the background I placed the 8 illustrated steps, showing the equipment in clear simple drawings, outlined in black.

Using Illustrator allowed me to easily experiment with colour.

experimenting with colour

For example, I could test the kettle in different colours to assess the effects.  I chose to use white because the bolder colours looked too loud and dominant.  White allowed the kettle to take a secondary role and the water to take the lead - because the water in its different stages is vital to tea-making!

I prepared an initial set of images for my sister to look at and to give feedback.  Mostly she was happy with the results, with just one or two comments.

Taking her comments on board, and after looking at the drafts carefully myself, I made some adjustments to the drawings.  They have now been printed out and are ready for laminating and cutting into individual cards.

They haven't yet had a test drive at school so I can't comment on how they worked in reality, but here they are!