The Dark & Dangerous Insectarium of Dr.Justin Schmidt
Dr. Justin Schmidt at the Carl Hayden Bee Research Center created the Schmidt Pain Index in 1973. Dr. Schmidt stung himself with 78 insects and rated them like fine wines.
This web comic acts as an infographic, cataloguing Dr. Schmidt's accounts of stings from bad to worst.
Overview
This project was completed for an Information Design course at the Rochester Institute of Technology with the goal of creating an infographic that depicted a large body of data.
I started by cataloguing the stings detailed in Dr. Schmidt’s published research from least to most painful. I made this list based largely on an already existing infographic by a designer named Michelle Enemark, which used scale and a colored hexagonal grid to depict the intensity and type of sting.
An Existing Infographic
I found Michelle Enemark’s approach to the data visually interesting but lacking in a deeper user experience as the descriptions of each sting and bite are so far removed from the main graphic.
It is difficult to associate each illustration with their corresponding description, let alone visually identify the insects shown at smaller scales.
I did, however, appreciate the intention to use colored cells to depict sting intensity and that prompted exploration into cell-based data visualizations.
Initial Sketches
Heat Maps
The change in color reflected in abstracted heat maps closely related to change in pain levels from the data.
I explored initial wireframes of colored cells in various arrangements and scales for a poster medium and these are examples of that.
Print Media
This print-based approach got me thinking of advent calendars and modular heat maps, which had more playful and creative affordances for engagement than a static print would.
However, the nature of Dr. Schmidt’s descriptions of each sting felt like they needed a more linear structure to tell their story.
Aesthetic Inspiration
“Mothera” movie poster
A comic format fit well with the initial heat map approach and it would allow for a narrative to loosely tie each sting’s vignette together.
A webcomic format was the most democratic type of comic, able to be read by plenty more people than a standard print copy might, which is why I settled on the webcomic approach for Dr. Schmidt’s data.
“Hellboy” Comic by Mike Mignola
I gathered inspiration for my aesthetics from illustrators whose work best fit Dr. Schmidt’s dark humor and larger-than-life descriptions.
These included Miranda Zimmerman, “Bone” by Jeff Smith, Tim Burton’s work, and “Hellboy” comics by Mike Mignola.
“Bone” graphic novel by Jeff Smith
I noted their heavy use of shadow to imply form and their strong color and texture systems woven through each composition as ways in which I could visually weave each sting together.
Updated Sketches
Out of that inspiration, I chose a ragged, hand-drawn style that reflected the dark subject matter behind the humor.
Each composition is designed around negative space and the mystery of the larger-than-life sting descriptions.
The visual beats as you scroll through the comic weave around the viewport, punctuating the ramp up in the pain index.
At first, I depicted each insect’s imposing presence by using rough textures and limited colors haphazardly assembled.
As I worked more typographic hierarchy into each composition, I leaned more into the abstraction of the forms to add mystery.
Lastly, I adjusted the colors of the panels & their accents to push visual focus towards the illustrations, their titles, and body text.
Gritty & Dynamic
I chose to go with the broken glass approach for the majority of the comic in order to put more emphasis on the forms of the insects themselves, as they were the real focus of the piece.
The sharp panels act more like supporting characters, embodying the character of each sting and bite.
Insects
Each insect was intentionally formed by the black abyss of the comic.
Their forms largely up to the reader to interpret as their presence is meant to be so cosmic that it’s hard for anyone who has not been stung or bitten by them to truly know these insects in their entirety.
Color Progression
The color progression from least to most painful sting moves from cooler to warmer hues in association with temperature.
This progression also stems from that heat map and narrative concepts.
Readers move deeper into the Earth’s mantle until reaching the final insect and these colors also show that transition from the surface to the Earth’s core.
Title & Typography
Taurunum Ferrum
Taurunum Ferrum Iron for the title and title of each insect is bold, formal, and old. It draws the eye to each insect’s name.
TotallyGothic
TotallyGothic highlights insects’ scientific name, echoing the jagged aesthetics of the comic, with its glyphs being morphed and scaled into the ornaments that encompass each insect’s name.
Benguiat Pro ITC
For easier legibility, the body text is set in Benguiat Pro ITC, a serif font that feels condensed and old - its serifs pointed, which link it closer to the rest of the composition.
Title Design
This webcomic’s name evolved as I wove the narrative together. The story progressed from more direct address to the reader to a title that focused more on the insects and the legacy of Dr. Schmidt, which were who the comic celebrated in the first place.
“The Dark & Dangerous Insectarium of Dr. Justin Schmidt” felt like an adequate title as its absurd length meshed well with the ridiculously serious narrative.
You should be afraid of wasps
The World’s Most Painful Sting
Where the Stinging Things Are
The Most Dangerous Sting
Dark & Dangerous Insects
Dr.Schmidt’s Insectarium of Painful Stings
The Dark & Dangerous Insectarium of Dr. Justin Schmidt
Future Work
The Final Product
I am so stoked with how this turned out. The colors, the flow from panel to panel, the grittiness of the illustrations - it all communicates Dr. Schmidt’s words accurately in a whimsical visual way that his work hasn’t been depicted before.
If I were to take this further, I’d look into animating these illustrations and coding that into a website dedicated to the project with printed zine and poster adaptations of the work.
