Summary
This infographic is meant to bring to light the history of a genre of music close to my heart. As a girl from Kentucky, Bluegrass has been in my life since I can remember. I grew up with my parents hanging onto the barricades at Bluegrass Festivals, eager for more. For this assignment I wanted to make Bluegrass interesting to the people who are not already interested and I wanted to spotlight the hard truths of the genre and the people who made the music possible.
Research
In order to make an infographic design that truly represented the genre of music I love, I first conducted a lot of secondary research. I also conducted a bit of primary research by speaking with a banjo craftsman in Lexington, Kenutcky. I have consolidated some of my research here, information that inspired how my timeline ended up being organized as well as colors, sheet music, and traditions I took into account.
Infographic Inspiration
I wanted the colors and the imagery of this infographic project to stay true to the genre. I did this through a more muted, rusty, pallet of earthy tones. My goal was for my illustrations to be new and fresh, but still to call back to older bluegrass poster designs.
Layout Sketches
Here are some loose sketches while I was figuring out which direction I was interested in taking. I was determined to show the combining of cultures (African, Irish, and Scottish) and demonstrate each instrument visually, but those were my only criteria.
Infographic Drafts
I went through many different ideas for the format of this information. I was in between making a timeline, an “anatomy” of an instrument, or even a diagram of a bluegrass band and how each sound has its own place. I ended up choosing a timeline made of the sheet music for the song “Rocky Top”, one of the most well known bluegrass songs.
Illustrations
I illustrated each instrument in a traditional bluegrass band as well as images to back up years in my timeline. These include the old time banjo, the White House, a radio microphone, a cowboy hat, a record player, as well as multiple auxiliary instruments often used in mountain bluegrass.
Process Documentation
Take a look at this comprehensive process document for the project
Final Infographic
The final infographic ended up being a timeline of bluegrass music, how it came to the United States, how it was passed on and molded through different generations and locations to be what it is today. The timeline follows the path of the song “Rocky Top”, one of the most well known traditional Bluegrass songs as well as having notes on how the sound of Bluegrass is actually made.