Comic+Cons

=Comic Cons= By Edeline Bernal

media type="file" key="comiccon_final.swf" width="508" height="347" [| View Final] | [|Download Source] Last accessed: April 2, 2008

toc

**Topic Focus:**
This infographic studies the evolution (or rather, the development or history) of comic book conventions around the world since 1970, with a particular focus on attendance data for each event. Users could interact with the interface by clicking and dragging the slider on the timeline, clicking a speech bubble or a tab to reveal a collapsible detail sheet, as well as following an external link (usually official page of the con) by clicking on an event name.

**Struggles:**
My main struggle for this project is researching my data. Since there is no available finished research or compilation of attendance records about this topic online, I had to do my own research for each individual event, each year since 1970. There's also no available books or journals specific to comic cons either so I had to depend on whatever I could find online, from blogs, wikis, to news reports, etc. It was hard not only because I had to make a compromise between the availability of information and reliability of my sources, but also due to finding any data at all to those events that existed prior the Internet. Other problems I encountered include the accessibility of non-English sites. Although translators work for some, there were a lot of sites that were not exactly English-friendly.

**Inspiration:**
family, school, etc.). [|See work].
 * Anymails** establishes good rules on how to organize information (ie. read, unread, responded;

Interaction: Rollovers. [|See work].
 * Breathingearth.net** - uses world map for spatial info, and colors + text for quantity.

Color coded per era. Zoom-in's for details. [|See work].
 * British History.** Good control of timeline. Slide drag, Next event button.

Back to Top

**Research**
This is a video chronicle of 2007 San Diego Comicon Int'l. Gives you a good idea of the environment, the attendees (from geeks to celebrities to creators), activities, etc. Courtesy of IFC News. media type="custom" key="643291"

**Collected Data**
Download [|pdf] to view. Includes name, location, website, attendance per year, 1-day entrance price, estimated booth/table price. Note: This features 15 of the major comic conventions in the world. Other comic conventions were not included due to time constraint and sometimes, lack of sources.

Back to Top

Pencil Sketches
Download the [|pdf] or click on thumbnails below:

Back to Top

Visual System
This was my preliminary sketch for each con unit.

s = 0-999 m = 1000-9,999 l = 10,000-49,999 xl = 50,000-99,999 xxl = 100,000-500,000+ || But I decided to change it to this in an attempt to tie this project with some elements present in project 2. I added a popping sound (done and recorded by me) for every unit appearance to add on to the speech "bubble" pun.
 * [[image:ccs_visualsys.png]] || **Sizes** (# of attendees)

The treatment for the infographic title is similar to what I used in project 1.

Back to Top

Visual Experiments
Here are some screen captures of some experimental 'looks' for my infographic before my final. Download the [|pdf] for more.

My goal for the detailed sheets (to contain details) is to imitate a comic artist's desk (penciller, plotter, etc.), which is inevitably filled with stacks of papers with notes and sketches on them. It adds a more personal feel, such that when the paper "expands," it looks as if the user placed the paper there him/herself. Suddenly, the stage becomes the user's desk, and the user becomes the artist. A "whooshing" sound (done and recorded by me, again) is added to copy the sound of paper rustling.

Back to Top

Other ideas
Here are some things I had in mind but was not able to do due to lack of time:
 * Zooming in per continent (continents are distinguished on rollover, zoomable on click)
 * Being able to click anywhere on the timeline, and the slider will move to the position accordingly
 * Much more complete list of cons with relevant details and attendance information

Back to Top

**Links**
Here are some (of the many other) sites I went to for background and data digging.
 * Comic-con International | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comic-Con_International
 * Adventure Con | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adventure_Con
 * Paradise Comics | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradise_Comics_Toronto_Comicon
 * List of science fiction conventions | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_science_fiction_conventions
 * List of comic book conventions | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Comic_book_conventions
 * Summaries of Megacon's through George Perez profile | http://vu.morrissey-solo.com/moz/perez/index.htm

Back to Top