The Man O’ War is a fascinating organism, famous for its stunning colouration and painful stings. However, outside of academic papers, very little information is available regarding its life cycle.
This concept for an aquarium display panel aims to showcase the life cycle and unique structure of the Man O’ War using language that is accessible to the general public.
Illustrator・Photoshop・Blender
I started by gathering information and visual references of the Man O' War's different life cycle phases from published literature.
I also conducted an environmental scan to see what existing visuals regarding the Man O’ War have been previously created. As the aim was to create an aquarium display, I also looked at existing museum and aquarium exhibits to gain a better idea of what makes an effective display.
Next, I created thumbnail sketches to explore potential layouts.
The main visual of the Man O’ War was created through 3D modelling in Blender. Sculpting was used to create the pneumatophore (the gas float above water water), while geometry nodes were used for tentacle-like zooids underwater. Textures were painted in Blender, and the render was moved to Photoshop for additional adjustments and compositing.
I first created a black-and-white prototype of the chosen layout in Illustrator, then tested out several colour pallets and typography options. When deciding on colours and fonts, I made sure to keep accessibility in mind: an online colour checker was used to ensure that the chosen palettes met contrast requirements. The display underwent several iterations until it reached the final version.
