Climate Risk Emotional Storytelling
This deep-dive highlights our technical design process for one of our earliest collaborations with Dr. Douglas J. McCauley (UCSB). To see how this single project grew into a multi-year partnership spanning global ocean research and outreach, check out our full case study: Strategic Design for Climate Impact: 8 Years with the Benioff Ocean Initiative.
When ecologist Douglas J. McCauley needed to communicate the critical choices facing our oceans for the World Economic Forum, he partnered with SayoStudio to translate high-stakes climate research into a clear, strategic visual narrative.
Below, we take a look behind the scenes at how we combined 3D terrain modeling, traditional digital painting, and custom social media animation to translate complex ecological research into a vivid, actionable visual story.
Translating High-Stakes Research into Visual Strategy
Picture our oceans in 30 years. What do you see? The year 2050 isn’t that far off, and it’s critically important that we make changes now to secure a healthy future. The lead image above paints a dark picture of future ocean ecosystems—but it doesn’t have to turn out this way.
Ecologist, marine biologist, and conservationist Douglas J. McCauley, UCSB, contacted SayoStudio to create this ocean ecology science illustration. For McCauley’s article, 10 steps to save the ocean, he needed a vivid visual of the consequences of inaction. Read on to learn more about the process of creating this epic illustration, and to see the alternative, healthy future (or jump to the full art close-up).
This is the kind of challenge we love at SayoStudio—making epic, conceptually complex art pieces for important causes. SayoStudio founder Nicolle has had the pleasure of working with the McCauley lab for many years, with one of our first and most popular collaborations shown here, comparing land and ocean extinctions. McCauley referenced this land vs sea extinction art as a starting point for his vision of the new ecology landscape.
The land/sea extinction comparison was one of SayoStudio’s first ‘epic’ pieces. It shows the history of the human impact on land and the parallels to our oceans’ possible ecological future. This piece became a great example of how rich and visually complex an infographic can be.
Synthesizing Complex Data into a Unified Design Framework
We collaborated closely with Dr. McCauley to distill key research parameters and complex ecological data into a defined visual framework, drawing from extensive photographic and scientific references.
- sustainable fishing
- green energy, including solar, wind, and wave
- sustainable farming, including landbased and aquaculture
- people’s role, enjoying recreation, and clean cities and communities
- responsible shipping powered by green energy
- diverse marine life, from mangroves and corals to deep-sea vents
versus the unhealthy vision, where the ocean ecosystem has collapsed:
- destructive trawling fishing leaving little behind
- oil drilling, polluting the ocean and air
- large-scale pollution from land-based farming and aquaculture
- unsustainable land-use; unhealthy housing
- polluting cargo ships that interfere with whales and other marine animal communication
- little sea life left, replaced with plastic pollution
Composition & Visual Architecture: Balancing Dual Scenarios
Starting with McCauley’s references, we gathered our own research to envision what a healthy, sustainable landscape might look like in 30 years. Since we were visualizing a tropical ocean, Singapore’s amazing, futuristic architecture served as great inspiration.
Sadly, envisioning the unhealthy alternative isn’t as hard, as there are already many photographic examples from across the world.
To ensure scientific accuracy and narrative clarity, we translated the initial research into a composition sketch. Working through an iterative feedback loop with the McCauley lab, we refined the layout—balancing key ecological markers, human elements, and visual hierarchy before moving into final production.
Digital Craft & 3D Terrain Modeling: Honoring the Science
With the composition agreed on, we started 3D-modeling the landscape. First, we focused on the background hills and underlying ocean bottom. This was created in the terrain software Gaea, which uses erosion algorithms to create realistic landscapes. We wanted to have the option to create a simple animated version, fading from one view to the other. To do so, the ‘bones’ of the 2 landscapes needed to match as closely as possible.
When representing ecological systems, we often begin with the overall sky. It helps set the tone and motivates us to fill the scene. From the start, we knew we wanted a sky free of pollution for the healthy view, and a darker, polluted sky for the unhealthy scene. With the overall landscape taking shape, Nicolle started modeling individual components.
To learn more about how we bring complex concepts to life through motion, explore our Animated Science Storytelling services.
When working in 3D it’s possible to buy pre-made models to place in a scene. Although SayoStudio does use stock models on occasion, we often hand-model to create our own unique pieces that better fit the science. Custom models in this creation include much of the coral, the futuristic city, the futuristic fishing boat and cargo boat, the yellow Argos floats, and the fishing nets. For the people, models were customized from Daz 3D. For other parts, like the complex cargo ships, it made more sense to use stock models, such as the complex cargo ships in the unhealthy scene. Still other pieces start with a model with details hand-drawn on top.
Final Touches to the Ocean Ecology Illustration
Like many digital illustrators, we remind ourselves from time to time that we were trained to draw traditionally. It was more efficient to hand-draw the fish and other animals. As each piece was finished, whether with a 3D model or a hand drawing, we added it to the larger landscape in Photoshop. This collage approach allows for more flexibility. Although compositions can’t be fully changed in the color art stage, collaging makes it easier to add or subtract elements.
To finalize the piece, we tuned the visual contrast between both futures. Working closely with McCauley, we pushed the polluted scene toward dark, muddy tones while exaggerating the vivid blues, lush kelp, and active marine life in the healthy scene to guide the viewer’s eye.
The Final Campaign Assets: From Still Visuals to Motion
There are so many details to see in this illustration, we created an animated view to zoom in for a closer look. The article used the final still art, but the animated version proved useful to promote the story across social media. To learn more about the science, and what you can do to impact change, see McCauley’s article at the World Economic Forum.