Paper Waste
Due to wasteful consumption, tons of paper towels are thrown into lanfills every year, causing harmful impact to the environment.
CATEGORY
Animation, Illustration
TIME
5 weeks
TOOLS
Figma, Principle
PROMPT
Create an interactive visual explanation of an idea or a complex concept through a larger device-based solution.
FINAL ANIMATION
CONTEXT
Inspiration
Seeing the large amount of paper towels my roommates use for simple tasks, I couldn’t help but feel wasteful and concerned. After a little bit of research, I was able to see how common this problem was in American families, so I decided to make a short infographic about it. Inspired by one of my favorite YouTube channels, Kurzgesagt, I wanted to use this learning opportunity to experiment with their unique style.
Team
I reached out to my filmmaker friend, Ethan Yau, to work together on this animation project.
WILL’S ROLE
Visual design, illustration, storyboard, animation
ETHAN’S ROLE
Script, sound design, voiceover
Project goal
To inform readers who own paper products about the potential danger to our environment when used wastefully, and to educate readers on how they can prevent extensive paper waste.
SCRIPT
What’s wrong with paper towels?
I began by gathering important information about paper towels, using statistics and facts to reinforce my message. I then worked with Ethan to figure out a suitable tone for the video and had him write a script.
Paper Waste Script
This is a paper towel. Useful for cleaning and such in our everyday lives. However, since paper towels can’t be recycled, they must be dumped. 254 million tons of paper towels are discarded to landfills and incinerators every year. When burned or decomposed, they release methane gas, which is one of the leading causes of climate change. So how can we lessen the impact? Firstly, we can use sustainable methods of cleaning like using a kitchen cloth at home or an air dryer in public restrooms. Simply being aware of how much you consume helps to minimize long-term damage to our Earth. And by implementing these methods in our daily lives, we can help make a cleaner, better world.
STORYBOARD
Mapping out my ideas
I divided sentences from the script into sections, planned the pacing of the video, and matched visuals with the voiceover.
ASSETS
Smoke
The smoke needs to have enough mass and motion to convey the negative impact of paper towels. The consistent motion keeps it from competing with the main subjects.
Fire
As the main subject of the scene, the fire needs to have strong motion to contrast the slowly moving surroundings.
STILLS
Landfill scene
Factory scene
Greenland scene