Wired: Jargon Watch

This was a project I did a couple of months ago for Wired Magazine. Unfortunately the piece ended up being pulled before it could be published, but I thought I would give it a home here so that it wouldn't languish on my hard drive.

The assignment was to illustrate a recently coined phrase for the monthly feature "Jargon Watch."

This was the list of phrases I had to choose from:

Longdaysin: A newly discovered molecule that can change the circadian rhythm of animals and is being tested as a jetlag remedy

WWF: A new file type that is unprintable (designed to reduce paper use in offices.)

Culturomics: The study of cultural trends based on quantifiable analysis of books. (As opposed to literary interpretation.)

Pocket airports: Small airports designed for residential neighborhoods.

I was so inspired by the selection (and so excited to be working for Wired) that I ended up doing a sketch for each term.

Longdaysin:  A fish trying to cope with his newly adjusted circadian rhythm. ( Essentially, a fish with insomnia. Other possibilities for depicting this would be to show the fish sitting up watching TV late at night.)

WWF: person working on their laptop in the canopy of a rainforest.

Culturomics: a book being studied by scientists in a lab.

Pocket Airports (a): A suburban cul-de-sac with planes instead of cars. 

Pocket Airports (b): A riff on the classic suburban image of a man washing his car, replacing the car with a plane.

Pocket Airports (c): A suburban home with a plane parked out front and a sky full of plane traffic. I would also include a little family next to the plane waving to the camera, like a vintage family photo.

The art director liked the illustration for Pocket Airports and I did another round of sketches developing the idea further.

Here was final rendering.