Illustrated Income Tax Return

This project was created in a studio with Doug Hessltine during my Fall 2011 semester at the University of Michigan. The prompt was to create a large scale, print infographic, with the content completely left open to us. I decided to look around for the most boring subject or information, and try and make it “visually exciting”. That term “visually exciting” turned out to be too general, and I narrowed my scope to making something “deceptively interesting”.

Upon seeing the image, the illustration and colors are meant to draw you in. Once you realize what you’re looking at, you feel slighted but note that you had shown and interest in something everyone dreads and finds boring, a 1040 income tax return. The information on the 1040 is cluttered and cramped, and the infographic is supposed to display a similar feeling while also showing a light satire on all the places your tax dollars end up.

Click the image to view larger.