The initial concept for this project was to make a prepper-style conspiracy theory regarding the migration and population expansion of black bears in Appalachia. Because of their attributes and the incentive to move towards urban areas, the truth behind their migration lies in the fact that they are taking over, slowly but surely. When researching bear attack reports, I found that several near the Black Mountain area involved dogs, so I correlated these attacks as a bear’s way of getting at home defense systems or planning on becoming our new pets. To describe data through the use of maps, I pinpointed these stories to a map and correlated it with another map describing bear sighting expansion data within the area. Fortunately, the regions for this data match so that the appearance shows that migrating bears are aggressive and are truly taking over with force. Unfortunately, I was hoping to create a map with more data from specific neighborhood bear watch sightings, but there wasn’t enough data and I wanted to be as truthful as possible.
To convey the conspiracy theory style, I decided to use a serif typeface paired with a monospace typeface that looked like typewriter, almost militaristic styles. I wanted to include a traditional sort of corkboard conspiracy section with random facts and doodles to help balance the aggressive aesthetic with lightheartedness and to poke fun at other conspiracy theories. The doodles also make the theory look childish, just as preppers might expect zombies or nuclear mutants to someday attack. After the corkboard are more aggressive imagery and more ridiculous conclusions, but the constant use of puns also helps to add humor to the darkness. This sarcastically plays at genuine conspiracy theories that jump to dramatic conclusions. All the stories and evidence are true, except for the theoretical claims, but I wanted to convey the dramatic nature of these theories by using what evidence I could find.