Editorial Illustration
ILLUSTRATION 312
Assignment
Create a full page editorial illustration for AARP magazine from the accompanying
article excerpt entitled “What You Don’t Know May Kill You”. You should consider the
concept, illustration, medium, and the entire spread design and type treatment.
Keep in mind the presentation in your portfolio.
The main function of the illustrator is to represent, interpret, and heighten the
meaning of a selected passage of text (see below) with the aim of contributing to the
reader's appreciation.
Stage 1
Thumbnails and concepts – metaphorical - Research and reference (from life, photos,
found objects, imagination, memory), preliminary thumbnails and ideation.
Stage 2
Refined comprehensive to final
Vocabulary
Composition and Concept
Materials
Specs are 8” W X 10.5” H proportion for the illustration (10.5 H x 16” W spread).
Any medium or mixed media
Original art size of illustration is up to you – For spread utilize Photoshop, Illustrator,
and Indesign
Timeline:
Assigned: Wed 17th
Thumbnails – 10 composition concepts due: Mon 22nd
Wed. 24th – No Class
Revised comps/ concept to go to finish: Mon 29th
Wed Nov 1st: finals are in progress and personal project #3 DUE for crit
Mon 6th finals are in progress
DUE: Final on Wed. Nov. 8th
CD-r of your portfolio – ALL final 312 projects and personal pieces.
“What You Don’t Know May Kill You”
Andrew W. Seefeld, M.D. and Adam Landman, M.D.
Recently, an elderly patient presented to our Emergency Department (ED) complaining of chest pain
and shortness of breath. During the history, the patient informed the physician that she had “high sugar and
heart problems.” She takes medications for these conditions but did not remember their names. All she
knew was that she takes one white pill in the morning and a blue pill at night. Do you see a problem? Her
physical exam revealed a low blood pressure and blood oxygenation, a slow heart rate, as well as pale, cool
and sweaty skin. She had a loud heart murmur, her lungs were filled with fluid and legs considerably
swollen. Clinically she was in severe congestive heart failure likely precipitated by an accidental overdose
of one of her “colored pills.” Unfortunately, we didn’t know which one.
The patient was immediately placed on an external pacemaker to prevent the heart from slowing any
further and given medications to increase her heart rate, decrease the fluid in her lungs and lessen the strain
on her heart. The ED physician was left treating a patient in severe distress, with an incomplete medical
history; a motif that has been increasing quite frequently in today’s healthcare system. After the patient was
stabilized and laboratory results returned, it was discovered that the patient had taken too much digoxin, a
cardiac medication that at high serum concentration could have easily resulted in her death. What is even
more concerning is that we have an antidote for this overdose, and had we known her ingestion
immediately, it would have been used much sooner!
So how many surgeries have you had? Can you list your medical problems? What prescription
medications do you take? Do you know their dosages and how often you take them? While most Americans
are familiar with their investment portfolios and bank account balances, few can provide adequate medical
histories. Money is one thing; your life is another. As Emergency Physicians, the doctor’s on the frontlines
of healthcare, we value this information, at times critical treatment decisions depend on it. The time has
come for the American public to take an active responsibility in maintaining a readily accessible record of
their personal health information.
From a clinical research perspective, there have been very few formal research studies evaluating a
patient’s ability to recall their personal medical history. A 2003 Yale University study of 94 under-served
patients, found that only 42% could accurately cite their medication names, 13% their medication doses and
29% their medication frequencies. We suspect, that additional studies would only confirm that patients do
not have adequate knowledge of their own medical conditions; data that could make an enormous
difference in medical care and outcome, particularly in an emergency situation.
Part of the problem in today’s healthcare arena, is that patients routinely visit multiple physician
specialists (i.e., orthopedics, dermatology, gastroenterology), sometimes in completely different healthcare
facilities. This diversity makes it difficult to ensure that any single provider has access to a patient’s
complete medical record including clinical notes, laboratory (i.e. blood work) as well as imaging results
(i.e. x-rays). A universal electronic medical record would ameliorate this challenge but this reality is years
to decades from becoming a reality. Therefore, in the short-term the burden falls back on the patient to
provide this imperative data to their healthcare provider. This places enormous responsibility on patients
for not only remembering their pertinent medical history but also relaying this crucial information to their
treating physician. Whether they are visiting a local clinic or entering a nearby Emergency Department, the
ability to communicate accurate knowledge of medications, medical/surgical history, allergies and much
more is invaluable to any healthcare provider.
We propose that each of us maintain an accessible, abridged medical record; something that will aide
any healthcare provider in delivering the highest quality of patient care. This condensed medical history
can to be kept in a wallet/purse and valued as much as a driver’s license or credit card. This action,
something so simple, may one day help save your life. Moreover, it will convert medical histories
consisting of “I take one white pill in the morning and have heart problems,” to “I take digoxin for my
congestive heart.”