Technology stories

As designers our role is to tell visual stories. I got brought in on a project to tell a story about our product technologies, and the relationships they share. I’m no computer wiz, but luckily at Red Hat there’s no short of them. After setting up some one-on-one time, I entered the room with a pen and paper. It was the first day of school again, and this was computer history 101. I’ve never thought too much about what was behind the technology that’s become part of our everyday life, but within 15 minutes my eyes were opened wide.

After a crash course in how the tech works, we started to dig into the products that Red Hat provides. Each has its own place in the blueprint of the server and we needed to figure out the best way to show it. The style landed on isometrics.

You’ve probably seen these before as we used them in Summit this year. It’s a method that represents three-dimensional objects in two dimensions. For us in telling this story, they are to be built upon, creating an environment. Each layer representations a product, showing its function, and how it works. Some you’re able to go into detail with while others are built more conceptual. The project is still in works, and will take some brain power – but in the end we’ll tell the story of how our products are built, and how they interact with each other.