Tiger Calendar

Creating the siberian tiger infographic poster

The Tiger

The Tiger himself became the focal point of composition. The picture that seemed just right was fortunately sourced from free stock. After a short conversation with the Norwegian photographer Thor Malmstein, he granted his permission to use the picture.

Illustrator Tatyana Trikoz reworked the photo in a charming picture. It was pure magic:

The year of tiger

The siberian tiger is the northernmost subspecies and the only one living in a snowy terrain. The seasonal fluctuations' effect on the tiger’s life is depicted in a series of charts. This part of the calendar is the most informative.

Changing seasons can be spotted even in the illustration itself: snow banks do not melt until the middle of April, giving way to the lush summer vegetation and then back to snow in October. The actual snow depth had been thoroughly researched.

The fur chart shows the seasonal variations of the length, density and the color of the coat.

Diet depends on the season: in the winter the tiger feeds primarily on hooved animals, and in summertime on badgers, raccoon dogs and other small animals. The chart below shows how much food the tiger needs for the comfortable existence and what happens when the tiger is malnourished .

The calendar performs two functions: it serves as the legend for the charts and as an actual calendar.

The map

A simple Google map was used to illustrate the diminishing habitat of tigers. It included 13 “tiger” countries as well as countries where tigers used to exist. The text functions as a legend with color-coded highlights of the populations in accordance with the areas on the map.

Behind the scenes

Wide array of sources were processed while preparing the calendar: from a scientific article “Morphological Indicators of the Amur Tigers” (L.L. Kerley, J.M. Goodrich and others, 2005) to weather statistics in the tiger’s habitat, to the photos of tiger tracks and anatomical details of the skull and the claws of siberian tigers.

The lion's share of these materials was not included in the final design. For example the dependency of tiger diet on their range:

The result

The poster was published in the January issue of National Geographic Russia as a New Year's present to readers.