Design Story
Guide to the ISS
Upon completing assembly of the International Space Station, NASA needed a guidebook for three key audiences: the interested public, Congress, and stakeholders who may be interested in purchasing research time on the ISS. To inform those audiences, the Guide was created (and updated) to explain the work the ISS does, how it was built, and how it shelters the people who work there from the dangers of outer space.
You can see the finished plan here.
Reference Guide to the International Space Station: Assembly Complete Edition
The Goal
Create a guidebook--suitable for both bookshelves and coffee tables--that can serve as a reference guide, advertise for research opportunities, and also as just an interesting read. Extremely prominent visuals--four gatefolds, large diagrams--allowed for significant amounts of data about the station while also being readable for everyone in its audience.
Feedback
While the Guide's overall design was largely stable throughout its development, keeping up with the technical information provided was a major challenge. Everything happening on the station, from updated weight limits on minor systems to entire support launches being scrubbed, needed to be constantly changed based on new information from partners at NASA.
Credits
Janejit Gensler (project manager)
NASA content experts
JSC Illustrators
My Roles
Lead designer
Layout design
Content development
Research
Illustration
Platforms
Print
Web
Social
Other
