A rich ecosystem that deserves to be preserved

The Société des établissements de plein air du Québec (Sépaq) called on Voilà: to redesign two discovery activities at the Parc national du Fjord-du-Saguenay. We designed fifteen illustrated panels to present the geological formation of the fjord and the marine biodiversity of the region.

A common thread: time

For the formation of the Saguenay Graben activity, spectators are invited to travel through geological time several thousand years ago. These ancient periods are in reality quite recent, when compared to the amount of time that has passed since the formation of the Earth 4.5 billion years ago. 

Fitting such a long period into the panel format required transforming the timeline into an organic “thread,” with each curve equivalent to 6 million years. This method allowed us to gain flexibility in arranging the information.

A question of movement…

The formation of the Saguenay graben is the result of plates stretching, faults being created and the collapse of the earth’s crust finally being sculpted by glaciers. This idea of movement, at the heart of the presentation, was not very perceptible in the old panels. The client therefore asked us to accentuate the illustrations so that the public could better understand the dynamics at play. 

… And a question of relief

Many aerial views are presented in both activities. One of the advantages of illustration is that it can highlight important parts of an image to convey a message. Here, the client particularly wanted the audience to visually understand the important hollow of the area, both on land and underwater.

Biodiversity and climate change

The second activity introduces the public to the richness of the marine biodiversity of the region. This biodiversity exists because it is part of a complex process linked to the movement of marine currents. 

Two panels mirror each other in this presentation; one shows that the proper functioning of the marine food chain depends on the supply of oxygen and mineral salts by the upwelling of cold water to the surface. The other shows that due to climate change, this upwelling is increasingly warm and impoverished. The impacts are and will be dramatic for the region, causing the disappearance of a large quantity of living beings. This loss is illustrated in the form of pale silhouettes that appear to have been cut out of the image. They allow the viewers to visually recognize the absence of the living beings observed in the previous panel.

Discover these two interpretation activities every summer in Tadoussac and in the Saguenay Fjord National Park.

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