Immigration Visualization Project

When first exposed to the immigration statistics, I took note on how drastic the different change in numbers were. As observed the information further, I connected the different highs and lows of the numbers to different points in history that I was previously aware of. I cannot say that the statistics took me completely by surprise, but neither can I say that one point didn't intrigue me. In the timeframe where the Gilded Age was at its height, the immigration numbers were't as high as I pictured them.

Predicting the future immigration statistics is perplexing. On one hand, the United States is currently in a time of economic tension, which I believe would repel immigrants. On the other, immigrants today from many countries in Europe are trying to escape their own nation's economic problems that are worse than the situation in America. One prediction I feel confident about, is that there will be many immigrants from countries like Greece and several North African nations. I do not know if our immigration numbers will follow the same increasing trend.

My group and I wanted to create a timeline of sorts, but we didn't want a normal, horizontal/vertical type of graphic. We decided to use a spiral, because it is a visually captivating figure. We then added several pictures that represented different points in time that effected immigration. The most challenging tasks in creating our piece had to have been using Adobe Illustrator and marrying physical media with digital media. Finding a scanner was a laborious task as well...
If given the chance to recreate my group's final project, I would like to do all of it in Adobe Illustrator. I feel it would look more streamline that way. I would have also added more information, as well as a y axis so that people would be able to actually get numbers from this visual.