SEAHORSE is a multilingual, interactive, growing knowledge tree for people affected by HIV and AIDS. I work for Oxford Computer Consultants Ltd, the member of the SEAHORSE consortium. OCC’s role is the technical development of SEAHORSE.
As part of the process of evolving the visual design for the completed web site (something which the project only seriously tackled after all the other development was finished) we (Jeremy and I) were asked to spend a day or two trying to come up with ideas for a title page graphic. It had often been described as being some kind of ‘Internet café’ picture, so that is what we did.
The cartoon was roundly rejected by the other people on the design committee. We were told it looked like something from Viz (the English comic, not the American republished of Japanese comics), which annoyed me because the art style is intended to be in the style of European clear-line comics, not like Viz at all...
As a result this cartoon will never be finished off properly, despite a few obvious problems. The woman at the table is intended to be taken as a doctor but needs a pocket with a stethescope to make it more obvious. And if the man at the table is supposed to be HIV+, why is his hair so long?