Climate Posters
Brief
Poster to encourage others to protect the climate. Design a poster based on the information learned within the session, using multiple assets to create the layout.
Research
Back in 2021, I attended a COP 26 march with Extinction Rebellion, a climate activism group. This march was incredible moving and it felt so powerful to be part of something so big. Going into this brief I decided that I wanted to utilise the posters I created on photoshop after the event, using photos from my camera. However following the feedback from Paul Wilson, who said that I should experiment with different image styles, and more research into Extinction Rebellion's promotional assets, I went back to the drawing board. You can see the orginal designs bellow.
As you can see below, XR use bright, bold colours, with illustrations created by Clive Russell and the signature XR font (FucXed Caps). These posters are instantly recognisable as XR material. Their posters are typically printed, so the use of colour really stands out from the typical chaos of everyday life. They use alarmingly real facts about climate change and strong slogans, which will stick in your mind. These promotional assets are also used at their marches.
New designs
Going into the redesign, I knew that I wanted to use the same slogan again, "No more greenwash. No more lies. Boris Johnson hear our cries". Although Boris Johnson is no longer PM, its still an important message. I also knew that I wanted to style the posters in the same format as XR, with the bright bold backgrounds, same fonts that they use and the same stylisation of the illustrations, to create a 3 part poster series that is instantly recognisable.
When I was looking back through my photographs from the COP 26 march, there was one in particular that really stood out. It was a photograph taken of my mum, with her handmade mask, holding a poster that my youngest sister made for the protest but she sadly wasn't able to attend. The poster was created on cardboard and reads, "Make earth cool again" with a snap chat sunglasses filter over the earth. The addition of the sunglasses, makes the poster instantly more relatable for younger people. The picture is also symbolic due to the protest being in front a budget store, which promotes consumerism and demonstrates how society is exploiting our planet to create new, trendy and cheap items that it doesn't need. This was a no-brainer to use for the new series, and I decided that I wanted to use the "no more lies" section for this, as it illustrated the failings of the government with the climate crisis affecting everyday people as well as the systemic failings during the Coronavirus.
For "no more greenwashing" I had the idea to use a washing machine with the earth trapped inside, however I decided that this would be too complicated a design with the text in front of it, so decided to just stick with the washing machine.
Finally, the last poster "Boris Johnson hear our cries", I obviously had to use an illustration of Boris Johnson, and I am so happy with how it turned out. Each of the posters is using the colours stated in the XR brand guidelines .
Reflection of project
Overall, I am really happy with the work I have created for this project. I was proud of the original designs I created, but even more proud of the second attempt. For the reworking of the designs I was able to explore a brand new art style that I hadn't tried before but really enjoyed experimenting with it, and will definitely be creating more pieces in this style.
If I was to do this project again, I think I would definitely start off the project doing more research into the brand guidelines of the brand, so that I can make sure that the work I am producing is the best it can be first time round.
See all year 1 work