Positive Posters provides a shared platform that encourages designers to be proactive in shaping important issues. We believe in the ability of design to inspire minds, change attitudes and spark revolutions.
The 2011 Positive Posters brief asks you to design a poster that highlights or exposes an issue specific to your own country, someone else’s or one that is international. It could be social, environmental or political; anything that you believe deserves a global audience and could be better seen or understood.
This is an opportunity for you to make a positive contribution towards an issue by presenting it to a global audience. We don’t want to tell you what’s important; we’d like you to tell us what’s important to you.
Case Study - Help Japan
On Friday March 11 2011 Japan was struck by one of the largest earthquakes in recorded history causing widespread devastation to the nation and it’s people. Canadian visual artist and designer James White wanted to help. He acted quickly and his self initiated project, driven by design made a big impact.
“When I woke up on the morning after the quake struck Japan I knew immediately that I wanted to do something to help. Being a designer who already runs a well-traveled blog, I decided early on that this would be the vehicle I would use in order to generate funds to donate. Using my abilities to help.
The design came together very quickly as I wanted something simple, striking and obvious as to what it represented. The Japanese rising sun symbol with a fracture symbolized what had happened, where it happened, and that they need our help.The title “Help Japan” says it all, and is non-specific so the poster could be used for a number of fundraising and charitable events.
The image itself took on a life of it’s own after going viral and has helped many other people with their own fundraising efforts. That’s exactly what I wanted the image to represent, a call for help. I received a staggering number of emails in the days after its release from high school kids, companies, charitable organizations, magazines, etc all wanting to use the image for their own initiatives. It traveled all over the world, to places I myself will never see.
A person in Toronto sent me a photo of a roughly printed version of the poster that ended up in a Korean grocery store. My “Help Japan” text was replaced and translated, urging people to donate. It was a beautiful example of my design being used to help, and crossed over to another language.”
James’ story is a perfect example of the kind of work we believe in and want to encourage. Use his story as inspiration when thinking of issues that matter to you.
A while back we asked 2010 winner Jesse Mallon what he thought made a good poster good. We kind of figured he would have a bit of an idea and he did, three of them in fact!
1. Be inspired by the theme, but don’t take it too literally
Last year’s theme, ‘A Glass Half Full’, was a great starting point to work from. There were a lot of great entries that presented the theme literally, but there was probably a fair few more that took a more lateral approach. Trying to represent the theme for what it is on an immediate level can limit your options when it comes to the design. Considering the wider message of the theme (in last year’s case, ‘Optimism’) should give you some more inspiration to work with.
2. Think about who will see the poster
As with any design brief, it’s vital that you think about who you’re communicating to. Even though at first your audience is the design community and the judges, in the end the winning poster has to communicate effectively to those who will see it after it’s pasted up.
Most people aren’t going to spend much time interpreting a poster they see on the streets, so it’s important that it captures their interest and they can understand the message easily. That being said, the message doesn’t have to be spelt out typographically, but could simply be a feeling or an emotion (much like 2009’s winning poster, Peter Chmela’s ‘Smile’).
3. The poster needs to stand out from the pack
And by ‘the pack’ I mean both the other competition entries and everything that will be surrounding the winning poster when it’s pasted up. In 2010, the poster appeared on the busy streets of Melbourne, Sydney and Hong Kong. So it’s a good idea to keep in mind that it needs to stand out in a city landscape full of other posters and advertisements.
This doesn’t necessarily mean it has to be brighter or louder than everything around it. Keeping it simple can be a good point of difference in contrast to advertisements that are often required to have a lot of content.
Another thing to consider is whether or not your poster can work on more than one level. For example, Micah Scott’s entry from 2010, ‘3 Good Things’, directly interacted with the audience, asking them to write on the poster three things that are good in their lives. Of course, your design doesn’t have to be interactive, but it’s just an example of how you can help your poster stand out from the pack.
So, in short, don’t limit your inspiration, have a clear message and make sure your poster stands out from the other entries and the city landscape. Best of luck to everyone entering the competition this year and I look forward to what I’m sure will be another successful year for Positive Posters.
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