Review: Design for a Cause

This poster was made in my Visual Impact class at Miami Ad School, taught by Judy Penny. Judy Penny is an extremely talented creative who is also highly awarded in the field of advertising and design. I recommend seeing her work at http://thinkpennybranding.com. She encourages you to push the boundaries of design while also ensuring you are communicating the right message. The assignment was simple, “create a poster dedicated to a cause using materials that relate to the cause or message itself.” As any designer knows, this isn’t actually a simple task. Committing to a cause and also trying to figure out how you will communicate the message you haven’t even thought of yet is daunting. Not to mention, you want your result to be simple to understand with huge impact that resonates with your audience.

My approach to design tends to follow the same process each time I do a project. I toil and struggle through a million concepts until I finally find one I like, but I don’t settle until I figure out the one I LOVE. Sometimes this process can take a day, sometimes it can take a few weeks. First, I get the general idea after doing extensive research. In this case it was that I wanted to tell audience that the rug in your home could be made in an inhumane way. The message, “Unravel Child Labor,” was perfect because the double entendre addressed not only the woven aspect of a rug I wanted to visually depict, but it also told the audience to essentially, “pull back the rug over your eyes.” The call-to-action was to go to laborrights.org to see how you can help. Finally, I got all of the materials for the rug: hemp, twine and paint. I played with the materials until I made something that I thought is beautiful. I knew in the process of creation that it that it had to look like a rug, and it also had to look as though it were unraveling. The final step, which is photographing and designing the layout, is always the most fun and rewarding. The result is something that compels the audience to take action, something that could be considered art and/or advertising.