SAVE THE SMALL, PROTECT THEM ALL: POSTER

In my fifth graphic design studio, we were tasked with creating a poster that represented animals to submit to an international poster exhibition at the University of IT and Management in Rzeszów, Poland. The requirements were very broad, but I knew I wanted to create something that brought attention to an ecological issue I care about.

 

We started by researching various Polish poster artists to find similarities in their work that we wanted to emulate. I found that I really enjoyed and was inspired by the posters that incorporated limited but striking color palettes, textural depth, strong use of grids, and interesting typographic pairings with bold text and handwritten letters. These were all qualities I decided to incorporate in my design.

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I began creating various word lists, mind maps, and took lots of notes about issues surrounding grassland birds specifically. I decided to hone in on the fact that declining insect populations are leading to grassland bird decline, all at the result of lack of grasslands for these native species to thrive! I started by illustrating native insects and sourcing photos for the birds in the public domain. At first I played with just using one bird, the redwinged blackbird, as the focal point. I shortly realized that this issue affects all grassland birds, so many of them should be represented. I knew I wanted to print elements on the Risograph printer to give my poster a good textural quality and then scan them at a high resolution so that they could be manipulated digitally. I played with many variations of composition and color, but decided to stay true to the Riso ink colors in my final design to create interest and stand out.

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Overall, I'm so pleased with the turnout of this poster. I plan to submit to various design competitions in the near future, so stay tuned!