POSTER DESIGN
Joshimath is a town and a municipal board in Chamoli District in the Indian state of Uttarakhand. Located at a height of 6,150 feet, it is a gateway to several Himalayan mountain climbing expeditions, trekking trails and pilgrim centers like Badrinath.
Over the last few months, homes and other manmade structures in Joshimath started developing cracks, eventually forcing many families to abandon their homes and move to safer locations. One of the major reasons for this situation is a phenomenon known as land subsidence. According to the definition cited in an article on outlookindia.com, "Subsidence is a progressive settling or lowering of the surface brought on by the loss of water, oil, natural gas, or mineral resources from the earth."
Joshimath is a base for a lot of tourist destinations like Badrinath, Valley of Flowers, Auli, the Malari and Niti Valleys. Moreover, it is a town between two rivers - Dhaliganga nad Alaknanda, thus making it prone to floods and landslides. Despite natural causes, the town has seen a growth in unplanned construction, overpopulation, obstruction of the natural flow of water, and hydel power activities, thus leading to subsidence. The unplanned construction activity as also NTPC’s Tapovan-Vishnugad hydro project, Char Dham road project and Helang bypass by the BRO have been going on despite warnings by experts. All these projects have only now been halted when subsidence in Joshimath has reached a dangerous scale
LOOSING BALANCE ?
In the initial poster design, I highlighted the sense of imbalance and destruction caused not just by natural disasters like landslides but also by our haphazard and artificial settlements. The central image portrays a time when Joshimath was pristine, emphasizing the theme of Joshimath's decline. The emergence of green grass symbolizes nature's adverse response to the situation in Joshimath, while two pillows trapped in the soil metaphorically represent human lives ensnared in the disaster.
The poster's color palette is predominantly dull brown, with attention drawn to the blue-tinted image of Joshimath and the vibrant greenery. The font, Graduate, is a slab serif, and a subtle play on words between "Loose" and "Lose" is incorporated to convey the loss of balance in our lives and the loosening of the soil beneath us. Additionally, the red "O" in the heading links to the red-colored Joshimath below, serving as a visual cue to the topic at hand.
SUBSIDENCE IN JOSHIMATH
In this poster, I have described the phenomenon of subsidence through an exaggerated visual of our earth sinking inside due to the burdens above it. Even though this design doesn't have a direct connection to Joshimath visually but I have tried to attract the attention of the viewers to the Badrinath temple in between the two layers of constructions, thus relating indirectly to the location near it, Joshimath.
The font for the heading is Garet Extra Bold. The font for the subheading is Lato Bold. Lastly, the description of Subsidence is written in Times New Roman font to give an effect of a trustworthy dictionary, also subtly implying that the issue is real.
This poster is a more vividly described version of the previous poster, explaining the reasons for such distortion of the Earth and then revealing the phenomenon at the bottom of the poster.
The fonts used here are Lato and Lato Bold.
The fonts used here are Lato and Lato Bold.
All pictures used in the process are used for non-commercial purposes only.
