PSA Campaign
For this project, we were give the assignment to design a print campaign for a social or environmental issue of our choosing. I have always loved animals and love learning about them. So, I chose to create a campaign about species endangerment due to habitat loss. This is something I deeply care about that I believe needs to be made more aware. Through my research, I found that the leading cause for species extinction and endangerment is through the loss of habitat. Whether it's through deforestation, coral bleaching, pollution, CO2 emissions, or other human caused sources, habitats are being destroyed.
I had many ideas cross my mind when deciding how to go about creating a campaign for this global issue. I first thought of depicting animals in the arctic melting like ice cream cones or turtles eating food made of plastic. However, I decided to go with a more comical, lighthearted approach. I thought about how these animals that are endangered are losing their home and no longer have a place to live. After this thought came to mind, this one immediately followed: what if they started to live in our homes instead? Then, I framed my campaign around my question and created the following posters with comics depicting animals in human homes.
I would also like to note that I am not affiliated with with the World Wildlife Fund at all. I just used their logo to fulfill my project requirements because they fit the issue I chose.
The Tiger in the Bathroom
The Sunda Island Tiger is the most endangered tiger species in the entire world. They are the smallest tiger, weighing up to 140kg. The human civilizations and ever growing developments in south-east Asia are reducing their habitats, leading to the endangerment of these tigers.
Tigers are one of my favorite animals, so I knew I wanted to make a poster with one on it. I am not sure what first inspired my idea to put a tiger inside a bathtub, but I liked the juxtaposition of it. A very large tiger inside of a little bathroom seemed like just the right fit for a more comical illustration. I then thought about how a tiger would interact with the space. This made me think of muddy footprints, scratch marks, and a rubber duck in danger. The overall feeling I wanted to invoke from these illustrations, was something lighthearted yet something that you wouldn't want to have happen. Realistically, it would not be very fun to have a tiger trashing your bathroom, but that is what we are basically doing to them.
Panda on the Couch
As the mascot for the WWF, the Giant Panda is a well known species on the endangered list. Their home in the Chinese Yangtze Basin has been diminishing due to infrastructure development. This is leading to the isolation of panda populations, affecting their ability to find new bamboo and mates.
I drew some inspiration from pop culture for this poster. Having grown up watching the beloved movie Kung Fu Panda, it felt fitting to depict a giant panda who just loves to eat much like Po. However, it is also well known that pandas are quite lazy. So this, panda is just like one of those messy roommates that nobody wants.The kind that leaves their empty pizza boxes everywhere and grease stains on the couch. Would you want this kind of environment in your home?
Lemur Pillow Fight
There are over 100 species of Lemurs on the island of Madagascar. Many of these species are critically endangered due to the loss of 90% of Madagascar's forest cover. Among these endangered lemur species are: the black and white ruffed lemur, the bamboo lemur, and the aye-aye.
I looked to Dreamworks again when thinking about how to represent lemurs on my poster. I immediately thought of King Julian from Madagascar and his love for mischief. Lemurs are very agile and playful creatures, so it was only natural to depict them having fun on their poster. Instead of monkeys jumping on the bed, it's lemurs. To add to the sense of mischief, I also wanted to involve them in a pillow fight, making a mess with those fancy feathered pillows.
The Design Process
The first step in my idea was to create these fun illustrations. I enjoyed this a lot and loved adding the little details here and there to make each one come together. Whether its the little duck in the tiger's hand, the Chinese takeout on the wood floor, or the feathers falling from the pillows, each detail adds a little story. Each of these animals have a story too that deserves to be heard, so next came the part of the process where I created the poster.
The most important part of the poster, is the tagline. This is what brings attention, evokes emotion, and calls the reader to action. I spend quite a bit of time brainstorming the right tagline that didn't feel too long or wordy. I originally thought of: Would you want them to take your home? However, this felt too wordy, so I took it and shortened it. Thus, it became "Would you want your home taken?" This felt less wordy and more striking. I then made it a point to emphasize some of the words like "taken" to create more impact.
For the overall design of the poster, I wanted it to look relatively clean and simple. This would allow the tagline and illustration to take center stage. I used bright colors to make the overall poster pop, so that at a glance it gets your attention. I also carefully selected a font that would be simple to read but fit the comic style of the illustrations. Then, it was only a matter of arranging the hierarchy of the text, and adding the logos to complete the poster design. Each one has a distinct color and illustration, following the same template. I did this intentionally. The colors make each one different from the other, but the same format and illustration style shows that they are apart of the same campaign series.
