psa poster & advertisement series
project statement
The first objective for this project is to choose a topic and design a correlating series of PSA posters in InDesign. While most of the population is aware of the negative effects of the meat industry, the dairy industry is just as bad yet often overlooked. The effects of cow's milk on humans and the earth vs. that of plant-based milk stand in stark contrast from one another, and research shows this. The posters focus on these differences and the way they effect the younger generations specifically, as they are who need to be aware of this information most as they begin entering the real world. Rather than focusing on the internal health effects that dairy can have, skin issues and climate change are more relatable topics for young adults and youth. Ditch Dairy (ditchdairy.com) represents this project as a resource to learn more about the harmful impact of cow's milk vs. plant-based milk.
The first poster features an illustration of a dairy cow whose skin is breaking out with both acne and blackheads. The cow is extremely sad about the state of its skin - displaying a frowny face. This design conveys the correlation between cow's milk and skin issues, as the copy suggests. The color pink, which matches the cow's nose and ears, highlights the most important information in this poster, while a brown matching the cow's horns makes up the background. The small yellow dots on the cow's face accentuate the severeness of its acne. The second and third posters feature an illustration of a carton of milk with a cartoon face to match the cow. The first of these two focuses on the greenhouse gases emitted during dairy production, displaying the grey colored gas as if it's directly coming out of the milk carton's mouth. The second places an emphasis on the amount of water the production of cow's milk consumes, with the milk carton floating in a body of water while simultaneously drinking it through a straw. Both versions of the milk carton are shades of blue, as studies show that the color of packaging (especially milk packaging) has a lot to do with whether or not consumers will decide to purchase that product. Blue is often chosen for this and adds more variety to the design of the carton, while also matching both the background of each and the water in the second poster. All posters and advertisements feature the same fonts: Ziclets Medium for the headline, Caraque Medium Melted for important information, and Caraque Regular Melted for the remaining copy. All fonts are sans serif and somewhat bubbly, serving as a link to the fluidity of milk, while still allowing for the copy to be easily read and cohesive with one another.
final versions (posters)
Above - L to R: greenhouse gas poster, skin/acne poster, water consumption poster
sketches
Above: paper/pencil sketches
past versions (posters)
Above - L to R: version one, version two, final version
*changes made include font choice, hierarchy (sizing of text), and both background color and layout in order to better match the cow
Above - L to R: version one, version two, final version
*changes made include mouth/smoke color (to produce a better smoking effect), font choice and color, and layout
advertisements
The second objective for this project is to create four ads that coordinate with the posters - two print (magazine ads) and two digital (one ad for web, one ad for social media.) The print ads are to be featured in Entertainment Weekly, which best reaches the majority of the target audience of young adults. Entertainment Weekly's media kit features various sizes, but the full page and half page vertical sizes best serve the needs of the project. The full-page color ad is a variation of the second poster, illustrating the water consumption involved with dairy production. The half page ad is in black and white and is an angled and heightened version of the greenhouse gas poster, which is the design that works best in this color mode due to its large grey gas bubble. The web ads are also variations of the posters themselves, with the Instagram ad focusing on the sad cow illustration and corresponding fact, but in a square format rather than rectangular, and the half page web ad being another, more stretched out variation of the water consumption poster.
final versions (ads)
Above - L to R: Instagram web ad, half page banner web ad
Above - L to R: full page color print ad, half page black & white print ad
*print ads are to be featured in Entertainment Weekly and are sized as such
prototypes
