Graphic piece for the “Artists Against Plastic Pollution” collective exhibition in Berlin
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Artists Against Plastic Pollution is an initiative in the form of a creative campaign organized by the NGO Plastaway that aims to make itself visible on the streets of the city of Berlin, inviting 25 artists and designers from around the world to develop a piece in poster format to bring visibility to the problem of environmental pollution due to the massive use of plastic on our planet.
The idea we have worked on in Toormix plays with the element of irony in order to demonstrate a theme that appeals to the entire population and that should make us reflect on each of our acts.
To work on the proposal, we began from an initial premise highlighted in the briefing: the colors of creativity should be black on yellow, as this is the graphic resource that acts as a common denominator of the 25 posters made in total and therefore, of the campaign.
From here, the design of the poster was created through different layers. The first brings together a selection of Google images through a search of various concepts related to pollution: “plastic death”, “plastic disaster”, “plastic pollution”, “plastic in oceans”, etc., with which we composed the background of the poster. This represents the consequences of the problem in a clear manner and brings visibility to the problem of plastic worldwide.
In the upper layer, we created the main symbol of the subject in question, a plastic bag created in 3D as a synthesis of the great evil of plastic, the shopping bag.
Finally, the third layer consists of a typographic headline, referring to one of the slogans linked to consumerism: “Thank you, have a good day.” A “thank you” that becomes synonymous with “thank you for polluting our planet” and which uses a characteristic smiley, present in many bags from shops and supermarkets around the world.
A poster that, with the use of a single ink on the colour yellow, creates a dramatic effect and crafts a direct message with the intention of condemning one of the most everyday acts of the human being, an act which is causing the extinction of the planet.
An act of war
The result has been a campaign with the participation of several international artists and designers such as Patrick Thomas, Anthony Burrill, Via Grafik, Martina Paukova and Eike König, among others. In addition to an exhibition of posters, the campaign will be exhibited in various parts of the city of Berlin with the idea of taking the various messages to the street.
An experiment
Apart from the poster, we wanted to expand the idea and extend creativity to other applications and graphic experiments on the dangers of plastic. To demonstrate this fact, we have created other 3D forms such as a plastic bottle and have composed several message formats with the elements that make up our idea: Google searches, plastic as the protagonist and messages that challenge people to make them reflect on the dangers of the use of plastic in everyday actions.
More information: www.plastaway.org
