activism campaign
For this project, I was asked to design an activism campaign for an area where we felt equality was lacking. This campaign had to include an icon, as well as a poster.
concept
An area of inequality that is very personal to me if the mistreatment of women by the healthcare industry and workers. Women are systemically failed by the medical industry, from a lack of research and funding to a refusal to believe or treat issues that women struggle with. It takes most women almost a decade of suffering to get diagnosed with various chronic illnesses, and even once they are diagnosed their complaints aren't taken seriously. A byproduct of the idea of "hysteria" many healthcare workers are taught that women's complaints are dramatized and not to be taken seriously. Painful and harmful symptoms are dismissed as "normal" and just something women have to deal with. It is not "normal" to suffer and that's the issues my campaign focuses on.
process
For this poster I wanted to take traditionally feminine aesthetics and subvert them. Warm and friendly pink is used in a searing tint with red that is biting instead of bashful. Curvy letterforms and patterns aren't inviting and organic, but give the idea of "normalcy" a sarcastic effect. The word normal is filled with a repeating list of some of the terrible symptoms that women are just left to deal with. The repetition and length of the list serves as a reminder of just how widespread this issue is. I wanted the poster to be almost aggressive in a way to force the viewer to confront the topic. I wanted the wild nature of the imagery to relate back to the concept of "hysteria," but instead of the women being "crazy" the system that hurts them is.
