Prostitution is legal in Holland, but trafficking gangs have prompted campaigns like this 2006 poster which reads ‘Forced labour in prostitution is a form of human trade, slavery and is a serious crime’. The designer uses figure ground (Optical Interplay) creatively; the white image being a high heel wearing woman and the black image being a man putting a gun to the head of a woman on a cliff.
The poster was created by students of Ohio University. They launched a campaign as part of an effort to prevent cultures from being translated into stereotypical costumes. These posters represent some of the offensive costumes and culture they effect. In this poster a young hispanic boy holding a stereotypical picture of a man wearing a poncho, sombrero and riding a donkey costume.
The poster displays a used ‘Queen of Hearts’ playing card with her face looking battered and bruised. The poster reads ‘One in every four women will experience domestic abuse in her lifetime’. This poster was designed to promote awareness of domestic abuse towards women and that this offence is becoming more common.
This poster displays a group of books, which are arranged to make the shape of the African Continent. The poster was designed to promote awareness for the organization known as ‘Books for Africa’. The poster reads ‘Most African children that attend school have never owned a book. End the book famine’.
This powerful social awareness poster displays a group of soldier figurines put together to resemble the shape of a heart. The bottom of the poster reads ‘There is no right way to make war’.
The poster displays a spoked bicycle wheel image with the wiring of the wheel made to resemble the African continent (Outline). The poster explains that Africa is not part of this interconnected world.
The illustrator has created a poster print that features 42 of the most iconic movie masks in history (1913-2009), honouring the masked icons in western society. The poster print is an interesting look at identity and our society’s obsession with secrets. For those who may of seen certain movies in the past will quickly interpret these minimalist posters instantly, Darth Vader, Spider-Man, Robocop, etc.
Marc Leacock 