Jude Landry, Art
The Hurricane Poster Project (Landry, PowerPoint)
The Hurricane Poster Project in my class, Topics in Graphic Design, originated from The Hurricane Poster Project website (www.thehurricaneposterproject.com), which collects and sells Hurricane Katrina-related posters to raise money for the Red Cross. This assignment is different from other class projects in that it connects my students to an event outside of our university and local community. In addition to designing a poster, each student was asked to submit a proposal describing how our designs could raise money for hurricane relief. My desire was to educate students about a designer’s responsibility to society and to use design as a vehicle for change. I hoped to motivate my students to get involved and to generate their own content for such socially responsible projects in the future. We began the process by reading articles on design responsibility and social activism. Then the designers were required to independently research facts on Hurricane Katrina. Once the research was completed, the issues were discussed in class. The traditional design process followed, with sketching, individual and group critiquing, and editing. This project showed my students that every designer has a responsibility to the community and society.
