Eden Reforestation Projects works alongside local communities in Haiti, Madagascar. Ethiopia, Brazil, among others, to help produce, plant, and protect tens of million trees every month in an effort to help mitigate climate change. Their efforts help create jobs, and restore and support these communities economically, long-term. Working in these remote settings is challenging due to the extreme weather, landslides, and wild animals, but is vital in order to restore these communities. As ERP says, “It takes a village to raise a forest.” Please join our village and help. To learn more please go to: https://www.edenprojects.org 

It is with this reason that I chose the tagline "NYC runs on Vendor Power" as a friendly reminder to my fellow New Yorker's, how much vendors play a part in each of our daily lives.  

To learn more about our street vendors and the Street Vendor Project, go to: http://streetvendor.org

Ehlers-Danlos is a rare and under-diagnosed connective tissue disorder which affects the joints, blood vessels, eyes and skin. It can lead to frequent and easy joint dislocations, frequent bleeding and bruising, as well as a myriad of other side effects. There are 13 types of Ehlers-Danlos, some more rare than others, their prevalence ranging from 1 in 5000 to 1 in 20,000, to 1 in almost 1,000,000 depending on the type. 

Many medical professionals are told the old saying “when you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras” meaning doctors should consider more common conditions when  diagnosing patients. A lot of illness hallmarks overlap, and something very common can have the same symptoms as rare conditions. This has lead to an almost complete lack of testing for rare conditions, and patients are left for years wondering if it is all in their head, with years spent switching doctors in search of answers. 

Design-wise, I wanted my poster to have a call to action. I want to help spread awareness and prompt medical professionals to, once again, Start Thinking Zebras.

To learn more about Ehlers-Danlos, and how to help, go to: https://www.ehlers-danlos.com

Within the image created by using text in my poster there are 1,833 names. If you were to print a poster containing the names of everyone who’d be lost in a nuclear war, you would need to print 2,727,769 posters. With the size of each poster being 17”x 22”, those posters would cover a quarter of a square mile of surface area, approximately the area between 6th and 7th avenues, from 14th street to 42nd street in New York City. 

The Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation is a nonpartisan nonprofit organization dedicated to reducing and eventually eliminating the threats posed by nuclear, chemical and biological weapons through Congressional engagement and public education.

To learn more about the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, and to make a donation, please go to: https://armscontrolcenter.org

This semester’s show, In Character: Visual Appeals in text and letterforms, focuses on designing only with type, pushing boundaries where creativity and skill, mixed with social responsibility and thinking outside of the box allows students to produce unique, creative, and engaging work meant to compel the viewer to take action bringing about social change. 

Many thanks to Pratt Institute and the AAS/AOS department for their continued support, and to Betty Bakery for their generosity in providing us a space to exhibit this important project.

Please take a look through the posters, learn about the students’ causes, and take action.