Freedom and Creativity

As I walked through The Stover Center yesterday on Waynesburg University's campus I found my inspiration for this week's blog post.  A group of students and faculty are helping to promote the "End Child Slavery" campaign.  They have raised awareness of passer-byers with posters, chains made out of paper and other booths and tables set up with additional information.

I began to realize just how powerful advertising materials can be.  For example, if a movie is partnered with a cool and exciting movie poster, the chances are greater of viewers choosing to watch that one.  There are many iconic posters of our time that have stood for powerful messages and led people to take action.  For instance, the HOPE poster used in Obama's campaign. 

 

 

This single poster gave hope to the entire nation and was part of the reason of his election into office as President of The Untied States. Another iconic poster displaying Rosie the Riveter represented American women who entered the workforce. 

 

The image of Rosie empowered women to not only survive, but thrive and contribute while the men were away fighting.

I wanted to show these iconic posters to demonstrate my fundamental point that posters, especially creative ones have the potential to be extremely powerful promotional pieces.  They are not simply created for entertainment, but to communicate and stimulate action for a cause, unite a nation, empower folks, or simply to inform the audience.

The following two posters are very informative pieces of information about slavery in the world today.  The subject of freedom sparks my creativity because it shows me how powerful my designs can be.

 

A design that clearly and creatively communicates a message will reach the audience and more likely affect them in ways that a boring design would not.  These two posters both employ a mix of images, typography and vibrant color schemes to capture attention and thus the compassion of the audience.

I found a few more examples of powerful posters that employ creativity to demonstrate its message.  This time, though, the examples are all related to freedom, the theme of this week.

This poster was created in hopes that the audience will take the time to honor the many fallen soldiers throughout our history who died to preserve freedom in America and abroad. Raising awareness about the supreme sacrifice for the cause of liberty helps us treat others with respect and truly appreciate the life we lead. The poster impacts my creativity because it shows me how a simple yet creative design can tell such a powerful story.

The last example I found that sparked my creativity is a photograph of street art relating to freedom.

Using unique mediums such a a concrete wall in a city might be a way to really capture the views eye.  I need to keep this in mind the next time I want to creatively present a design with an important message.  Also, using images like soldiers, that people already attach meaning to will help in effectively communicating the content.

All in all, freedom affects my creativity.  Because it is such a powerful concept, and the audience is extremely large the pressure is on to develop a design that really affects people.  The way to impact the lives of the audience is to develop a creative design that they won't be able to forget.