Mikaela Neocleous

Above is the flat artwork for the first illustrated A1 poster, “Bees”. I sought to use the flower and plant imagery to visually represent the idea of bees being a major part of the state of the flowers and plants. Without them, pollination would not occur, therefore flowers would die and nature itself would be in peril. This led to me illustrating beautiful flower/plants alongside the beehive to encapsulate the idea of this being their home. The focal point of the piece has intentionally been done as the beehive to instantly provide the viewer with what the poster is about.

The second flat artwork in the illustrated A1 poster series represents an “Elephant” in it’s respective habitat. This illustration seeks to communicate the idea of all elephants showing that this planet is their home, too, and that as humans, we should consider the beauty of their habitats and not destroy them, similar to my “Bees” poster. Once again, using beautiful and cute nature illustrative assets allows me to celebrate the beautiful planet we live on, but it is communicated using the elephant as the main motif of the poster.

The third and last installment of the poster series is “Tiger”. As seen above in the flat artwork, The tiger is the main focus of the piece much similar to the elephant and the bees. I wanted to illustrate the tiger being happy in it’s respective habitat. The plants and the flowers frame the Tiger, allowing the image to truly, speak for itself. The tiger has been given a voice as well, showing that it is it’s habitat and that it’s beautiful. Therefore, the viewer is prompted to look at each and every poster and simply admire the beauty of the nature, the earth, the habitats depicted and the animals themselves.

The campaign idea was sparked with the design of my DRK (Design Research Kit) where participants were prompted to think about the love they have with their pet(s) and then connect it to the idea of living without any animal on the planet. This was to get people thinking about the impact that humans have on the wildlife and by relating it back to domestic animals which so many of us have, this would get people to think.

To accompany the primary outcome of the A1 poster series, a social media campaign has also been created via Instagram. By having a digital presence, the illustrations can reach a larger platform to make a stronger impact around the world. There is also the irony of a social media presence where the animals are “using” a human creation that is not apart of the natural world - almost as a juxtaposition. This has been done to further give the animals a “voice.”

The A1 Posters are to also appear on bus stop posters in urban areas to reach the general public. The idea is to make passerby’s stop and think about the illustration and perhaps even lead them to thinking about how humans are affecting the natural world that our animals live in. The bus stop posters in an urban area further emphasises the idea of the poster posing as a prompt to the audience - how much longer can we continue to ignore the natural world?