Changethethought™

Here is a little refresher about DATA, whom I wrote about a few months back:

DATA (Designers Against Tibetan Abuse) is a new organization that has come together recently and opened a new project that will include a book featuring various designers, digital artists, illustrators and photographers joining together to raise awareness of the terrible issues faced by the Tibetan people.

All proceeds derived from the sale of the book will go to charity and if we have enough people express a willingness to participate we will take our idea to the following charities:

Tibet Foundation

Tibet Society

I was asked to contribute to the book and I actually designed 3 different A3 sized posters before finally landing on something I liked with the third design. I usually work in A3 format and it was just a happy accident that was the size designated by the project. I settled on using a Buddhist symbol called the endless knot. The endless knot is symbolic of Buddha’s mind and represents endless wisdom and compassion and is meant to be reminiscent of the cyclic reality of existence. I felt it was a good symbol for the seemingly cyclic bondage that Tibet finds itself in and cannot seem to escape and yet despite this they have maintained a certain kind of spiritual peace throughout this state of occupation. However, I also wanted to envoke a little bit of a call to arms by speaking directly towards the ‘Free Tibet’ chant you can’t really seem to escape in trendy culture. I have felt that without real action that statement seems a little hollow and I wanted people to think about that.

The chosen design I am referring to is the top of the 3 images above. The following two were designs I decided to reject. I wanted the final product to be as direct as possible and I felt the first design brought the message home the best without muddying the idea too much. I will post more later about DATA after the book has been published. You can see them along with the rest of my work in the print section.

written by Christopher | tags: Changethethought, DATA, Designers Against Tibetan Abuse, Posters