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Harry BennettAntalis Creative Power Awards finalists: two design initiatives that exemplify design for good
Earlier in 2022, we brought you news of the Antalis Creative Power Awards – a celebration of printed projects by international paper manufacturer Antalis. Once the deadline was closed and all of the entries were in, we travelled to Paris to take part in the jury alongside a range of talented individuals from the design industry; helping to select the finalists from the awards’ eight categories.
From there, we have curated our favourites and will be presenting them to you across a series of eight articles before unveiling the winners. Within the Design For Good category, we are exhibiting two projects that exemplify creativity’s role in bettering the world we inhabit – speaking to practitioners who used their resources and skills for the good of others.
In response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and in partnership with local cultural magazine Kaunas Full of Culture, Kaunas-based printer Hands On Press launched Colours for Ukraine; a remarkable, risograph sale that collaborated with a host of creatives to produce, print and promote a series of posters, with all the proceeds being donated to NGOs in support of Ukraine. Printed solely in Ukraine’s national colours, resulting in an overtly powerful and punchy aesthetic, Hands On Press opted for Munken Pure as their paper of choice, noting the prime compatibility between the paper stock and the printing technique.
Still ongoing, the initiative has donated over €12,000 in support of Ukraine’s fight, made up of 39 limited posters, sold to over 22 countries and 79 cities across the globe, encouraging other printers and creatives to act similarly in support of the cause.
A collaboration between the National Caribbean Heritage Museum and Winchester School of Art exploring the archival materials of Brixton’s 1981 uprising, the publication and exhibition Protest MP4 champions diversity of voice and contextualises the historical protests for a new audience. The project itself was led and documented by Studio 3015, Winchester School of Art’s own creative studio, who produced a notable spiral-bound publication in the process. Discussing its unconventional binding, Graphic Design Lecturer Jodie Silsby and Studio 3015’s Ellie Mason explain, “the nature of spiral binding allows for an efficiency to collating, organising, and disseminating information,” noting the parallel between the latter and the innate accessible distribution of protest materials. “Due to this, the binding allows the publication to mimic a DIY authenticity,” Silsby and Mason add, “much like the personality of handmade banners generated by everyday activists.”
Protest MP4’s visual identity, as 3015 explains, was a necessary partnership with the students who participated in the event, ensuring they demonstrated the programme’s core principles. “The students investigated and demonstrated how their message could be communicated through the lens of traditional forms of protest,” Silsby and Mason explain, “and critically analysed how this medium can be challenged through new and appropriate ways of thinking and designing,” conveying an aesthetic ambience akin to digital and physical protest. “Uncovering ideas of sound, sight and interaction through both environments,” they add, a real-world tactility and relevance complimented by the use of The Neue Black by Vocal Type as the typeface of choice.
“Understanding there is an importance to highlighting the lack of diversity within the graphic design industry,” Silsby and Mason contextualise, “students wanted to employ a typeface that was representative of race and protest in history, with its context still being relevant in modern society,” turning to Vocal Type to provide as much. “The Neue Black typeface was a relevant choice for the project due to its design being grounded within civil rights protest movements,” they explain, complimenting the brutal sans serif with Helvetica Neue as the supporting typeface due to its prevalence on social media. “It was used for the body text to reflect how communication within activism has transcended through time,” Silsby and Mason conclude, “to be even more accessible and directly voiced through these digital spaces.”
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