The Case
Early in 2015, Greece was shocked by the sudden death of a young student, named Vangelis Yakoumakis. According to the police investigation, the young man committed suicide after having been bullied by his fellow students. Design Toolkit organization decided to make a poster competition to raise awareness about bullying. Young designers from all over Greece submitted their posters and the best 50 were chosen. Among them, the jury decided to give my poster the first prize.
References
Bullying is a battle between a strong and a weak player. Τo visualize the feeling of imposing a great power on a smaller one I decided to borrow elements from the political posters of the 20th century (especially during and after World War II). Τhese posters exaggerate the size of the characters to provoke the feelings of the viewer.
From left to right
1. Chinese propaganda poster. Translation: "The Third World; the world's people can not be bullied; the people of China can not be intimidated." c. 1960s.
2. Illustrator Tomi Ungerer’s best-known radical protest poster, this print was first made in 1967 in response to the Vietnam War. A violent visualization of America forcing its ideals on the Vietnamese people.
3. "La lutte continue ("The struggle continues")". French May 1968 student revolution poster. Made at the Atelier Populaire.
4. Loose lips sink ships is an American English idiom meaning "beware of unguarded talk". The phrase originated on propaganda posters during World War II.
Design
The idea was to illustrate the bullies as great powers coming from the upper part of the frame. As they descend, their tongues are transformed into hands that show and stigmatize the victim. The snake-like characters are pointing a sad and helpless person on the lower part. I used a shadowy dark blue texture as a background to enhance the tension.
Design Toolkit April 2015 - 1st place at Poster Battle Competition
