Too warm for comfort

Greenhouse gases
Global warming
Catastrophe

Whilst greenhouse gases are essential for the regulation of Earth's temperature, recent anthropogenic actions have led to a never-before-seen, rapid increase in global temperature. This is due to the high amounts of carbon emission from agriculture and industrialisation.

It's time to shed off the unnecessary blankets of greenhouse gases that are making our planet too warm for comfort.

Export of the final poster design.
Picture of full A1 poster.

Earth's greenhouse gases are often metaphorised as a "blanket" wrapped around the planet. This A1 poster aims to represent this metaphor in a literal way and is designed to work coherently with its accompanying zine. The label on this poster is created through photo-manipulation, mimicking the washing labels found on textile products.

However, instead of showing the composition of fabric fibres, the label breaks down the composition of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere. It also parodies the "Made in ..." label by putting the responsibility of greenhouse gas production on the whole of humanity - attributing it as "MADE AROUND THE WORLD".

Image of the label mockup showing the composition of greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere.
Mockup of the poster in an urban setting.
Mockup of A1 poster in an urban environment.

The accompanying A7 zine to the poster provides six illustrated spreads, each pertaining to a different aspect of global warming. The colour palette is limited to red, black, and cream white of the thin Tomoe River paper.

These bold colours on such delicate paper stock emphasise how human activities have polluted our fragile planet.

Additionally, the end spreads of the zine provides a call-to-action for readers to make a difference. It provides links to resources where readers can stay informed with the most updated climate-related news, as well as organisations that are currently fighting for our futures.

Thumbnails of the zine spreads.
 

The most important question that I asked myself throughout the process of ideation was:

How can I (as a designer) make a difference in the current climate catastrophe?

The answer that I came to was that people must be educated about the gravity of the situation, as well as given a means to take action in an approachable and easily digestible way.
Without knowing the repercussions of human activity on our planet, there would be no incentive to take action.
Without providing starting points to creating change, people may feel helpless or unsure about how they can make contribute to a better future.
All of this information must also be delivered in a way that doesn't invoke hysteria - that change is possible, and that our planet isn't destined for doom.

In order to address all three criteria , I decided that my project will have:

  1. Reliable information from academic sources.
  2. A distinct call-to-action with links to climate organisations.
  3. Simple language and visually engaging layouts/content.

After establishing the criteria of success for my project, I began brainstorming an individual topic (within the broad category of climate change) that my project will explore.
In the end, I've decided to focus on the topic of global warming as a result of anthropogenic CO2 emissions.

I wanted my poster to pull the audience in, while the zine informs them about the context of the poster. A couple of topics I initially wanted to dive into more for the zine included:

  • Melting icecaps.
  • Increased intensity and frequency of bushfires.
  • Current CO2 statistics.