Poster Show 2023: Design For Good

AIGA Maine presents our second annual poster show, Design for Good, on view at SPACE Gallery in Portland, ME from October 5-November 15, 2023. Our show features posters designed by creatives across various mediums that each represent their unique perspectives on this year’s theme, Design for Good. This theme was selected to promote and emphasize ways in which designers can impact social, political, economic, and environmental change.

Design For Good was organized by the Maine Chapter of the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA,) a national organization with the mission of advancing design as a professional craft, strategic advantage, and vital cultural force. AIGA Maine is one of 70 chapters focused on supporting the field of graphic design.

Thank you to SPACE Gallery for providing the space to display this great work, as well as all of the talented contributors who made this exhibit come to life.

Poster Gallery

Click on images to view larger versions.

Read about the work

“I began this project by going out on a trek into the forest to gather various types of mushrooms, as they are the core of a forested eco-system. In this scavenge I also collected dirt, moss, twigs, and leaves, as additional imagery for the poster. I then set up many scenes in my studio to photograph. After the photoshoot I edited them on my computer, carefully examining all the elements and exploring how to make the images work together. I used some of my Letraset typography that I manipulated by hand to create the title for the poster. This poster was made to represent the resiliency of nature and the impact climate change has on humans. I wanted to demonstrate that we are one and the same with nature in that we are all living organisms the make up growth of the planet and that plant lives are not the only lives at stake when it comes to climate change. People are living in unsustainable eco-systems everyday due to climate change. The subject of resilience is important to convey because of the rising issue of climate doom-ism.”

Artist biography

Aressa Goodrich studied graphic design at Maine College of Art & Design. There, she learned about typography, photography, illustration, collage, painting and art history. In her artwork. Aressa likes to find ways to incorporate her love for graphic design and typography with her love for art history and technique. She puts great effort into allowing space for her work to evolve. This is often achieved by introducing new tools and techniques to her creative process. Recently, she has found that in her independent projects, her paralleled passion for both art and graphic design manifests itself in a crossover between digital and analog media.

Jennifer Adler

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“For this poster, I started with the words, “visible panty lines” as something rather absurd to have floating around in our American beauty culture. Or rather, why it matters so much to NOT have visible panty lines. I’ve been working with an Intuitive Eating nutritionist for the past year to heal my disordered eating. It is both interesting and sad to me how much time I have wasted thinking about how I can change how I look and hating my appearance. All that energy could have been spent doing useful things like helping to fight fat phobia or racism or sexism or trying to find ways to reduce inequalities in my world. Diet and beauty culture (and the patriarchy) rely on us women being distracted by their destructive nonsense to make money and keep us too preoccupied to fight back. While we were obsessing over the number on the scale, we lost the right to a legal abortion in many US states. Our priorities are a mess. I polled other white middle-aged woman-identifying friends about what they think about before they leave the house and incorporated their ideas into the text. I sourced a stock digital illustration for this submission in the interest of time, but future explorations could include more personal imagery. The illustration is meant to be inclusive of all body sizes as none of us is immune to the tactics of diet and beauty culture and we all suffer equally for different reasons. My message is not a new one, but I hope it is either supportive for other women who also feel betrayed by diet and beauty culture or educational for those who do not suffer from the internal barrage of questions that woman subject themselves to on a regular basis.”

Artist biography

Jennifer Adler is a thoughtful graphic designer, experienced communications leader, and best-selling licensed greeting card artist based in Lynn, MA. She loves envisioning and working within branded systems, creating fresh takes on print and digital materials, designing for impactful events, and doing whatever needs to get done to make sure projects are done on time, within budget, and as PERFECT as humanly possible. She lives for clean design, bold color, and excellent typography. When I am not obsessing about consistency, efficiency, or sustainability, I can be found in a dance class, on a road trip with my husband and daughter, or bingeing smart and wry content. A brief portfolio may be found at www.jenniferadlerdesigns.com. A larger collective of my work may be found at www.survivalbydesign.net.

Ghazal Foroutan

Read about the work

“The Persian Rosie poster is the Iranian version of the famous Rosie the Riveter. Rosie’s posture became a symbol of resistance and empowerment for women over the years, and the poster has been redesigned and adapted multiple times. The Iranian Rosie holds her white scarf in her hand while showing off her tattoo that says, ‘No to Compulsory Hijab!’. Wearing masks became a part of our daily lives since Covid but specifically, for this movement, masks are protecting people’s identities. The slogan on the top says ‘Woman Life Freedom’, which is what the new revolution in Iran stands for.”

Artist biography

Ghazal Foroutan is an Iranian designer and design educator based in Southern California, USA. She won the 13th Khawrizmi Youth Awards for her illustrations with watch pieces in 2012 leading to her acceptance to Alzahra University In Tehran, Iran. She graduated with her BFA in graphic design from AU in 2017. She worked for Studio Shizaru for two years before she moved to the USA in 2018. She graduated with her MFA in graphic design at Oklahoma State University in 2021. Her thesis was a collection of visual explorations in response to Iranian women’s rights.

Victor Rios, Paul Buendia

Read about the work

“The Maine Black Community Development reached out to Victor Rios of Expose Design for branding the State of Maine’s first Maine Black Voices Advocacy Day and State of Black Maine Symposium. To help with this project, he reached out to former employee, Graphic Designer and friend, Paul Buendia to create the foundation. This was fitting since Paul branded MBCD in 2021 when he was working for Victor. After Paul’s work, Victor worked with the event coordinators for months, making edits and designing the social media and marketing materials.” This poster is a variation of that piece.

Artist biography

Paul Buendia has over 20 years of experience in Graphic Design, Creative Print and Promotional Solutions to build and/or improve any business. He studied Graphic Design at Fullerton College in Southern California while working as a Marketing Manager for a military installation. Expose Design was established in 2008 by Victor Rios, a Professional Graphic Designer with a BA in Communication & Media Studies from USM and an Associates in Communications & New Media Studies from SMCC. Since 1999, he has been providing Marketing Solutions with Graphic Design, Print, Screen-printing, Embroidery and Specialty Products throughout Maine, New England and the US.

Eric Benoit

Read about the work

“I loved the satirical advertisements at the end of AIGA Eye on Design Magazine issue #06 “Utopias”. They were funny and maybe a little too real. In that same vein, my submission “Come Visit the Ocean!” is a satirical take on classic art-deco travel posters. In this fictional world, I’ve created an advertisement for used bottles to take a trip to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, an all-too-real island of plastic waste in the middle of the Pacific. Through eye-catching colors and an ironic tone, the poster is meant to grab attention and spread awareness of the horrific pollution in our oceans. To point out a few details: The bottles resemble a school of fish, though of course an unnatural one. The dead fish are lower-res than the bottles on purpose, as in this fictional world they’re the enemies, not the stars of the show. I’ve carefully arranged the school of bottles, the dead fish, and the typography to hint at a tombstone shape. And the smiley face in the middle—that could be you, if you’re lucky enough to take this permanent vacation to the middle of the ocean!”

Artist biography

Eric Benoit is a graphic designer and AIGA member from Brooklyn, NY. He has worked as a designer and creative advisor for a variety of brands. In 2022, he graduated with a Master of Arts in Graphic Design at Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), where he specialized in typography and visual identity design. In his spare time, Eric loves making posters, practicing calligraphy and hand lettering, and creating music.

Gina Sterling

Read about the work

“Photoshop is where the magic is made! I started on this piece with a gradient background and added some motion blur and old paper and book textures layers on top. For the type, I really like using Neue Haas Grotesk in most of posters because of its readability and Swiss nature. I’ve been in a groove lately with using DJR Crayonette. It has that vintage feel, while also pairing well with modern san serifs to keep it feeling 21st century. I used the freeform pen tool to draw two humans, and found the rest of the graphics (birds and flowers) in public use vintage photo/illustration archives. Finally, I added some circles for composition purposes to create a distinct fore/middle/background and some more paper textures/gradient overlays to get the color just right!”

Artist biography

Gina is a 25-year-old visual artist and digital designer based in Maine. With a strong background in graphic design and a passion for creative expression, Gina has honed her skills through various projects and internships, working with clients in a range of industries including music, food, and film. In 2020, Gina graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in German and Communication Arts, and also completed her minor and concentration in graphic design. Currently, Gina is freelancing as a graphic designer and content creator, and working remotely for a web design agency in Chicago. Gina’s interests include capybaras, animals with unusually long noses, Pokémon, British music, and fashion.

John D.

Artist biography

John D. is an artist who currently attends The Art Department as his creative work space. John is currently working on an abstract series of watercolor and colored pencil pieces, reminiscent of color field art of the color field art movement. He also creates sculptures and products for local stores in the Portland area, such as hand-printed cards and magnet designs. The Art Department was established in 2011 as an outsider art studio, contemporary gallery, and retail store. Their mission is to provide opportunities and community to local Maine artists with intellectual uniqueness.

Abby O.

Artist biography

The poster is a modern design for the word “hope” in abstracted Arabic calligraphy. I would like to express my experience in my new home—Maine—with this word. It is a living hope: hope of a better day, hope for safety and peace, hope for a better tomorrow. I see hope in people’s eyes, children’s laughter, women’s smiles, in community work together towards a better future, and in an exquisite nature.

Mike L.

Artist biography

Mike L. is an artist who currently attends The Art Department as his creative work space. His preferred media are watercolor on paper, colored pencils, and acrylics. His work often features landscapes, specifically trees and wooded areas, reminiscent of Maine’s natural wonders. Mike is currently working on a series of paintings depicting the trunks of trees with open sky behind them. The Art Department was established in 2011 as an outsider art studio, contemporary gallery, and retail store. Their mission is to provide opportunities and community to local Maine artists with intellectual uniqueness.

David “Trey” Jones

Read about the work

“Upon seeing the prompt, I knew almost immediately that the social issue I wanted to tackle is the overwhelming feelings of loneliness, isolation, and alienation among young adults since the pandemic began. I have found myself still often having these feelings, well after the height of the pandemic, and many other individuals around my age have expressed a similar sentiment to me. I wanted to incorporate a new medium I have been experimenting with over the past year; photography. Specifically for this poster I have included vintage photos I purchased through eBay, shots I made on my late father’s Nikon D700 digital camera, as well as my own Mamiya RB67 medium format film camera. Combining digital, film, and found photos was a way for me to feel connected to those I have lost, and those I have never known. Included as well is a posthumously published poem by Edgar Allan Poe on the topic of loneliness that I discovered about a year ago, and has held significance to me ever since.”

Artist biography

Upon graduation from the GD Program at the Maine College of Art & Design in 2022, David “Trey” Jones, began work as a digital imager for a company in South Portland, ME, photographing historic objects for digital archives. Since starting work as a photographer, Jones has been spending much of his free time exploring photography as a medium. The historical aspect of his work intrigues him and he is often sidetracked at work reading vintage correspondences or simply gazing at photos from years gone by and wondering about what life might have been like in a time he has never known. He finds himself more and more wanting to collect antique and vintage documents and photographs, either as inspiration or for use in future passion projects.

Christopher Dudley

Read about the work

“The design for my poster is an outgrowth of the most recent quilts I have designed and built. Landscape (which is what my quilts are designed around) is a multi-faceted concept for me. It encompasses not just the natural world, but the man-made, language, and the faceted representation of the natural among other things. For my poster I started sketching an imaginary landscape on graph paper with the idea being that the monoculture of the suburban lawn could be transformed into something more dynamic both visually and environmentally with the relatively simple advent of wildflowers. Living in a more balanced harmony with the natural world is something worthwhile I think…”

Artist biography

Christopher Dudley is a carpenter by day, a creative at night. He has made quilts, furniture, lighting, greeting cards, drawings and anything else that springs from his imagination and can be built with his own hands. “Why do I make things? It’s a good question. Where do my ideas come from? Another good question. The answers are difficult to achieve, however. I make things because I can’t not make things is the simplest response. The ideas for what to make seem to spring from some well in me that every now and then puts forth something to prototype. Ideas well up all the time and get filed in notebooks to be rediscovered in the future and perhaps turned into a full fledged object if the idea still excites.”

Hayley Emmons

Read about the work

“No matter the brief or problem at hand, I always strive to approach each project with exploration as a top priority. Whether I’m working on a brand identity, packaging project, or, in this instance, a poster, I always begin by sketching, drawing, or writing out my thoughts, ideas, and research on paper. For this poster I started with a clear vision of the elements I wanted to include in the illustration. I then worked through rounds of hand-drawn sketches, treating it like solving a puzzle, moving and adjusting pieces until they fit together in a balanced and captivating way.”

Artist biography

Hayley Emmons is a designer and creative currently based in Portland, Maine, where she received her BFA in Graphic Design from Maine College of Art & Design in 2021. She has a passion and knack for branding, packaging, and lettering, and currently work at Anchour getting her hands dirty with all things design on their creative team.

Zainab Sumu

Read about the work

“Drawing inspiration from the Fulani way of life, known as “pulaaku,” I created this poster by illustrating iconic items from my visit to the Fulani village of Wansan. The artwork aims to showcase how the Fulani people preserve their cultural identity, language, and lifestyle through migration and changes. The poster portrays the interdependence between the Fulani, their landscape, cattle, family, and community. It serves as a visual representation of their resilience and strong connection to their heritage, instilling a sense of pride and belonging. Through this artwork, I hope to evoke reflection on identity, heritage, and the human spirit amidst life’s transformations.”

Artist biography

A thread travels through time from the bustling marketplaces of Freetown to the verdant vistas of Kono, from the glittering boulevards of Paris to the smart streets of London, from the sundrenched sky of Los Angeles to the tree-lined streets of Somerville uniting the unique journey of Zainab Sumu and her multidisciplinary body of artwork. This thread is one of beauty that’s found across cultures and genres, that elicits a primal response and that has the power to unify us all. Sumu graduated from the Massachusetts College of Art & Design’s Fashion and Textiles Program in Boston, Massachusetts. Prior to that, she ran an eponymous boutique featuring the work of Junya Watanabe, Azzedine Alaia and Martin Margiela, among other bespoke brands in Los Angeles, California. She previously studied in London, England. She was raised in Paris, France and before that, in Freetown and Kono, Sierra Leone, Africa. A true citizen of the world, Zainab Sumu currently works in Somerville, Massachusetts.

Ying Han

Read about the work

“Put Down Your Phone is a poster about how the short video and the internet overtook a generation’s life. I opened my own iPhone time tracker and I was shocked that I spent 6 hours on my phone every day. After more research, I found that it is a very common “invisible” problem for my generation to surf the internet. However, I decided to make a poster to alarm people to put down their phones and focus more on real life. In this poster, I used 2281 hand-drawn lines as metaphors 2281 hours I spend on my phone. It is a warning to me, as well as the society, to realize the waste of time on digital devices.”

Artist biography

Ying Han is a graphic designer living and studying in Baltimore, USA. She is interested in branding, illustration, typography, and package design. Han integrates her fine arts background with graphic design to solve problems with creative strategies using a variety of media. Besides that, she is trying to use design as a medium to explore different social problems. Han believes art can help to make the world a better place.

Nehal Modi

Read about the work

“In today’s polarizing world of extremes, we are slowly losing sense of community. Despite digital connectivity, meaningful human interactions have diminished, leaving individuals isolated and craving empathy. Almost everyone feels alone and carrying the weight of their problems, insecurities all alone. Together, by embracing empathy, we can create a world where no one feels alone and where compassion thrives.”

Artist biography

Nehal is a visual designer from India currently based in the US. She believes that context and content drives the design system. She has experience in branding, motion, UI/UX and publication. She explores the intersection of digital and real.

Robert Brochu

Read about the work

“I approach all my work conceptually and lean heavily on words and type to convey a message. For this poster, I used a typeface that I designed. Each letter is square-shaped, stacking neatly into four blocks to create words. The result is a graphic image that looks code-like at first glance, but when you peer more carefully, you can decipher the meaning. By arranging the words vertically, I emphasize that love literally transcends hate.”

Artist biography

With roots in branding and graphic design, Robert Brochu’s artistic works tend to be bold, typographic, and bright. His fascination with the power of words led him to create the four-letter project – an NFT collection of 1500 four-letter words minting soon on the Ethereum blockchain. In addition to his digital work, Robert’s screenprinting extends from his immersion in the intersection between language and art. He currently lives and works in Portland, Maine. Follow Robert and his work on Instagram @8088y80y or fourletters.art

Marc Ellenberg

Read about the work

“While the organization Flying Kites influences multiple aspects of the lives of children throughout Kenya, this poster highlights one key impact area: supporting healthier schools by reducing hunger. By creating the poster as an anaglyph, the opposing colors show the contrasting sides of Flying Kites’ work: the problem and solution.”

Artist biography

Marc Ellenberg is a Boston-based designer. He has spent significant time designing within the non-profit and social-impact sectors, using his work to impact the lives of those within his community and around the globe. His decision to create a poster for Flying Kites is an attempt to draw more attention to an organization that does vital work on the ground to positively impact many high-potential youth who may not receive the full support they otherwise deserve.

Emily Foran

Read about the work

“I originally conceived this poster for a national nonprofit client focused on racial justice. I consulted with the client and researched various aspects of the history of racial justice in the US under their guidance. With this design – ultimately not chosen by the client – I decided to capture the spirit of handmade protest posters, peace rally banners, murals, and other iconography from the Civil Rights movement. I came across the phrase, “No Justice, No Peace” which resonated with the mission of the organization, but we were a year into the COVID-19 pandemic and I wanted to capture a broader feeling of hope and accessibility. I decided to turn “No” into “Know” to give the piece an optimistic spin and speak to the educational aspects of the organization. To underscore the concept, I chose widely symbolic imagery of human hands releasing a soaring dove. After exploring a few stylistic treatments, I decided to bring the concept to life with a simplistic, hand-drawn, graphic illustration style inspired by screen-printing and American folk art, paired with a minimalist color palette derived from the pan-African flag. I drew the graphics by hand on an iPad in Adobe Fresco and set up the final layout in Illustrator.”

Artist biography

Emily Foran is a freelance multidisciplinary designer whose work has spanned art direction, branding, digital and print design, marketing campaigns, and production. She has 20 years of professional experience collaborating with clients and project partners whose values align with her own. Her approach focuses on creative concepting, visual storytelling, and the end-user experience. Her background includes designing over 100 public service campaigns for government clients including the CDC, FDA, and Office for Civil Rights. She works from a little house in the big woods in Maine where she resides with her husband and daughter.

Brian Reeves

Read about the work

“I used paper and pen, then Procreate and Illustrator to design the poster. My motivation: Even though they’re well-known and used in commercial printing for many decades, students of all ages are still handed red, yellow and blue and told they’re the subtractive primaries for mixing color. The result is dank, dinginess — and no brilliant magenta or cyan! Let’s do better: Kids deserve to be told the truth about how to achieve the broadest range of colors with the most efficiency!”

Artist biography

Brian Reeves is an artist using all manner of design and printmaking to convey ideas. He studied printmaking at the University of Wisconsin – Madison and co-founded the Print Power! intercollegiate exchange portfolio of persuasive posters. His work has been on display in museums, galleries, streets and above sofas in many states and countries including Argentina, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Italy, Korea, Lithuania, Sweden, and Texas. I teach art and design at Boston College, Maine College of Art & Design, and AIM Academy Online.

Amy Parker

Read about the work

“What are the whispers of American history? What whispers do you stop to listen to? Between 1969 and 1973 the U.S. dropped 540,000 tons of bombs on Cambodia, as the fight in Vietnam ensued. The intention was to keep going with the bombs so bread could be made again. But going meant bombing communist base camps. It killed hundreds of thousands of people more in a reach to make it better again. And it was done after the war was already lost, when the voices of WW2 victory started to quiet as the evening news told the present story. And past is prologue. Henry Kissinger served as National Security Advisor and Secretary of State for Nixon while this happened. With a big brain and aging figure, he confronts us, still alive, with a mixed eye of certainty from the safety of his mahogany desk. Kissinger is liked by many today. The process of making this poster involved looking through stacks of LIFE magazines from the 1960s and 1970s, where parallels in social issues are prevalent. We as a society are still talking about climate. We are still talking about racial injustice. We are still talking about socioeconomic disparity. We are still talking about gun violence. We are still talking about war. And the Kissinger’s still make the choices. Scanning and collaging these images and working with Photoshop to adjust the composition, texture and colors gave new life to a portrait of conflict.”

Artist biography

Amy Parker is the Executive Design Director and co-founder at Woods Creative. Amy runs Woods’ Portland, Maine studio where she leads creative strategy, ideation, and digital design to make communication solutions, digital products, and visual languages for brands. Amy works in tandem with her research partner to conduct primary one-on-one interviews for design and Human Experience/User Experience research. Together, their primary social-science-first approach allows the team to gain insight, understand nuanced problems, ask questions, and uncover findings to identify form, content and functional needs to develop smart visual design. Amy’s current clients hire her for visual work, insights into how visual design elevates products for the people using them, and her energetic approach towards solving challenging business problems. A few notable clients and brands Amy has worked with so far are Deloitte, Pegasystems, John Hancock/Boston Marathon, Bank of America, Noble Biomaterials, Cessna, New Balance, lululemon, Puma, EVERSANA, Evenflo, Total Expert, University of St. Gallen, Daily Table, Mechanics’ Hall, 240 Strings, and SPACE. Amy holds a BFA from the New England School of Art and Design at Suffolk University, teaches as an adjunct graphic design instructor at MECA&D. As an advocate for creativity, collaboration and community, she also serves on the board of directors with both AIGA Boston and SPACE.

Email / Instagram (practice) / Instagram (personal) / LinkedIn / Woods

Malorie Langreen

Read about the work

“This illustration is intended to allow for interpretation but aims to evoke feelings of suffocation. The shrink wrap, the earth, and the vantage point of the earth in space can have several meanings depending on the viewer’s personal experiences and values—an intentional design decision that is important to me as an illustrator. This vector illustration was created in Adobe Illustrator.”

Artist biography

As a graphic designer, Malorie Langreen is partial to creating vector illustrations. She has a background in exhibition graphic design and worked at the Museum of Science in Boston for 7 years before co-founding Colorbox Industries, a graphic design firm where she is a partner. Malorie’s work involves visualizing complex information for a broad audience every day, but she also enjoys creating imagery that’s less explanatory when working on personal art projects.

Alexa Duffy

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“I wanted to choose a topic that felt incredibly personal… something I can not only put my passion for illustration behind but also put a little piece of me out into the world to see if I could help someone else feel seen. I channeled all my daily anxieties and pressures that women feel and started sketching. I brought that sketch into Procreate on my iPad and just began illustrating. Bringing it back and forth into Photoshop to test colors and what not, I eventually landed on what you see — a sea of anxiety that I’m surrounded by every day of my life.”

Artist biography

Alexa is a graphic designer, amateur knitter and avid giggler. She began her career in broadcast design at NBC Sports, but has loved making the transition into the advertising world, now working in advertising as an Art Director at The VIA Agency. She spends her evenings illustrating just for kicks, but has also found it to be a powerful tool for her mental health.

Christopher Laryea

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“I already knew the problem I wanted to address, but I had to figure out how I wanted to show it visually. I brainstormed a couple different ways/designs and ended up designing it all digitally. I figured out the layout first, then the copy.”

Artist biography

Chris Laryea is a designer at VIA, an advertising agency in Portland, Maine. He was born and raised in Queens, NYC, but moved to Maine in 2014 after meeting his wife on a dating app. Prior to VIA, he worked as a Graphic Designer for Madame Paulette, a high-end dry cleaner in NYC, where he worked on all their branding, print and digital. He worked for them shortly after receiving his associate degree in digital media from the Katharine Gibbs School in Manhattan, NYC. He now resides in Sanford with his wife and three children.

Manassa Krishnan

Read about the work

“The True Origins of the Coronavirus”, “Shocking Photos from the White House”, “The Real Cause of the California Wild Fires”. We often come across content on the internet that is laced with malicious agendas. Misinformation is a phenomenon that is widely unfolding on social media platforms which leads to sharing of inaccurate and misleading information. This poster aims to highlight the issue of misinformation that preys on unsuspecting audiences. The concept for the poster is derived from the idea of click-bait articles and dubious news items are shared widely. Since this kind of information-sharing can be infectious, misinformation is referred to as a contagion in the poster. The mouse cursor is a visual metaphor for clicks and shares that originate from a source and increase progressively. The red cursors are representative of viruses and the looming danger associated with misinformation. The O’s in the typeface are distorted to allude to the twisting of facts through misinformation.”

Artist biography

Manasa is a graphic designer from India based in Baltimore. She is currently pursuing her MFA in Graphic Design at the Maryland Institute College of Art. Her work delves into branding, strategy and visual systems. She enjoys working extensively with typography and exploring new media tools such as creative coding to diversify her work. Storytelling and strong visual narratives are at the core of her design approach. Her work is informed by her design education and experience in India and the Netherlands. She is interested in the themes of data and abstraction and is currently exploring the subject of fake news and misinformation through various projects in her graduate studies.

Anh Lan Do

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“With inspiration from a well-known Vietnamese proverb from my childhood, I wanted to make literal the themes of cooperation and the visual elements of trees coming together to make mountains in the quote by illustrating three tree-hands coming together to shield the earth and becoming its ozone layer. This piece has environmentalist themes because of the existing imagery in the quote, but taken more broadly, this poster represents my beliefs regarding social justice and change: when people − especially of all backgrounds − work together, we are capable of huge feats that we can’t otherwise do alone. As a bonus, I’ve been looking for a way to incorporate by cultural background in a graphic design piece for a while, and I’m grateful that this gives me a perfect opportunity to speak my perspective in both of my native languages.”

Artist biography

Anh Lan Do is a Vietnamese graphic designer currently residing south of Boston, MA. She came to the US when she was 13 years old to study as an international student, and she is now a permanent resident. She has a passion for all things creative and loves to find new ways to create, whether it be singing, playing various instruments, sculpting, illustrating, and of course, designing. Anh graduated from Stonehill College with a BA in Graphic Design in 2020, and has since been growing her career in graphic design since. She is currently available for freelancing and permanent entry-level opportunities.

Sophie Zoe Chu

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“Using photography from Forest Hills and an old photo of C. K. Chu, I use digital collage inspired by print and style techniques from my favorite publications of the early 90s. In college, choosing majors was difficult for me because I have a lot of different interests and not being able to see each one through fully feels like a disservice. For my future thesis and for my future in art, I have decided that graphic design is just the basis that I need, not the end goal. I think that my work is best when it has multiple touchstones of process. My work in ceramics, textiles, woodworking, painting, photography, and code, are best highlighting when they are paired with one another. This piece focuses on my photography and print/collage work.”

Artist biography

Sophie Zoe Chu was born in New York City and grew up in Maine. She is a senior studying graphic design at Maine College of Art & Design in Portland, ME. Her thesis focuses on the behaviors of people around her, their behavior, and how their extracurriculars become part of what you consume. “The environment you get through, luck, and choice builds you, and what you put out in the world is what you feed to other people to consume. I think that I got extremely lucky to have the family that I do. I care greatly about my heritage and where I was born. Queens is the epicenter of diversity in the world and I am lucky to call that place home. I think that my home is my luck and what I provide others is a choice I could never be too mindful about. I hope my work will prove that more and more as it refines.

Nick Lawler

Artist biography

Nick Lawler is a multimedia artist and graphic designer based in Westbrook Maine. He loves exploring texture, line and color, and his goal is to share expressive and emotive stories through his work.

Sam Pouliot, Sarah Sawtelle, Bella Ucci

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“All For One” represents our creative identity as a group and our shared belief that we’re all on the same team. Although most of our projects only reach locally, we still strive to think globally with our messaging and hope to spread a little brightness wherever our work ends up. This poster also combines elements from each member of Little Something Co., simultaneously supporting our individual styles and our belief that we’re better together.”

Artist biography

Little Something Co. consists of Sam Pouliot, Sarah Sawtelle and Bella Ucci, a trio of friends based in Portland, Maine. They design stickers, postcards, cards, and other goods that aim to brighten anyone’s day!

Clayton Hoyle

Ariel Freaner

Salem