Class Project, Advocacy Poster. Once given this project objective, my mind immediately went to cigarette smoking and how it affects your household pets on the daily without most even knowing it. I chose to play with the viewers emotions and create an attachment to the animals in this home pictured. I wanted to create a playful and happy environment, as dogs and cats often create, that has slightly been dimmed by the used cigarettes tossed around by the owners. The bowl is used as an ash try to create a metaphor because the dogs are ingesting the second-hand smoke provided by the owner, so it is as if the animal is already smoking or eating the tobacco themselves. The focal point of the composition is the phrase “Pets Suffer Your Consequences From Smoking” to create a direct connection from the pet to the owner and their choice of smoking.
Class Project, Advocacy Poster. The more I researched social awareness posters and how they can really be created using the emotions of the viewer in mind, I started to lean towards second hand smoke for pets and how it really affects them. With this poster idea in mind, I created sketches that reflected my thought process and how this composition was going to be made. After the sketches, the roughs, and the photos, I begin to piece everything together in Photoshop. I wanted this poster to reflect the animals emotions, and make the viewer question if the dog is about to close his eyes for the last time, or if the dog is sad or sick. This poster is supposed to have you stare at it, ponder it, and create an emotional connection to the animal. I chose to create a stereotypical “smoker” atmosphere; dark room, hazy view, an extremely distinct smell that is assumed, so that the everyday person could connect this to pop culture and how our media portrays tobacco users. I created the hierarchy so that you would read the dog, read the hand-lettered phrase, go back up to the dog, and then you would catch the box of cigarettes and the lighter as if the owner had just returned from a smoke, and had tossed them next to the dog as if he didn’t care or even notice the pet, reflecting the smokers careless act to smoke around mans best friend.
The following posters below are a continuation of this series that was created in later years in different styles.
