Originally published at the Georgia State University website on Nov. 28, 2011. Archived at the Internet Archive here.
Contact:
Jeremy Craig
University Relations
ATLANTA – The AIDS crisis has been going on for three decades, and Dec. 1, 2011 is a day observing the lives lost to AIDS, advocating those who live with HIV, pushing for prevention – and one day, a cure.
Now, Georgia State University students are helping to mark the day during the 24-hour commemoration at the Museum of Design Atlanta, through graphic design and music.
The posters created by associate professor Stan Anderson’s students will be rotated throughout the night and day, in the gallery displaying HIV/AIDS awareness posters from the past 25 years, from all over the globe, in the exhibition “Graphic Intervention: 25 Years of International AIDS Posters.”
“This year’s senior graphic designers are some of the most talented and versatile that I’ve ever worked with during my tenure at GSU,” Anderson said. “I feel I can put this group of 19 designers into any professional situation and they will deliver work that is both fresh and innovative.”
Sarah Adams, a senior graphic design student, designed MODA’s logo for the event – a panel of red squares with a white outline of the HIV/AIDS awareness ribbon. Each square, an allusion to the AIDS memorial quilt, represents a unique story of a person living with or affected by HIV/AIDS.
“I tried to do research about what it means to recognize people living with AIDS or who knows someone who does,” Adams said. “I thought about each unique panel [of the quilt], and how everyone comes together on this day. I wanted the logo to be representative of the fact that everyone has a voice and a story.”
The seniors of the graphic design program also designed sample campaigns and posters with schedule handouts for the event, each with their own unique point of view in representing the crisis, the response and awareness of the disease. The posters will be displayed throughout the 24-hour event.
Some also created other materials to be used, such as luminaries with logos to be put in front of the museum, videos to be displayed and buttons to be handed out.
One student, Misty Marquis, presented buttons to go along with her poster of a white syringe with a needle, from which a single drop of blood hangs on a red background.
“My design evolved from one idea after another,” Marquis said. “I wanted to use a striking image, and keep it as simple as possible without losing the message.”
Brenda Galina, executive director of MODA, said she was impressed by the students’ creativity, and said they brought forth a plethora of usable ideas.
“You guys have just really sparked a lot of ideas for us, and each one can spark into another idea,” Galina said. “You could pay an ad agency a million dollars to come up with only one idea.”
The graphic design students also recently made presentations to CNN’s HLN network for a 2011 “Year in Review” advertising campaign, making back-to-back presentations with both MODA and HLN.
“This type of real world professional work with outside clients I feel is invaluable to designers prior to their graduation because it not only builds a strong portfolio of work for each of them but it gives each firsthand insight into the careers each of them will have once they graduate in the spring,” Anderson said.
GSU students are not contributing solely in the visual arts, but also through music, with a 4 p.m. performance by the GSU Opera of “Amahl and the Night Visitors,” by Gean Carlo Menotti.
“This is a unique opportunity for the GSU School of Music to celebrate the holiday season, showcase our exceptional student talent, and promote a worthwhile cause, all at once,” said Carroll Freeman, artistic/stage director for the production and the Valerie Adams Distinguished Professor in Opera. “We are honored to be a part of this important day.”
GSU is also observing World AIDS Day on campus, with a panel discussion at 1 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 29, in Room 124 of the Parker H. Petit Science Center. The panel is sponsored by the Division of Respiratory Therapy and the Byrdine F. Lewis School of Nursing and Health Professions, in addition to GSU Student Health Promotion and Employee Development and Wellness Services.
For more information about the event on Dec. 1 at MODA, please visit http://museumofdesign.org. For more information about the panel discussion on campus on Nov. 29, contact Lawrence Bryant at 404-413-1252.
Nov. 28, 2011
Archived at jeremyscraig.com on 12/6/2020.