Blog Post Title One (Copy) (Copy)
Designing for Heroes
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Designing for Heroes ---
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Founded in 1980, the Make-A-Wish Foundation is a non-profit organization that fulfills the “wishes” of children with critical illnesses. Although I’ve produced many designs to date, including logos, personas, and flyers, I am overcome with pride when looking upon the “Heroes” poster that I created for the charity. Surviving several critical illnesses myself, and having been granted a wish from the foundation, I have a deep understanding of what the organization is and how its volunteers help children in need. The charitable Make-A-Wish Foundation honors the young, everyday fighters that stand up to health battles of all kinds.
Having been a “Wish Kid”, personal experience has taught me that the exposure garnered from promotional materials raises awareness for Make-A-Wish. My current role as a graphic designer has given me the opportunity to help show my support and create publicity, thereby giving back to the heroic organization and its fight for sick and suffering children. Moreover, crafting the “Heroes” poster for Make-A-Wish has allowed me to prove my allegiance with the current wish warriors, providing them with the recognition and support they deserve.
In making the “Heroes” poster, I was faced with a number of design choices and ideas. Among the variations drafted was a version with stars, akin to the foundation’s logo, that appeared to be falling from the top of the poster. My concept was the children were being showered with wishes, (a notion I liked that I would later use in a different design) but it was not powerful enough for my vision. Another showed a sword and shield in the center and advertised the bravery of all “Wish Kids”. This imagery was much more powerful, but I felt it was too intense for the age group. Although these conveyed the overall message of strength and courage I was looking for, they still didn’t quite fit the childish theme I had imagined. Knowing the fight these “wish kids” have to face, I decided on a superhero theme, which I thought was an appropriate genre for the subject and charity.
I next had to decide how to showcase the multitude of kids, all representing different backgrounds and ages, who are impacted and given wishes. An early attempt was made up of stick figures which I used because of their generic “every person” look, but it was too simplistic and I was not satisfied. Next, I tried a traditional “happy face” image, but it still did not represent the diversity in children that I’d been in search of. I finally created several faceless characters to accomplish the feel I had envisioned, each one a different height and color shade, symbolizing people of varying nationalities.
In addition to the decision I made on how to display kids from all different cultures, I knew the poster’s color palette was critical. The final version’s muted background with contrasting bright and colorful children has its own meaning. The cheerful-looking foreground stands out from the washed-out background, suggesting that the children now stand apart from the difficult journeys they were once forced to fight through.
Finally, the poster needed a powerful tagline to complete its messaging. I worked through several ideas and iterations on the theme, including:
“Everyone is a Hero”
“There is a Hero in Each of Us”
“Wishes for Heroes”
“The Make-A-Wish Superheroes”
While all seemed fitting, I still wanted something more focused on the children. I finally came upon “Heroes Come in All Shapes and Sizes”, which captured the essence of the image.
The typeface was the last design component I considered. Since my design is a superhero theme, this was an easy choice for me. The comic-like typeface “Bangers” seemed all too appropriate in this instance.
Although many variants were considered, the final design has the impact I had envisioned from the start. I wanted to stress the idea that, regardless of cultural differences, critical illness is unfortunately a universal possibility. In addition to the concept that “no fighter stands alone”, I also wanted to give the impression that the children aided by the Make-A-Wish Foundation have the strength to overcome the conflicts they are faced with and become superheroes to both themselves and others.
