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Click image to download

I got the idea to start doing pro-bono (for the public good) work from chatting with someone at a recent AIGA event. He told me to do as much pro-bono work as you can when you’re young. And I agree, the more experience you have under your belt the better. I’ve had some free time on my hands lately, and I thought what a perfect way to volunteer and advertise for free!

I found volunteermatch.org to be a very helpful start. No one was advertising for the need of graphic design services, but I found a few that had a call for newsletter entries, help at events, and various others that I knew would appreciate my services. I picked a few that interested me including: United States Equine Rescue League, Inc. (USERL), Teens against Violence (TAV), Shepherd’s Center East, and National Multiple Sclerosis Society - Mid Atlantic Chapter.

I created this poster and bookmark for USERL, which helps rescue horses in need. If you click the images you can download the PDF’s and please feel free to print the poster and bookmark to post or hand out.

Last night at AIGA Charlotte’s Meet|Market event was the re|THINK poster exhibit. It was a poster competition for a way for designers to do their share to help save the earth. Posters were focused on inspiring the Carolinas to care more about their environment. There were many different styles, approaches, and ways to help the environment. It was hard to pick a favorite, but I like the picture of the tree with the thermostat the best; I think photography has a very strong power to make things seem real and true. You can view and purchase ($10 ea) all of the posters at rethinkposters.com.

I got inspiration from one of the posters, to put a bucket in the tub while I take a shower. It cuts down on half the amount of water I need to water my outdoor garden each day. I also like using my reusable bags to go to the grocery store, if I don’t have them on me and end up having to get plastic bags, I use them as my dog’s poop bags. I feel a little silly telling people I do these things, but doing small things not only helps the environment but it also makes you feel good, and hopefully it rubs off on others. What creative ways do you reduce, reuse, and recycle?

Some people may not see the point of helping the environment by reducing, reusing, and recycling, but I found two inspiring quotes:
“The choices we make as individuals are important, if only because I think humans work by example. What one person does, another will follow, and then we begin to see the numbers that will make a real difference.” Clare Harris, editor of New Consumer magazine.
“When the tipping point toward green shopping behavior is reached, when enough people change their behavior, then collectively we will make a difference.” CNN.com

The Ph.D. Program in CCI wanted something to mail to other schools to advertise to other students. CCI has a bulletin board covered with posters from other schools advertising different programs, so I took a look there to see what other schools were doing. Most of them are badly designed with too much information and clutter. I noticed a couple had a “take-one” pad varying in sizes, which I thought was a good idea.

"take-one" pad

We would be mailing the Ph.D. brochure with the poster, so I knew they had to match. I wanted the “take-one” card to work like a business card; so I made it the smallest that the printer recommended, with the important information of the name, tag line, and website. That way students don’t have to write the information down, they can just take one, and hopefully they are more likely to visit the website.

Once the materials were ready, I worked on finding the top 250 national computer science universities and the top 200 international universities. I used USNews.com’s list of American’s Best Colleges 2008, and then had to go to each school’s website individually to find the department/school name and address. Talk about a long grueling process, but I got it done in a few days!