In this project, I took text from an audio-only PSA about banned books from the American Library Association and rearranged it to promote a more urgent message. Then I created a video to accompany that message, along with various assets to encourage people to read banned books.
These posters are localized—they use quotes from books that were banned in schools or libraries in the state in which they hang. The idea is to provoke curiosity; if people can read enough of the quote to be interested but not enough to fully understand it, might they seek out the full book?
I also designed reading challenge bookmarks. They list ten banned books on the front, along with a color code indicating the reasons for their bans. On the back are facts and statistics about book bans, as well as a QR code to the American Library Association's webpage about banned books. These bookmarks were distributed for free by local libraries and indie bookstores.
Lastly, I created a page-a-day calendar. Each page features a quote from a banned book, as well as the title and author of the book and how many school districts have banned it. The pages also double as postcards, allowing the message of banned books to be spread even further.
I went through a lot of variations on visual style before arriving at the final design. My main goal with this project was to transform the original ALA PSA—which focused on celebrating Banned Books Week and visiting libraries—to direct more attention to the vital issues behind book bans. I wanted to highlight book bans as the social justice issue that they are. So at first, I tried a more traditionally social justice-aligned visual style. This ended up feeling a bit gimmicky and very distracting, though. Instead, I opted for visual metaphor—something that would make the audience feel the problem, make them literally become unable to read it as the video went on. I tried various effects, such as ink bleeds, burning, and tearing, but ended up deciding that having the words simply disappear would be the most effective.
© 2024 Ellis Carson Jones
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