Creating safe spaces doesn’t always mean painting walls to be more inviting and inclusive — sometimes creating safe spaces means making your voice heard, showing up for one another, and fighting for the wellbeing of others in your community.  And one of the ways this can be practiced is by participating in peaceful protests. I love the raw, unadulterated power of a sharpie on carboard sign, but the designer and lettering artist in me had to take things a step further.

I had multiple challenges to design around with these:

1. Most of the people seeing my sign would be walking or driving by, so they’d only have a split second to consume its content, which meant I needed to draw type that was bold, graphic, and easy to read quickly. But I still wanted to retain an energize and human feel (because what’s more human than fighting for basic, human rights?), so I employed organically imperfect lettering styles characterized by slanted lines, heavy-handed curves, thick and bold figures, and visual multiplicity. These letterforms have enough visual interest and personality to grab attention without compromising legibility, even at a distance.
2. Another challenge was to keep the artwork hopeful and bright when the conflict we’re protesting is anything but. It’s so easy to spiral out and get stuck in hard places when it feels like you’re fighting an uphill battle, so the last thing I wanted to do was add to the urgency or stress of the situation. I decided to lean into upbeat colors and use a playful gradient for a stimulating effect, keeping things more positive.
3. Two sides, two audiences, two messages. It dawned on me that while you’re waving your sign at passer-byers, trying to express your big feelings or share a new perspective, that you’re also waving a sign to the other protesters behind and around you. To other like-minded people fighting for the same things you are. So, I decided to design a two-sided poster: one side to share a call to action for the audience I’m trying to encourage, and on the other a message of hope for my fellow demonstrators who had the same fears, heartache, and anger that I do.
4. How do I make a sign the old school way so it feels authentic and human-centered, without having to redraw each sign by hand? Spray paint (and nothing says rebellion like spray paint)! To make these signs and share them with my fellow demonstrators, I created a reusable stencil that would allow me to add the artwork to any materials we happened to have on hand and make more in the future for other peaceful protests.