Thursday 9 May marked the opening of the exhibition designed by Aaron James and Olivia Moors for the Global Goals campaign. Displayed in the University library were posters promoting the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, designed by Part 2 students in the Department of Typography & Graphic Communication. The project originated form a professional relationship between sessional lecturer Greg Bunbury and Project Everyone, a charity led by Richard Curtis.

The exhibition allowed students from across the University, not only our own department, to see the hard work the Part 2s had put in to bringing these goals to life. It was extremely rewarding to be able to see our own work on display for everyone to see. The opening event also allowed us to get a feel for how our posters could connect to the viewer, seeing how well the message came across, watching faces react, and hoping the work inspired change in people’s thinking or actions.

At the opening, there were short talks from James Lloyd, Eric Kindel, Greg Bunbury, and Hannah Cameron from Project Everyone. Everyone was sure to congratulate the students on their work, especially Aaron and Olivia for their contribution to the exhibition itself. But what stood out to me were Greg Bunbury’s words. He talked about creating work that means something. Creating work with a message. He mentioned that you should always create work that you care about, and that you believe in. I feel that this was the most important part of the project for the designers involved. We had the chance to create some meaningful work possibly for the first time, with the intention of getting a real message across. And through this exhibition, we were able to see the impact those messages can have.