Design Against the Death Penalty. The death penalty will be the next focus of Poster for Tomorrow, an international, collaborative poster project. The project will culminate on October 10, 2010, the world day against the death penalty coordinated by the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty. Posters are intended to be used by campaigners around the world and will be chosen in part for their reproducibility. The call for entries will open on April 10 with posters due in June. The project is run by 4tomorrow an independent, non-profit organization based in Paris that promotes active citizenship through the medium of design.  ¶

Always Wear Your Seatbelt. Stunning short video from the Sussex Safer Roads Partnership. The whole ad is one a simple, slightly surreal scene, but touches a deep, emotional place — a similar place to the recent Google ad, another simple, powerful video that’s surreal in its own way. Nicely done. (Via)  ¶

Job Loss to Recovery. The Obama administration has posted an infographic to bolster claims that a year after its signing, the Recovery Act is working wonders. I get the point, but the y-axis label is confusing: wouldn’t negative job loss be the same as job creation? Regardless, I had a different picture of the recovery.
 ¶

When Fear Turns Graphic. “Switzerland stunned many Europeans, including not a few Swiss, when near the end of last year the country, by referendum, banned the building of minarets... A poster was widely cited as having galvanized votes for the Swiss measure but was also blamed for exacerbating hostility toward immigrants and instigating a media and legal circus.”  ¶

Impact: Design for Social Change. This summer SVA will hold a six-week intensive workshop on design for social change in New York City. Sessions will focus on developing a collaborative project as well as your own non-client-based project — and funding it.  ¶