Mixed or multiracial people often struggle with their identity and where they fit into society. It is common for one to feel like they need to "choose" a side or change who they are based on who they around.
This project started out as a poster system to spread awareness of this social topic but has developed as a cross platform campaign for Vox’s Article: The loneliness of Being Mixed Race in America. This consist of support web graphics within the article and an Instagram carousel post.
As a mixed race person myself I only knew of my own experiences and those of my friends. Below is the research portion of my process where learned more about multi-racial people's experiences and their mental health. In my research I discovered different terms asscoaited with this topic such as colorism, amalgamation, and PCRIM.
After the research stage, I developed three different communication goals for the poster series. Each color below represent different concepts; I ended up pursuing the third/green concept.
Top set of thumbnails started out more with the human figures while the bottom set focus more on organic shapes and statistics from the studies of my research.
Reflecting from the thumbnails and visual research, there is not a lot of posters or graphics that are about mixed race identity; but the ones that are often have the human figure in it. This project allowed me to challenge myself to make connections metaphorically rather than visually.
Inspired by Swiss design and the connection of metaphors with shapes and colors, I began to play around with these elements. These comps are beginning stages but have no strong connection to the imagery. Also in this stage I explore different type studies influence by the sans serif typefaces in Swiss design.
Vox’s Article: The loneliness of Being Mixed Race in America was one of articles I came across during my research that I personally felt connected to. The article is a series of interviews and short essays of 6 young mixed race Americans and how navigate their identities. I shifted the target audience to be Vox's readers and took pull quotes from the article to engage readers to view the whole article.
At this stage metaphors and imagery have a strong connection as well as a cohesive color palette.
