Design for Public Service

Pellissippi's faculty has chosen Mountains Beyond Mountains as our "common book" for this semester, and I'm planning to use it in my Design I course.

This non-fiction book by Pultzer prize winner Tracey Kidder examines the life and challenge of Dr. Paul Farmer, a doctor who has spent his career working with health crises in Third World countries including Peru, Haiti, and Cuba.

My Design I students will design a public service poster to address one of the health issues in the book, present it to the class for critique. Then the posters will appear here on designcrit for comments.

Although the graphic design profession often focuses its magic on feeding our consumer culture, graphic design can be much more. This project will examine the idea of graphic design for the common good, including historic and contemporary examples.

President Edward's convocation on September 8 will address Kidder's book. All students and faculty will gather that Friday at 11:30 a.m. in Goins Auditorium. In the meantime, students should pick up this book from the curriculum office in the Goins Building and begin reading and brainstorming about their poster.