Making a point with graphic design: the power of posters
Getting your work into a Taiwanese exhibition hall. That’s what Annemiek Hutten, Graphic Design student, managed to do. She came across a competition online that linked in with the Individual Research she was doing for her course. The result? An award, and more attention focused on a serious problem: illegal organ donation.
The award was presented by TAICOT (Taiwan Association for International Care of Organ Transplants). Annemiek: “I just thought it would be fun to take part in a design competition. And then suddenly I was asked to design a poster against illegal organ donation in China.”
Illegal organ donation is a serious problem. Annemiek paints a shocking picture: “In China, prisoners and minority groups are used for organ donation. Say a heart transplant is planned in two weeks’ time. A living person will be forced to donate his or her heart. Against their will and often without their knowledge, organs are transplanted in China, as a result of which people die or will suddenly be missing some of their organs. It’s unbelievable that this is going on. A lot more people ought to know about it.” Annemiek is keen to use her talent for graphic design to expose social issues.
Minority group
“I focused my research on the Uighur minority in China. The country is committing genocide, they are locking this ethnic group up in concentration camps.” She first heard about the repression of this group in the TV programme Zondag met Lubach: “It’s crazy that so few people know about this and that the politicians are doing nothing about it. China is very powerful and like other countries, we in the Netherlands import a lot of products from them. That makes it hard to speak out, but we really should.”
Exhibition in Taiwan
Annemiek was one of the winners of the design competition. Her poster was part of an exhibition in Taiwan. “That was quite special”, nods Annemiek modestly. Unfortunately going there in person presented problems, but she was sent proof in the form of a certificate.
And the future?
Annemiek is in the third year of the Graphic Design course. “After the course, I want to work for a design agency. I’d like to do something for companies that are looking to initiate change. I wouldn’t really want to work for an advertising agency or a really commercial business. Advertising can be misleading and it’s usually all about selling as much as possible. I want to feel like I can support the client’s ideas.” She sees the same idealism in her classmates: “I think the whole class wants to design for a better world. That’s something we learn on our course in Zwolle. It’s part of the Human Matters vision and is reflected in subjects like art history, in which we learn about social designers.” Annemiek advises prospective students to seriously consider Graphic Design in Zwolle: “You get a lot of freedom to choose your own projects and there are a lot of different directions you can go in. For example, commercial campaigns, signage or designing books... The list is long.”
