World Bank Poster Campaign

Project: World Bank Poster Campaign

Year: 2003, spring semester senior year through summer after graduation

Client: World Bank Group, Margaret Griswald

collaborators: colleague Eliot Cohen

Project Description: The World Bank Group has come under scrutiny by environmental groups in past years due to environmental procedures. To improve their service the World Bank has made efforts in current and future projects to take a more sustainable approach. They were eager to carry this initiative over to their internal practices. The goal this project was to draw attention to these efforts.

Design Process

Our campaign is designed to tell of the responsibilities one holds as a member of the World Bank Group and also instill pride it the individual inhabitant. The campaign is meant to orient the individual to the working systems that surround them. This could be with a system that has a direct effect on their lives such as agricultural distribution or a seemingly isolated system such as a plankton cycle. All represented systems will possess a direct link to programs the World Bank Group is pruning, both internal and eternal. This will help them realize that even their simple actions affect the environment.

The method of communication in this campaign is art installation. We use the tree as basis for the campaign because of its componentry On the truck is a represented system. The leaves are removed by the viewer and dispense information about individual components, the roots link all systems together. Over time the leaves will be removed leaving the trees barren and giving viewers a more subtle message.

The final product will not only be educational and interactive, but will also enhance the significance and beauty of the space it inhabits.

Why A Tree?

The tree is a symbol for the environment, this however is not the reason it was chosen as the basis for this educational art campaign. Trees are a vital part to all systems on earth. They produce oxygen to breath, wood for construction and fruit for nourishment. We have taken general components every tree shares and abstracted them. In this case rather than producing tangible material our trees harbor information.
A tree is a system. Fruit is utilized to spread the tree's genealogy. The trunk is used for support, and the roots reach into the ground for support and nourishment.		The fruit or leaves are utilized to spread information about the project. The trunk is the information foundation, and the roots spread out showing how systems relate to one another.

Anatomy of Our Tree

The abstracted tree is comprised of three components: leaves, trunk, and roots. Below each component's function is laid out. In addition, the installation's "ecosystem" is represented. The roots on each tree point to other trees with systems that directly correspond. This creates an immersive environment rich with information.
	Leaves The leaves represent seeds and serve to spread the information of the campaign.		Roots The roots demonstrate how each tree relates to one another. By physically describing where a tree is rooted in the larger system in, and its relation with other trees. The roots also provide a substructure in which every tree depends on its connection to the system for structural integrity.
	Trunk The trunk is structural as well as a permanent base for the information on the system it represents individually.

Exhibit Walk Through

The trunks display graphic diagrams. Void of text, these diagrams are accessible to all people regardless of their native language.		The leaves are comprised of separate sections which encourage the individual who experiences the installation to take a piece of the campaign with them.
			Every piece of leaf is a card with printed with detailed information about the system described on the corresponding trunk.
		After the poster has been experienced by many people, it is noticeable that the impact created by the individuals on the poster is amplified because of the size of the World Bank

Global Reach

The peripheral information cards come off the tree as postcards. In the form of a postcard, the life of the material and the information is extended beyond the inhabitants of the World Bank, adding value.

The postcards serve as a connection between the receiver and the campaign's message. By receiving a postcard one becomes part of the system of knowledge. The knowledge gained from a single postcard can be expanded vastly by visiting the web-site.

The web-sites interactivity will mimic the installations. With the clean graphic diagrams from the trunk supported by the sprawling in-depth information from the leaves the web-site will allow access of the installation from around the world.