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Los Angeles Recruits Shepard Fairey’s Studio To Design Free COVID-19 PSA Posters
By Mikelle Leow, 23 Jul 2020
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Image by Camilla Lonis of Studio Number One for the City of Los Angeles
Hope isn’t enough in the fight against the coronavirus. The COVID-19 situation can only pass over if everyone does their bid to protect themselves and the people around them.
Since the time of publication, Los Angeles County has already surpassed 165,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19, so as a reminder for the general public to do the bare minimum of masking up, LA Mayor Eric Garcetti launched a new campaign called the L.A. Mask Print Project.
To kick things off, he enlisted Studio Number One—owned by Shepard Fairey, OBEY Clothing founder and creator of Barack Obama’s 2008 Hope presidential campaign poster—to design the first three artworks.
The new vibrant art was created pro bono by Studio Number One’s design director Camilla Lonis, who pictured three mask-wearing characters against the famous pink and orange LA sky. The words “Protect & Respect” form a halo above their heads.
The posters are now available to download for free in both English and Spanish on the city’s dedicated coronavirus website. They’re each available in two sizes—the first, scaled to be printed on 8.5 x 11” paper, is meant for the general public to display at home, while businesses are encouraged to download the 18”x24” version and get it professionally done at print shops.
Garcetti told the Los Angeles Times, “Wearing a mask is critical to helping us stop the spread of this virus, safely reopen our city and save lives, and we need to use every tool at our disposal to deliver this message across Los Angeles, throughout our country, and around the world.”
Statistics show that about 69-percent of COVID-19 diagnoses in California—which happens to be the state with the highest number of confirmed cases—are people aged 49 and younger. It is thus hoped that youths will pay more attention to COVID-19 safety guidelines when the messages are conveyed in art styles more appealing to them, such as Fairey’s.
Artists can contribute to the initiative by reaching out to [email protected]. You can also find out more about the project here.
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Studio Number One (@studionumberone) on
Images by Camilla Lonis of Studio Number One for the City of Los Angeles
[via Los Angeles Times, images by Camilla Lonis of Studio Number One for the City of Los Angeles]
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