Group - POW!-erful Poster Designs Create a Buzz for Local Festival
Search form

POW!-erful Poster Designs Create a Buzz for Local Festival

Budding designers from the Canterbury School of Visual Arts at our Canterbury College recently partnered with Power Of Women (POW!) Thanet to create a series of posters to promote the charity’s annual arts festival.

The striking designs, inspired by this year’s festival theme, ‘Power in Protest’, were created by first year HND Art and Design (Graphic Design) students, Rhian Chapman, Ellie King and Fen Linton.

Each influenced by the lived experiences of women, the trio of unique poster collections explored different issues around feminism, women, and girls.

“Whilst researching for this unit I was moved by a particular woman's story that shocked me,” commented Rhian, who created an arresting set of photo and typographic designs.

She continued: “I was inspired by her strength and I knew I wanted to design a poster on this theme. I wanted to take the opportunity to empower women to take the first step to breaking free from domestic abuse. I wanted to convey the strength of women and show that we can no longer be afraid of our abusers.”

Also touched by stories of women who have experienced domestic abuse, Fen harnessed the recognisable style of fashion illustration to create powerful design statements.

Speaking about her artwork, Fen said: “The message I wanted to convey was that every woman has a voice they can share and that they are strong enough to survive, and by standing up they were helping stop abuse become a trend.”

Meanwhile, Ellie took a different stance, exploring the themes of gender, equality, and body image with a colourful and empowering digital illustration.

She commented: “My poster is based around body equality between men and women of all body types. I was inspired by a lot of female body campaigns such as Dove and the Be Real Campaign - I also found out there were very few body-positive campaigns for men.

“During this project, I took part in my first ever professional pitch, which was an interesting and important skill to develop for the future. As well as this, I was able to improve my digital drawing skills, photoshop skills and I used Adobe Illustrator for the first time.”

The students’ designs were shared ahead of POW! Thanet’s four-day online live-streamed festival, reaching hundreds of East Kent residents.  

Visit our Canterbury College's website for more information about Art and Design courses and apply online.