We’re out of time

For Desertification and Extinction

Project type

Poster Campaign

semester

SS 2024

Supervisors

Dr. Illya Pavlov (PhD)

Environmental and Cultural Issues

We focused on projects addressing environmental and cultural issues. Each student group created a series of animated posters, accompanied by informative websites and brochures. I was collaborating with Laura Galvanetto on the topic of “Extinction due to Desertification”. Our work was showcased in an exhibition called “Oh Shift!” at Kunstclub Kräftner in Graz in June 2024.

Exhibition

About our Project

After researching the alarming data and predictions on desertification and recognising it as a global issue, we selected six representative species — Giant Panda, Koala, Gazelle, Cheetah, Baobab, and Sinai Primrose. We created typographic designs from real sand that is blown away, the dissolving process symbolises extinction, while our slogans emphasise the urgent need for action.

Project Website

Final Animated Posters

Editing

During editing, we enhanced colors and contrast in Photoshop and DaVinci Resolve. To adapt the videos to the rectangular poster format (originally square for projection), we used After Effects’ content-aware fill and made frame-by-frame adjustments in Procreate. These refinements improved transitions during stencil removal in the videos.

Process

Our creative process combined sand, stencils, and animation. We laser-cut the stencils ourselves and integrated them into our brochure design. Using them to form letter shapes on an overhead projector, we recorded the projection as the stencils were lifted and the sand was blown away.