Project 10 - Missing Persons Advocacy

Our assignment for this week was to produce a four color advertisement for Missing Persons Advocacy. We were given a choice of national organizations to choose from and were asked to create an emotional design that promotes awareness of this problem. After researching the various organizations websites I chose to focus my attention with the Alzheimer’s Association and the epidemic of wandering. This problem occurs when a person suffering from the symptoms of Alzheimer’s and dementia become disorientated or lost in their normal surroundings and is ultimately at risk of surviving in unsafe elements if not found. I remember reading about such a case in my local newspaper recently and decided that it would be a good topic to raise awareness about. In developing my design for this assignment I wanted to focus on creating something that was very stimulating and shocking in order to really communicate the seriousness of this problem. I initially tried to accomplish this through imagery – but after many hours of trying to source the perfect photo to no avail, I turned my attention towards the headline as the point of emphasis in my piece. The shocking title is intended to make the viewer react and want to look deeper into the advertisement’s copy to fully understand what is going on. As for the image, I chose to work with simple, everyday element of an elderly person taking a walk. The choice of this image doesn’t give away any the meaning of the piece and is intended to make the viewer wonder how it relates to the shocking title. Obviously something terrible has happened, but you don’t know exactly what until you read further into and find out that he has become a victim of this epidemic. In this way I believe I created an intriguing piece that communicates a problem that needs to be addressed and the emotional manner in which it is presented hopefully adds to the necessity of it’s awareness.