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Big Easy
2005, poster
Client: Part of ‘25 Above Water,’ a fund raising initiative for victims of hurricane Katrina
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This poster was created for an exhibition and sale, with proceeds going to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund. A very admirable attempt to raise money and visibility for the victims of hurricane Katrina by Sam Vazquez.

I recently visited the website of another contributor to ‘25’ and noticed that the poster they had designed for flood relief, was being used to promote their design practice. And secondarily I suppose, as proof that they do “socially conscious graphic design.” I have also seen a ‘25’ poster submitted to a design competition recently.

What’s wrong with benefiting in some secondary or tertiary way while doing charity work? Perhaps nothing, but I do wonder how much money this poster generated and whether it would have been better if I just figured out how many hours it would take to design and print this poster, settle on an hourly rate, add material costs and then send that amount down to New Orleans instead of doing, what might just be a vanity piece that also happens to be on MY website.

So optimists go here: http://www.25abovewater.com/info.html and buy a poster. Pessimists can just send that amount (plus what it would cost to frame the sucker) to the Red Cross.