Van Wrap - Life & Deaf Association

The Life & Deaf Association were struggling with their designer, who didn't get the idea they wanted to promote for their UK tour. I knew one of the founders, and she asked me to come up with a rival concept to spur their designer on. The theme of the tour was "Include me in the world", promoting inclusion for young deaf people by performing their poetry, encouraging other young deaf people to express themselves through poetry, and inviting people to learn British Sign Language.

They gave me an old map they liked for colour reference, and I thought, "Why not just put the kids' poetry on a map, and wrap it around a van?" The colours were bright and holiday-ish, which was perfect as it was a summertime tour, and the poetry flowed naturally. It was my first time working to a commission, and my first time working at large scale. My ancient iMac could barely cope with the files - it took about 5 minutes to save, while I crossed my fingers every time!

I especially like the idea that the van invites you to interact with it. Wherever they stopped on the roadshow, people would be coming up and reading the poetry on the van, which led to discussions about the work of the Association. The van was also featured in an episode of the deaf affairs programme 'See Hear'.