Design Summary
This was one of the first design challenges I did back in February of 2023, I pulled the prompt. Design a minimalist banner ad for the CDC. Pretty topical considering that COVID-19 was really just starting to wind down nationwide and worldwide. Most places in the Des Moines area (where I live) had already dropped pretty much all restrictions or mandates well before I pulled this prompt, but the COVID-19 pandemic and all that came with it was still very fresh in my mind and in everyday discourse. I was also excited that the prompt was for a minimalist design, minimalism is a favorite of mine and it was perfect for these challenges that I like to keep under an hour total time.
The Process
The process for this one was pretty straightforward. Keeping the minimalist design in mind I got to work creating some sketches. First I wanted to start with some attributes for the CDC: Heath, Government, COVID-19 response, Masks, and Vaccines. Deciding on a display ad size of 1024x768 I created some boxes to get sketching as you can see below. This phase really helped me settle on what imagery and symbols I would want to use in my final composition.
Ideation
Sketches
Final
For the final I wanted to have a stark contrast so I went with a monochromatic design to fit the minimalist brief. I went with blue as the color to encapsulate the sadness and uncertainty that surrounded the COVID-19 pandemic as a whole. I went with the mask as the focal point of the design as when I think back to the pandemic it is impossible to do so without the thought of masks and the mask mandates as a whole. Even today people still bring up the mask mandates that the CDC put into place during the pandemic. I had a great time making this composition, but not a great time reminiscing about the COVID-19 pandemic as a whole.
