Ethical Consumption During COVID
As a Product Design student, I think about how and when design should be used. I sometimes see designers fueling their efforts into projects centered on self-gratification—accomplishing polished products with the sole purpose of looking good and in turn making them feel good. During the global crisis we find ourselves in, design can be used in both macroscopic and unassuming ways: information architecture to relay information to the masses without biases or fear-mongering, rapid prototyping for at-home personal protective equipment, general design for public health systems, and every bit of freelance work completed for business or visual pleasure. I wanted to use design, and this project, to focus on pressing issues that have arisen out of the pandemic.
There is a great deal of strife surrounding production, transportation, and consumption of goods at the moment. Poorly designed manufacturing spaces (through a public health lens) have led to coronavirus infections among essential workers, some workers are not paid hazard wages or given proper protection, and too much of the general public has refused to take proper precautions—those ignoring social distancing guidance, arriving at grocery stores and other shops without masks, and unnecessary bulk-buying of essential goods. Thus, I created a campaign for a mock organization I call the Be Mindful Project.
The organization’s mission and the aim of the posters below is to encourage people to be mindful and ethical about their consumption and shopping habits during this time. The first is about buying what you need, so others can as well. Therefore, I used toilet paper to recall the mass hysteria surrounding toilet paper at the beginning of quarantine. The second is about supporting local business so that your money is going to people and not big businesses like Amazon that are accruing egregious wealth during this crisis. Both posters are intended to target online shopping specifically—only buy what you need and buy it from places who need the money and participate in ethical and moral labor practices. I hoped to sell this through the value of benevolence and universalism — protection for the welfare of one’s local community and for the welfare of the global community.
