ONE HAND, ONE HEART
During the United Nations
World Summit on Poverty in
September, the image of a black
hand with five different colored
fingers representing the five races
of man appeared on the sides
of 250 phone kiosks throughout
New York City. The message,
“We Are All African,” was
intended to raise awareness of
the issues being presented at the
U.N., including the AIDS epidemic
and extreme poverty,
particularly suffered in Africa.
According to the press release put
out by the
School of Visual Arts,
which funded the poster designed
by America’s graphic design
laureate Milton Glaser, the
image was also meant to address
“the current disaster on our Gulf
Coast where racial issues may
have contributed to the slow response.”
But while the sentiment
of the poster—of all humankind
being connected—is commendable, an informal survey found it had many
New Yorkers scratching their multiethnic heads. The image and maxim
were at least as confusing as enlightening. One hopes Glaser keeps designing
for good causes, but it looks like changing political and social consciousness
might take two hands. The poster is available for purchase on
SVA’s website ($35; $100 signed by Glaser). All proceeds go directly to organizations
involved in One.org efforts, including the International Rescue
Committee, Data (debt, AIDS, trade, Africa), and the American Red
Cross.
PUSHING THE LIMITS
Provocative modern artist/architect/designer Gaetano Pesce is working with the
Philadelphia
Museum of Art this fall to create his first museum exhibition in the United States
in nearly a decade. Best known for designing explicitly figurative furniture like his UP
chair—a spongy, full-bosomed chair with high hips shackled to a round ottoman by an
umbilical cord—Pesce is a pioneer of incorporating political opinion (the chair was first
unleashed in 1969 at a heady moment in
the Women’s Liberation Movement) with
equally innovative, if not organic, material
like flexible polyurethane foam. Pesce
now works mostly with elastic artificial
resin, which works perfectly for his dramatic
Nobody’s Perfect line of one-ofa-
kind cracked chairs and odd, slanted
shelving units. The museum plans to
honor Pesce with its annual Design Excellence
Award. Gaetano Pesce: Pushing the
Limits will be on view until April 9, 2006.
IT'S A SMALL WORLD AFTER ALL
Despite the popularity of quick and easy online
banking, the number of new walk-in bank
branches continues to flourish. (Over the past
two years, 2,765 branches opened nationwide,
bringing the total number to 80,883, according
to First Manhattan Consulting Corp.)
In the face of such encroaching competition,
credit unions have been forced to reinvigorate
their brand identities—to differentiate themselves
from the big bad banks that are popping
up on every corner. This fall, the
Iridium
Group in New York is helping the United Nations
Federal Credit Union to shake its staid, 58-year-old image and communicate better with its
members. The creative challenge was to evoke a colorful yet realistic “slice of life” relevant to its
85,000 strong membership, which hails from several ethnicities. To give an idea of the challenge,
UNFCU has only seven branches worldwide (three in New York, two in Geneva, one in Vienna,
and another in Nairobi). As usual, Iridium delivered. The stunning creative campaign of collateral
material, signage, and direct mail is on target and ongoing. It provides a true international
vision and accuracy.
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