Every year on June 20th — United Nations World Refugee Day — the world celebrates the courage, resilience, strength, and contributions of people of refugee backgrounds. We were tasked with designing a poster for the Youth Poster Awards Exhibition, as part of SA Refugee Week. The poster should highlight the theme of the exhibition, namely, multiculturalism, human rights, cultural diversity, anti-racism and the welcoming of refugees into Australia, as well as how refugees become part of, and contribute towards, the Australian “family”.

The idea for this poster came from having a conversation with some friends, I was saying that Australia would be nothing without refugees, that WE would be nothing without refugees. The benefits we all receive from living in a multicultural society are huge and I just can’t picture Australia without all these different influences.

From these first sketches, I explored with type and layout and many many iterations. The end result came about after some feedback from my mentor and some suggestions to push the design a little bit further. It portrays the primary message, ‘Nothing without u’ and the secondary message ‘Nothing without refugees’ clearly and emotively. I utilised a simple colour palette of black, white and orange, with the orange tying back to the colour of Harmony Day and the refugee flag. The image of the eyes in the word ‘refugees’ is to connect the viewer with the message, like making eye contact during a conversation. It speaks directly to refugees and the wider community, reminding them that we would be nothing without the cultural contribution from these amazing humans who have had to overcome more than most to be able to live the life they deserve.