This poster series was created for a course called Cross Cultural Design, in which we learned how design can be an international language and that cultures that are opposite to our own deal with the same issues. The specific issue we addressed in our assignment was climate change and how it has specifically affected China.

I wanted to illustrate how China’s ancient and rich culture is often not the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of China, and is instead associated with extreme air pollution and the masks that many Chinese people wear to tolerate an increasingly unbreathable atmosphere. The illustration of the masks act as a metaphor for how climate change will render all culture, no matter how old and established, useless in the face of the need to survive the changing conditions on our planet.

For more information, visit www.climateiscrosscultural.com

Ironically this idea was conceptualized before the pandemic was declared in the United States, and really doesn't relate to the issue of COVID-19. However, I believe that any non-Chinese viewer of this poster has a better understanding of the burden of needing to wear a mask in order to out in public, and can better sympathize with those directly affected by climate change, and will need to wear a mask after the pandemic is over.