With this poster design, I wanted to visually show the contrast of something classically pure in America, and its own negative impact on the people who love it.
Corn is portrayed in the United States as iconic and wholesome, and is represented by the image of the American farmer – the backbone of the country. But as biotechnology, government subsidiaries, obesity, and diabetes rates increase, the more people discover corn playing a contributing role. Products derived from corn can be found in 75% of the items in the grocery store, and are found in the products of almost every fast-food chain. The more Americans rely on inexpensive food items as their source of nutrition, the worse the problem gets.
Creatively, I wanted to represent this contrast by photographing yellow kernel corn juxtaposed with a pound of pure lard.
The main title of the poster, “Corn Fed” was designed to resemble the red, white, and blue graphics found on the disposable food containers of county fairs, Independence Day parades and carnivals.
The font used is Mercury Display, and was selected for its visual aesthetic, the fact that it was designed by American typographers, and to resemble official government documents.
The copy in the poster first educates the viewer with statistics, introduces the harmful effects of corn, its impact on Americans, and finally, its distribution to other countries in hopes of raising awareness to a global audience. The most negative parts of the copy were purposely crossed out – a metaphor to old classified documents – hiding the information an over-arching power doesn’t want you to see.
A once seemingly harmless, golden-yellow grain is quietly contributing to the constant decline of health of Americans, but is still being exported around the globe with positive ideals. 20" x 28"