What If • 2023

Revitalize: A Poster for a World without an Industrial Revolution

An eight-week virtual collaboration with Hochschule Mainz that asked what if there wasn't an Industrial Revolution, and became a poster exhibited in Germany and at the Myrtle Beach Art Museum.

Poster Design
Speculative Design
Collaboration
Exhibition

Role: Designer and Writer
Timeline: 8 Weeks · 2022–2023
Team: 2 Hochschule Mainz Students
Tools: Photoshop
Procreate

The Prompt

Over eight weeks, students from different disciplines at Coastal Carolina University and Hochschule Mainz in Germany worked together virtually to research and create visual and textual displays around one question: what if? Our group of three asked: what if there wasn't an Industrial Revolution?

From Sketch to Poster

We started with quick sketches: the Earth with a smoking chimney, and a pair of lungs with the handwritten note irony. The lungs won. They let one image hold both sides of the question, a body shaped by industry and a body that never was.

Sketch of the Earth with a smoking chimney growing out of it. — Early Sketches: the Earth and the Lungs

Line sketch of a pair of lungs with smoke rising from the windpipe and the handwritten word irony. — Early Sketches: the Earth and the Lungs

In Procreate and Photoshop we moved from line drawing to a digital study, then to the final composite: one lung rusted and clouded with smoke, the other grown over with leaves and butterflies. The single word Revitalize sits above them.

Digital study of two lungs on a dark ground: one gray and bare with a smoking chimney, one bright green with branching airways. — Mid-Fidelity Sketch

A visual metaphor for revitalization: a rusted, smoke-covered metal structure transforms into lush green succulents with three orange monarch butterflies. The title “REVITALIZE” appears above against a dark gray background.

Final Deliverable

What if the Industrial Revolution never happened ?

As you gather wood, you take a moment and fill your lungs with the crisp air of a lush forest. Adrenaline rushes through your veins. The only sounds are the voices of hummingbirds. As a tree falls to your axe, the sun covers your skin with warm kisses. The water tastes refreshing, like waking up after a deep slumber.

Preparing for lunch, you gather ripe tomatoes from the garden behind the shed. You're met with disappointment as you discover rotting fruit in the garden. You ask around town, and a neighbor trades you two tomatoes for six eggs. Joy fills your body as you return home to feed your hungry wife and daughter. Your wife is stunned by the rich flavor, her taste buds satisfied.

You walk downstairs, filled with excitement, and notice a letter on the table. You recognize your girlfriend's handwriting, and your heart skips a beat. Your mind races with anticipation as you begin to read the letter. The words, “The bun will be in the oven when you get home,” leap from the page. As the hint clicks, you bolt upstairs and pack your satchel for the three-month journey from Charleston to San Antonio.

The Exhibition

I was selected as one of six American delegates to travel to Germany, where I helped curate and assemble the exhibition. The work was shown at Hochschule Mainz's International Days in 2023 and at the Myrtle Beach Art Museum that fall, alongside a printed book of the project.