We had the privilege of presenting our wares to the Unique LA faithful a couple weekends ago, and our good friend and photographer Megan Welker took some pretty sweet action shots.

This week we got an email from Megan over at Tumblr saying they loved the prints and had already put them up in the office. Even better, she sent us a picture. Here are the Help Ink prints hanging in the Tumblr offices!

When I began sketching out ideas, the phrase, “Love thy neighbor,” kept popping into my head. I am currently fascinated by how easy it is to communicate with anyone, anywhere in the world within a matter of seconds. We can travel almost anywhere in the world in less than a day. This is an amazing, and a relatively new phenomenon. Literally, everyone is my neighbor. I think that was the driving inspiration behind this piece…the idea that the whole world is my neighbor. And I (we, really) can help or hurt or ignore people half way across the world, almost as easily as I can the family in the apartment across from mine.

I chose to illustrate some distinct and recognizable home styles from around the world. Some are from my own travel experiences, some are from the most easily identifiable home locations I could think of. I tried to represent a wide array of culture and class.

Because the art direction was mostly left open to me, I was able to incorporate some design styles that I am currently into. Limited colors. Extruded type. Simple shapes. A vintage/modern feel…

I had a lot of fun sketching various home ideas. The thing that caused me the most difficulty?…that stupid palm tree. I must have drawn 30 palm trees. Some ideas didn’t make the cut – I’m specifically thinking of a yurt with a yak next to it. Who knows, maybe after a few more travel experiences there will be a 2nd version.

I was first introduced to The Foundation For Tomorrow by my good friend, Beth Watson who has been to Tanzania several times to look after little orphans and help out with the TFFT effort.

We worked together at SpotCo and I remember her telling me that she was going to Africa for a week, not for a fancy vacation but to help take care of some orphans in a small village. It’s very inspiring to me when people who are close friends take matters into their own hands to help the world. Inspiring and convicting at the same time to know that there’s nothing really stopping me from doing something to help someone else… especially when people in my circle of friends are doing things like flying to Africa to take care of orphans.

The Foundation for Tomorrow was founded by Meghann Gunderman, a woman who saw a need in Tanzania several years ago and decided to do something about it. I urge you to check out the website and learn about the amazing impact  Meghann and her team are making in Africa and the many ways that you can help. http://www.thefoundationfortomorrow.org/about_us.html

When I got word from Drew Carson at HelpInk that he wanted to get me involved in this project, I jumped at the chance. I think there are many ways for designers to use their skills to help change the world for the better. I love what Drew is doing with the site and I’m honored to be involved in the effort. I thought a lot about what this poster could say, knowing that I wanted to use it to help TFFT. Meghann and her team “strive to empower the future of the developing nations by educating their youth” so I tried to think of some ways to depict that idea.

In early sketches I was messing around with ideas involving books and the word HOPE but I moved on to this idea of using the image of a bird as a symbol of hope, peace, and breaking boundaries. I settled on the idea of 2 people releasing a flying bird into the air.

I continued to work out the composition and artwork for the poster. I did several drawings and moved the different elements into photoshop where I added color and texture and the tag including the TFFT website hoping to encourage viewers to visit the site and get involved.

See the finished poster here http://helpink.org/product/change-the-world

The Foundation for Tomorrow is an amazing organization and I sincerely hope that this poster can raise money and awareness of their efforts. Please visit the website for more information on other ways to help: http://www.thefoundationfortomorrow.org/take_action.html

- Jeff Rogers

She sent the following photo to Kyle Webster and he in turn sent it to us.

As Kyle put it “This is simply too cool.”

Thanks Jennifer from Philadelphia. You’re extra special to us now.

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