AUT Art and Design students say thank you to essential workers

Auckland University of Technology Art and Design students have banded together to show their appreciation for essential workers through billboard art.

When the lockdown happened in New Zealand, Communications Design student Ruby Spark and her mother thought about all the people who still had to go out and work everyday, while putting themselves at risk to keep society functioning.

She had a brilliant idea of using the billboards that would be currently empty. She approached advertising company Lumo with the idea of using a few illustrations to say thank you from the community.

Lumo were supportive of the idea so Spark organised a brainstorming session with nine classmates who put their hands forward to help with the campaign.

She says, “We wanted the billboards to be both personal and united in our design and message. Each of us did one or a couple of illustrations and someone hand wrote all of the text.”

The artwork will be rolled out over the next few weeks. Each artwork has the name of the student who designed it and a little message of gratitude.

Ruby says the aim is to just show their support and appreciation of all the essential workers who keep New Zealand running during this time. “We just want to make people smile, feel supported and make their days just that little bit easier. We also understood the importance of sharing our gratitude as youth.”

The students who participated in this campaign are Geena Stanley, Rachelle Lyn Smith, William Worth, Yamin Cook, Shara Waugh, Grace Popplewell, Oliver van Lent, Nguyễn Long, Harri Wren and Ruby Spark.