Postage Stamps
Four stamps connected by their perforations. The top left stamp is yellow with a red brain. The negative space of the brain spells the word protein. The negative space of the letters has shapes that look like various proteins. The top left of the stamp says #hungeractionmonth and the bottom left says FOREVER. The bottom right says USA. This design is similar on all four stamps, except the word in the brain changes as well as the color. Next to the yellow stamp is a Green stamp with a yellow brain spelling fruit in white. The bottom left is a red stamp with a tan brain. The brain spells the word grains. The bottom right stamp is tan with a green brain and spells veggies. This stamp is slightly pealed up in the mockup.
The problem:
This focus of this project was to create a set of postage stamps that increased awareness of food insecurity by answering the question "When I am hungry, I can't...?".
My answer:
When I am hungry, I only have food on my mind.
The Process:
I started by researching food insecurity in America and learned about the immense numbers of those that go hungry. After I did some research, I mind-mapped all the things that came to me from my research, my background knowledge as a nurse, and the things I personally cannot do on an empty stomach. I then narrowed this research down to 3 main concepts, which I then created thumbnails for.
A notebook that is open with the words food insecurity in gold. The left page contains things I cannot do when hungry and a mindmap. The right page contains tiny design roughs.
11 squares on grid paper that all have design roughs inside them. The top left says theme #2: Brain food/ food & Mental Health. I can't think I'm so hungry. All of the 11 design ideas stem from this. The first 3 are faces showing different emotions, the next four are brain drawings, and the next three are plays on negative space. The last one is a person hugging themself.
After figuring out what idea I wanted to go with, I then created 4 drawings to base my work in illustrator off of. 
A picture drawn on tracing paper in sharpie. The brain uses the folds of the brain to create the word veggies.
THE FINAL WORK
I expanded upon one of my 30 thumbnails to create a series of 4 stamps. Each stamp represents a food group, using the 'folds' of the brain to create the food group name. The negative space of the text in each brain has 'forbidden foods', or things you can't get a food bank. For most people who get their groceries at a food bank- fresh food is not an option.
A yellow stamp with a red brain on it. The folds of the brain are white and create the word protein. The negative space of the letters creates shapes of foods that are proteins, ie steak or chicken leg. The top left of the stamp is a hashtag that reads 'hunger action month' in white. The bottom of the stamp has the words forever and USA printed in white all caps.
A green stamp with a yellow brain on it. The folds of the brain are white and create the word fruit. Inside the negative space of the letters are shapes that look like different fruits. The top left of the stamp is a hashtag that reads 'hunger action month' in white. The bottom of the stamp has the words forever and USA printed in white all caps.
A tan stamp with a green brain on it. The folds of the brain are white and create the word 'veggies'. The negative space of the letters creates shapes of different vegetables. The top left of the stamp is a hashtag that reads 'hunger action month' in white. The bottom of the stamp has the words forever and USA printed in white all caps.
A red stamp with a tan brain on it. The folds of the brain are white and create the word 'grains'. Inside the negative space of the letters are shapes that look like different grains. The top left of the stamp is a hashtag that reads 'hunger action month' in white. The bottom of the stamp has the words forever and USA printed in white all caps.
All four stamps next to one another in a line. The first is the yellow stamp, followed by the green stamp, followed by the tan stamp with the red stamp at the end.
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