Plastic Fish: Horror & Beauty in Poster Design

The following poster design project earned Best of Region for the East in the Regional Design Annual—the most prestigious design competition in the USA. See more winners from the East, and be sure to enter by the extended deadline on May 8!

“‘Plastic fish’ stopped me in my tracks,” judge Stephen Doyle says of the poster he selected as the East’s Best of Region. “My appreciation of beauty was smacked in the face with a realization of horror. It is exquisite in all senses of the word—visually, of course, and strategically.”

Plastic Fish // Scott Laserow Posters, Wyncote, PA; www.scottlaserowposters.com: Scott Laserow (creative director/art director/ designer); Segunda Llamada (client)

That juxtaposition of the beauty of nature against the disturbingly unnatural is exactly what designer Scott Laserow hoped to achieve in order to raise awareness of the devastating impact of plastic waste in oceans and on all life.

“My aim was to design an image that was both beautiful and haunting at the same time,” he says.

Laserow, a social, political and environmental poster designer, is always seeking out new ways to make a diff erence through his work. “In 2011, I discovered Segunda Llamada and have been designing posters from them ever since. It’s a wonderful organization that raises awareness on multiple global environmental issues.”

While working on “Plastic Fish,” he was taken back by the realization of how polluted the oceans currently are with plastic waste, regardless of how mindful society tries to be. By designing a compelling poster that’s been receiving such positive feedback, the ripples of reach for the cause or message widen. “Just knowing that such a simple image moved so many people … is really special,” Laserow says.