Congratulations to Natasha Lee, Alison Koo, and Quoc Huy Anh (Alex) Nguyen (IDEA Grad 2024) for winning the 2022 student RGD Design de Plume Award for Indigenous Design with “End Stolen Choices” PSA campaign. This project was part of Tom Duguid's IDES 244 Cross-Platform Design at Capilano University’s IDEA School of Design.

Check out this award-winning student illustration and design project!

About the award-winning student project

End Stolen Choices is a PSA campaign that gives a platform to the Indigenous women who have been affected by forced sterilization and alerts the public that this horrific human rights violation still exists in our society today. The use of the pregnancy stick with a silhouette of a pregnant woman symbolizes the Indigenous women who have undergone this procedure. To bring contrast to the posters and to represent Indigenous communities, the colour orange has also been applied to the stick. In a duo/single format, the posters are designed to be displayed at a variety of locations to increase the campaign's visibility.

Educator Support: Thomas J. Duguid and Bracken Hanuse Corlett

“In one of the last projects of the second year, we were assigned to tackle an indigenous issues-focused campaign led by our instructor, Bracken Corlett. My team decided to address the issue of forced sterilization of indigenous women. The topic had many fine lines that we had to tread lightly but its challenge generated some innovative ideas (after many Figma pages and frames...). I’m proud of the final solution we created and I couldn't have asked for a brainier team!” — Alison Koo

Design/Problem Statement

Indigenous women are still experiencing forced sterilization, a traumatic and discriminatory procedure that removes their ability to have children against their will. Forced sterilization is an example of the lasting effects of colonization and their scarring effects that have made their way even into the twenty-first century.

This practice has been implemented in the past to reduce the procreation of specific groups of people including marginalized and mentally-defective groups. Many Indigenous people were targeted by these procedures between 1930, when the Sexual Sterilization Act was passed, until 1970, when the law was banned. While we would hope this practice had ended a long time ago, many Indigenous women are still forcefully sterilized in the present day. Only recently have headlines on forcefully sterilized Indigenous women sharing their experiences begun to appear, but the issue has had limited reach to the public and still sorely under-represents the number of cases that have transpired.

We hope to raise awareness on a serious topic that has had limited visibility in mainstream media and give a platform to Indigenous women who have faced these horrors in silence.

We need to end the discreet practice of forced sterilization of Indigenous women.

Objective

To create a PSA campaign that gives a platform to the Indigenous women who have been affected by forced sterilization, and that also brings awareness that this horrific human rights violation is still happening in the present day.

Deliverables

Poster Ads, Website Landing Page, Commerical Ad Storyboard and Animatic

About The RGD

Through the Association of Registered Graphic Designers (the RGD), Canadian designers exchange ideas, educate and inspire, set professional standards and build a strong, supportive community dedicated to advocating for the value of design.

Representing over 4,100 design professionals, including firm owners, freelancers, managers, educators and students, the RGD was created in 1996 by an Act of the Ontario Legislature (Bill Pr 56) and is the only graphic design association in North America to have this type of legislation.

The Certified RGD designation is a signal of quality and competence to the profession, public and government. Successful candidates have met a rigorous set of standards that includes documented levels of relevant, professional education and experience as well as competence in the areas of business, design principles, research, accessible design and ethics demonstrated through the successful completion of the RGD’s certification process.

Our vision is for a graphic design profession that is broadly valued for its contribution to life, commerce and society.