The effects of climate change are slowly destroying our planet: glaciers are melting at record speed, ocean temperatures are rising uncontrollably, sea levels are rising inexorably and extreme weather events are continuing unabated. The only way to get this situation under control is to act quickly, but getting the institutions to speak out seems to be very difficult. So what can be done?
The advertising agency TBWA\Helsinki and Helsingin Sanomat, Finland’s most famous newspaper, have recently launched a new and original project in the hope of attracting the attention of those in power. It is called The Climate Crisis Font and is, to all intents and purposes, a font against climate change.

The Climate Crisis Font was created to illustrate climate change and its effects on the planet in a simple and accessible way. It is not a font with a linear and defined shape, but it has a variable structure that can be modified and transformed at will. Its mutability is not accidental, but is based on data collected over the years by the National Snow and Ice Data Center, the US information centre supporting worldwide polar and cryospheric research.

This font follows the transformation of the state of the glaciers over the years, from 1979 to 2020. In addition to showing a dangerous and out-of-control phenomenon, it predicts melting until 2050 and the imminent end of the northern ice cap.

The Climate Crisis Font can be downloaded for free on the official Helsingin Sanomat page, visit the site and watch the project video below.

Words by Federica Cimorelli

That 2020 was not a particularly lucky year is a well-known fact.
We should have already figured it out when parts of southeastern Australia were completely devastated by wildfires earlier this year.

As if all that wasn’t enough, as we all know, a pandemic was also added to make our lives even more complicated.
If we set out to list all the negative events of 2020 probably one article would not be enough, but pages upon pages upon pages.

But despite everything there are those who have tried to summarize all these misfortunes in a game, so, just to play down a bit, after all we need it to put everything behind us.

“2020 Game” traces all the events in a temporal manner. An old-style arcade game where the protagonist must overcome the fires in Australia, the pandemic, the traumatic events that shook America, the race to the White House, the quarantine, the advent of TikTok and finally the second wave.

The game is undoubtedly simpler than last year, also because in our opinion making it difficult would be more complicated without a doubt.

All that’s left now is for you to try your hand at this colossal feat (click here to play), once again overcoming this 2020.
Trusting that 2021 will undoubtedly be more benevolent.

Neil Keating is an illustrator and graphic designer from Liverpool who makes creations halfway between comic art and urban art. His style mixes different characteristics of these arts, combining the caricature of comics, the definition of graffiti and the texture of typography.

Neil Keating graduated from the Liverpool School of Art in 2004 with a degree in Graphic Design and Illustration. Since then he has been working in his hometown’s art scene, creating illustrations, logos, 2D animations, posters and murals.

With a clear, uniform stroke, Neil creates simple, linear images, free of excessive detail and colour. When put together in a large table, however, his drawings become extraordinary illustrated maps, full of links, connections and conjunctions.
Essential in form and nuance, yet refined in detail, his illustrations are original and iconic.

Amongst many projects, Neil Keating has created the new graphic identity for Melodic Distraction (M.D.), Liverpool’s independent and community radio station. His clients include Honest Burgers, Deliveroo, Amaro Montenegro, adidas, Levis and Converse.

See a selection of his work here, follow him on Instagram and visit his personal website.

Words by Federica Cimorelli

Created by Chaosteria, Lingxia Wang and Jianqiang Li, “Amber” is an installation that wants to make people think about the use of plastic.

“Amber” is a tragedy even though it looks beautiful. This sudden disaster, you don’t even have time to struggle. With the abuse and pollution of plastic products, you and I may all be wrapped in “Amber” in the future.

Plastic is caging us, we are its slaves even if it does not seem so.
Plastic waste, nowadays, pollutes most of the natural environment. Some studies estimate that in the oceans there are up to 150 tons of plastic.

– Read also: The Microplastic Photo Series, food made of plastic

Many of the wastes take between 100 and 1000 years to be disposed of, while for apparently more insubstantial objects, such as phone cards and bags, the time needed is at least 1000 years.

An unsustainable period of time that, as the three designers claim with their “Amber”, will lead us to be slaves of this material, making us its prisoners.