Times are tough for pharmacists. Especially community pharmacists, but I’m sure that every type of pharmacist feels it. There doesn’t seem to be a day that goes by without some form of mass media criticism or other. If it isn’t Good Morning Britain providing a high profile platform for mis-informed individuals to share outdated and ignorant ideas about pharmacists, it’s the Daily Mail raising the hackles of the easily influenced around ‘internet chemists’.
I won’t share any links to these examples. If you really want to you can go and look for them yourself. Much better to focus on something positive. To think about what is good about pharmacists and pharmacy. To think about the reasons we have to believe in ourselves. It seems to me that having confidence in ourselves is a key to carving out the future that we would like for pharmacy. Believing in ourselves is the first step to convincing others to believe in us.
To provide a little balance and to remind us all about how pharmacy serves society in a positive and constructive way, much as it since before any of us were born, the believe poster series was born. Put them up in your pharmacy staff room, in the corridor, in your head office, wherever you and your team need reminding that being involved in pharmacy is something to be proud of and the future is ours to design.
The Believe Poster Series
The concept is simple. A triptych of posters with messages that we all need to hear as often as we can. To inspire us and set us free from our own anxieties and to hold a mirror to the criticisms of others.
The process began with an idea. As most creative pursuits do. Pretence is a funny thing and while I believed myself to be immune to challenges to my professional identity, it must have bounced around my mind. It kept coming back to the edge of my thoughts and calling for attention. Something had to be done. It incubated and then the words flowed, hastily captured in a notebook before a meeting with a client. The idea and words for the two accompanying posters followed shortly afterwards.
From those notes the design process developed naturally. As always, simplicity helps strong messages to shine. I set to work.
The outline designs were drawn up. Much tweaking ensued, as is the want of designers when working on self-initiated projects.
The designs were initially developed side by side as a triptych and then separated into three files. A little experimentation was had with alternative colours as you can see from the set of project files below. Pink and blue just weren’t right and green, long associated with pharmacy, was the final choice for the full set. Files were processed ready for print and all three sent for production.
Finally a mock up of the posters hanging from a Victorian conservatory wall was created for promotional purposes.
Join in. Share belief in yourself, your colleagues and your profession. Do it so that other people can see it.
Buy the Believe Poster Series | Triptych or individually
£7.50 exc VAT individually or £20.00 exc VAT for the triptych
Postage and packaging | Delivery details | £5.00 UK | £10.00 Overseas
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