C-19 Poster Series by Studio O+A Infuses Life-saving Messaging with Positive Vibes
With COVID-19 persisting throughout the U.S., and select offices beginning to slowly welcome back employees, the question of how to do so safely is on everyone’s minds. It’s an especially daunting task in crowded cities like San Francisco, where some buildings are normally occupied by thousands of workers. The predicament has led hometown firm Studio O+A, known for designing knockout offices for such big-tech clients as Slack and Uber, to devise a solution. Co-founders and Interior Design Hall of Fame members Verda Alexander and Primo Orpilla collaborated with members of their graphics team—Elizabeth Vereker, Paulina McFarland, Chelsea Hedrick, Sarah Hotchin, and Minnee Pham, plus writer Al McKee—on a series of vibrant, upbeat posters that promote pandemic-busting behavior, like wearing a mask, distancing, and getting outside, but happily. “They’re meant to reflect a sense of optimism as we all prepare to re-enter the workplace,” Orpilla says. “The messages are important, but we convey them with a bit of humor,” Alexander adds. The 97 designs can be downloaded for free from o-plus-a.com, in a standard 8 1/2-by-11-inch PDF format intended for regular color printers. Landlords and their corporate tenants are encouraged to use them in tandem with CDC-regulated public-health policies. “Sometimes,” Vereker says, “the best way to get people to read a sign is to disguise it as art.”