Silver A' Design Award Winner 2025
The labyrinthine linear system employed in Vahid Mirzaei's Endangered Animal Atlas Educational Graphic Posters carries profound symbolic resonance, transforming the Saola from mere zoological subject into mythic icon through visual means that speak to humanity's ancient relationship with the animal kingdom. The maze motif itself traditionally symbolizes journey, initiation, and the search for sacred knowledge, here perhaps suggesting the challenging path toward species preservation and the complex web of ecological relationships that endangered animals inhabit. The choice of magenta-pink, a hue associated with compassion, nurturing, and unconditional love across various cultural traditions, against the deep burgundy ground suggesting vitality, life force, and the blood connection between all living beings, creates chromatic symbolism that reinforces the conservation imperative. The bilateral symmetry of the composition evokes sacred geometry and the archetypal concept of balance essential to ecological harmony, while the animal's direct frontal gaze establishes the kind of eye contact traditionally associated with soul recognition and mutual acknowledgment between beings. The horns rising like crescents toward the upper register carry associations with lunar symbolism, fertility, and the cyclical nature of life that conservation efforts seek to protect. The transformation of a realistic animal into flowing abstract pattern participates in traditions of sacred animal representation found across cultures, where stylization elevates creatures from the mundane to the totemic. Typography declaring the conservation status serves as modern-day inscription, the written word carrying weight of warning and witness.
The Endangered Animal Atlas project visually presents 52 endangered animals to raise awareness while aiding Persian speakers in learning English. Each animal is depicted graphically with its name and conservation status, combining education and language learning. Designed for the National Language Learning Institute, the project enhances vocabulary while fostering environmental consciousness, making learning both engaging and meaningful.