Think the Earth

Animation created by a volunteer in response to the infographic poster. (c)Kodai Nishida

The Tokyo metropolitan area came through the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake with relatively little damage. Nevertheless, "hoarding" of daily supplies and food items have become a grave issue. There was a lot of chatter on twitter, compelling people to stop hoarding, so that things people need would be delivered to people who truly need it.

This poster was created by Mr. Takamasa Matsumoto also know as @stam_mats2. He works as a graphic designer at an advertising agency.

Mr. Matsumoto went shopping and found that the shelves in the store were empty. "What can I do as a designer to help this situation?" He thought that it was necessary to express the useful information being shared on twitter in a way that was easier to understand and that would communicate more instantaneously, so he created an infographic poster (graphic visual representation of information).

He felt that the hoarding issue is rooted in the feeling of uncertainty individuals are feeling, and he also felt that he could create a big movement if he could help redirect these fears into a positive direction.

This poster he created and introduced on March 16th spread immediately, and people who saw it began acting promptly. People printed the poster and took it around stores to have them posted, passed it out on their newspaper routes, etc. In response to the infographic poster, other volunteers from around the country created an animation, screensavers for mobile phones, an English version, and this type of secondary action is still being developed.

Mr. Matsumoto expressed his surprise at the unexpected response to his poster, but he was also touched by the fact that messages of sympathy spread rapidly and things are changing in a positive direction. He hopes that this movement from "poster to digital to real action" will continue to gain momentum and contribute to encouraging other positive action.

A positive movement any one of us can take part in. Why not start by "sharing with others"?